Question for Shaykh Yasir: Sleeping Less?

[ashiq]

As-salaamu 'alikum,

Shaykh Yasir mentioned (almost as a footnote?) that 6 hours is absolutely the MAXIMUM you should need for sleep. Less is even better.

I've been struggling with this since the class, without success; what's the right approach for this? Aside from making du'a and listening to "In the Middle of the Night," what's the right path? Is it:

1) Force yourself to wake up after 4 hours; in a week or two, your body will adjust?
2) Cut back gradually, maybe cutting 30 minutes of sleep per week?
3) Something else??

[Solange]

Salaam. Maybe apply the sunnah of napping mid-day, to refresh yourself? Even a cat-nap at your desk, with your door closed for a few minutes, might help...

[Sally Mahmoud]

i'm glad you shared this note with us.. i didnt know sh. yasir said that..

although sleeping more than 6 hrs is usually nice, i find that i'm more productive when i sleep less.. i was thinking about that recently..

I agree with solange.. if you feel that you need a midday nap, then go for it! also going to bed earlier is better. I heard, and i have no proof of this, that the night hours before midnight are more restful than the ones after.. so try to get to bed earlier..

and.. caffeine in the morning should give u the extra boost!! :)

I'm gonna challenge myself to sleep less now!!

[Rabiah - la Voyageure ©]

3) I've noticed that when I watch my diet, I don't oversleep.

[1/2AWiseMan]

Ashiq - glad u brought it up. it's a big area to be improved on for most people, and i'm on the same boat.

i heard the same thing about sleeping less from Sh. Tawfique Chowdhury, Sh. Waleed Abdulhakeem, etc.
the interesting thing, it's really a characteristic of successful people to sleep less and be more productive. whether financially, health, deen related etc.

may Allah make it easy for us.

[1/2AWiseMan]

sr. Sally - Caffeine in the morning? :) ...it boosts for a bit and then crashes, taking away the purpose. may Allah make it easy for you to reduce your sleep.

sr. Rabiah - that's a key point, diet has a lot of impact. i've been experimenting with food and sleep habit for a past few wks and it's made a big difference.

as for a healthy boost alternative - drink fresh juice in the morning; just throw in a bunch of fruits and vegetables in a juicer/blender and chug it down at the start of the day. -- boosts energy, and makes you feel good too (although, maybe not when u r drinking it) :)

hoping sh. Yasir gives his input here.

[Sally Mahmoud]

sr. Sally - Caffeine in the morning? :) ...it boosts for a bit and then crashes, taking away the purpose. may Allah make it easy for you to reduce your sleep.

sr. Rabiah - that's a key point, diet has a lot of impact. i've been experimenting with food and sleep habit for a past few wks and it's made a big difference.

as for a healthy boost alternative - drink fresh juice in the morning; just throw in a bunch of fruits and vegetables in a juicer/blender and chug it down at the start of the day. -- boosts energy, and makes you feel good too (although, maybe not when u r drinking it) :)

hoping sh. Yasir gives his input here.


mmm juicing!! I've wanted to get into that for a while..

and caffeine... runs through my veins like blood!! lol!

[Asha]

This is taken from an interview with the wife of shaykh Al-Uthaymeen rahimahUllah after his death..

These answers are relevant with the question addressed and can maybe help us figure out how to sleepless and be productive during the day like Sh. Uthaymeen rahimahullah inshAllah!

Here is the rest of the interview http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?p=359400#post359400 (http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?p=359400#post359400)



Question 20: What was his daily program? For example, when did he sleep and wake, and when did he eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner?




Answer: The Shaykh used to get up in the last third of the night, praying as much as Allaah wished and then make the witr before the adhan of fajr. Following the adhan, he would pray the regular sunnah of fajr. Next, he would wake his family before going to perform salaat al-fajr at the masjid. He would then return home to read his daily remembrances in the courtyard as well as some of the Qur’aan until about sunrise. He would then sleep till about 8 am. This was on the days that he was not teaching at the university.
After waking again, he would eat some breakfast and then finish his work and readings in his study. He would also pray salaat ad-duhaa before going to the masjid for salaat adh-dhuhr. Upon his return, he would eat lunch with his family at about 1:30. Next, he would take phone calls until about 20 minutes before ‘asr. He would then rest for fifteen minutes or less before going to the masjid to pray ‘asr and meet the needs of people who went to the masjid knowing he would be there. He would return to his study after addressing the people’s needs to read before going again to the masjid for maghrib and his daily classes that would last until isha. Usually he would return home after that to eat a light dinner before going to his study to either give lectures outside of the Kingdom via telelink or hold meetings. This was almost his regular schedule throughout most the year, although it would change during some seasons such as Ramadan, Hajj, and the summer break.
There were also some weekly commitments, and these would take place either at home or outside. Some of his weekly commitments included: Wednesday night meetings with the judges, meetings with the imaams that were scheduled to give the khutbah of jumu’ah in the masajid, meetings with university staff and professors, and meetings with the people of hisbah (those that enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong) until 11 or 12 pm then he would go to sleep.

Question 21: What was his schedule during Ramadan, especially after iftaar?

Answer: During Ramadan, the Shaykh ( ) had a different schedule. He would spend most of the time at the masjid reciting Qur’aan and meeting the needs of the people. Also, he would invite some of the students of knowledge and the poor to eat iftaar at our home. After salaat al-isha, he would return home for dinner and to give fatawa over the phone. In addition, many people would visit our house to either say salaam to the Shaykh or seek a fatwa.

Question 22: Where did the Shaykh like to spend his rest time?

Answer: In reality, the Shaykh did not know rest time; all of his time was busy. Even when he was sitting with us, the phone sometimes would ring, and he would spend a long time addressing the call. His rest time was in propagating the knowledge, meeting people’s needs, and fatawa.

Question 23: How many hours a day did the Shaykh sleep?

Answer: The connected time did not exceed 3 to 4 hours. In total, it did not exceed 6 hours daily.

[Dawud Israel]

^ Good post.

I just remember that there will be plenty of time to sleep in my grave.

The trick is this: Wake up at an EXACT time everyday, and this will quickly become ingrained. But go to sleep whenever you feel sleepy, whether it's early or late. You'll find that you need less sleep and days go better when you have less sleep.

A big part of this is, as I am discovering, is how active you are in the day on a regular basis- if you are more (physically) active, you need some more sleep. And the Asr time siesta helps, even if its for a few minutes of deep rest- just don't let it make you miss salah!

Baraka Allahu feek.

[Dawud Israel]

Not sleeping after fajr helps a lot.This is UNBELIEVABLY good advice guys. Don't let it pass you by!

[Dreams]

Assalamu alaikum

I think a big factor in sleeping less is motivation and purpose in our lives. Mashallah our Sheikhs are an inspiration to us as they travel the world and attend two events in one night after arriving at their destination.

I would love to see more lessons dedicated to this topic. I think there are two different audiences and they both require a different approach - there are those like the mums who are already practising (and struggling) with 6hours or less sleep, and the student types who can not imagine living by this standard.

On the days we have great purpose we will sacrifice the sleep.

[brother_bruce]

As-salaamu 'alikum,

Shaykh Yasir mentioned (almost as a footnote?) that 6 hours is absolutely the MAXIMUM you should need for sleep. Less is even better.

I've been struggling with this since the class, without success; what's the right approach for this? Aside from making du'a and listening to "In the Middle of the Night," what's the right path? Is it:

1) Force yourself to wake up after 4 hours; in a week or two, your body will adjust?
2) Cut back gradually, maybe cutting 30 minutes of sleep per week?
3) Something else??Wa'alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullah

It takes practice, but I dont think you need to force yourself over to 4 hours (in the hopes of eventually balancing out).

In about 2 weeks, your body should adjust to 6 hours, if you keep at ~6 hours. Like people said above, not sleeping after fajr and eating light (especially at night, before you go to bed) also helps.

[Sally Mahmoud]

wanted to update you guys on my sleep-less-juice-more progress :)

Sr. Dreams was correct- when there's a little of pressure, i adjust my sleeping habits accordingly.. but.. i've been better about sleeping earlier, and waking up earlier too!

Juicing- I've done some reading on "green smoothies" basically just blending fruits and leafy green veggies to make smoothies. today was day 1.. and i cant wait to wake up tomorrow and make another green smoothie for breakfast!! I used spinach in my smoothie today, and i couldnt really tell (a good amount of yummy fruits were included as well)! Energy level has been great.. and it feels like an amazing treat! Hooray for natural, fresh, and green ;)

[Sawsan1400s]

You know, this semester has been of the most exhausting- just sleepy- semester. And realized that having less sleep, but not too little, does on it's own boost energy and gives more time to be producative. Alhamdullilah! But once more, you body has the right to get the rest it needs, or else it rataliates! So beware!

[Sawsan1400s]

I have no other way to conact Sh. Yaser, and i don't know wether my e-mail went through. Could someone please send me a correct e-mail for Sh. Yaser Birjas, i e-mail my assignment erlier today, but i worry he never got it.
Jazakullahu Kair in advance.

[Sally Mahmoud]

Ok, I learned something awesome yesterday in one of my classes, and i couldnt help but tie it to this thread!!

We're learning about antidepressant drugs; and for the sake of completeness- the professor mentioned some studies that showed that depressed individuals who were sleep deprived end up reporting better mood!!!!!! There were various symptoms that htey tracked, but even suicidality- improved when they were lacking sleep!

So how does this tie into sleeping less?

http://islamicity.com/mosque/arabicscript/Ayat/90/90_4.gif
90:4 Verily We have created man into toil and struggle.

http://islamicity.com/mosque/arabicscript/Ayat/73/73_2.gif

1. O thou folded in garments!
2. Stand (to prayer) by night, but not all night,-
3. Half of it,- or a little less,
4. Or a little more; and recite the Qur'an in slow, measured rhythmic tones.

SubhanAllah! Allah created us, and He knows us best!! Engaging in acts of worship certainly elevates one's mood, and increases their spirituality. I never quite understood the benefits of the interruption of sleep though..

http://islamicity.com/mosque/arabicscript/Ayat/94/94_7.gif
94:5. So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief:
6. Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.
7. Therefore, when thou art free (from thine immediate task), still labour hard,
8. And to thy Lord turn (all) thy attention.

And i used to think this italicized ayah was simply to communicate to us that life is about struggle; this is not our real abode; it is about suffering.

But, after learning about the connection between sleeping a little less, and having better mood... i'm just amazed at how brilliant it all is! Even though you may be wiped out, tired.. when you are free, continuing to push forward, and turning your attention to Allah is the solution, and not just calling it a night and going to bed ;)..

***disclaimer- the whole depression pic illustrated here is simplified, and really just to tie together a few concepts, or "gems" of mine!! I've left out the details in favor of the emanrush! I hope you understand

[hidayat]

Mashallah a really good thread.

Unfortunately if i slept 3-4 my head would be buzzing. lol. Even if i sleep 6 hours i am well tired the whole day and i feel dizzy like today; i only slept 5.5 hrs. Any ideas on how to overcome this?

[brother_bruce]

Observe a qayloola (15-30 minutes only) around midday.

[hidayat]

Observe a qayloola (15-30 minutes only) around midday.
Good advice akhi, except then at nite time i cant sleep. 15-30 minutes mid day sleep take out about 2 hours at nite for me :sad:

[Water]

Cool thread : )

[qalb-e-saleema]

Masha' Allah this thread is really interesting!

I too have been grappling with sleep issues, how much is enough etc

These are just my opinions/some of my own research/ my own experiences :

i think everybody's body ticks differently, and everybody's needs are different.
I personally feel awful if i did not get enough sleep meaning a good 8 hrs :(

But one great recipe is this:
Going to bed by 10 for the latest and waking up about 20min before fajr to pray tahajjud and staying up.(the work done in this time really feels like the best out of your day) Add a 30min sunna nap to your day and that for me is a good balance as the body has a right over you as well so you need to give it rest.

Also I would say that a gradual approach to things esp old habits (like bad sleep patterns) will eventually cause you to flourish and thrive- the most lasting changes are those that are gradual afterall.

Also try to implement as much sunnas regarding the sleep to earn Allah's blessings - if you sleep with the intention of resting your body to perform Allah's work the next day then your sleep becomes an 'ibadah subghanllah! Add all those hours up in your life and realize the amount of i'badah you are actually making!
Focus on QUALITY SLEEP (deep sleep) as apposed to QUANTITY (amnt of hrs).
To aquire deep sleep try some deep braething and muscle relaxing exercises just before you sleep.

Yes i also agree a good fresh juice in the morn is brilliant but i have found jsut a simple carrot juice on a regular basis is just as fantastic.

Hope someone benefits from this insha' allah

[lemons]

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatallahi wa baraktuhu,

Maybe this article is useful:

How to become an early riser: By Steve Pavlina

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.
- Aristotle Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I rarely went to bed before midnight, and I’d almost always sleep in late. I usually didn’t start hitting my stride each day until late afternoon.

But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high correlation between success and rising early, even in my own life. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity was almost always higher, not just in the morning but all throughout the day. And I also noticed a significant feeling of well-being. So being the proactive goal-achiever I was, I set out to become a habitual early riser. I promptly set my alarm clock for 5AM…

… and the next morning, I got up just before noon.

Hmmm…

I tried again many more times, each time not getting very far with it. I figured I must have been born without the early riser gene. Whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that blasted noise and go back to sleep. I tabled this habit for a number of years, but eventually I came across some sleep research that showed me that I was going about this problem the wrong way. Once I applied those ideas, I was able to become an early riser consistently.

It’s hard to become an early riser using the wrong strategy. But with the right strategy, it’s relatively easy.

The most common wrong strategy is this: You assume that if you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. So you figure out how much sleep you’re getting now, and then just shift everything back a few hours. If you now sleep from midnight to 8am, you figure you’ll go to bed at 10pm and get up at 6am instead. Sounds very reasonable, but it will usually fail.

It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It’s like having an alarm clock on both ends — you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.

The second school says you should listen to your body’s needs and go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. This approach is rooted in biology. Our bodies should know how much rest we need, so we should listen to them.

Through trial and error, I found out for myself that both of these schools are suboptimal sleep patterns. Both of them are wrong if you care about productivity. Here’s why:

If you sleep set hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. If it’s taking you more than five minutes to fall asleep each night, you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake and not being asleep. Another problem is that you’re assuming you need the same number of hours of sleep every night, which is a false assumption. Your sleep needs vary from day to day.

If you sleep based on what your body tells you, you’ll probably be sleeping more than you need — in many cases a lot more, like 10-15 hours more per week (the equivalent of a full waking day). A lot of people who sleep this way get 8+ hours of sleep per night, which is usually too much. Also, your mornings may be less predictable if you’re getting up at different times. And because our natural rhythms are sometimes out of tune with the 24-hour clock, you may find that your sleep times begin to drift.

The optimal solution for me has been to combine both approaches. It’s very simple, and many early risers do this without even thinking about it, but it was a mental breakthrough for me nonetheless. The solution was to go to bed when I’m sleepy (and only when I’m sleepy) and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time (7 days per week). So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5am), but I go to bed at different times every night.

I go to bed when I’m too sleepy to stay up. My sleepiness test is that if I couldn’t read a book for more than a page or two without drifting off, I’m ready for bed. Most of the time when I go to bed, I’m asleep within three minutes. I lie down, get comfortable, and immediately I’m drifting off. Sometimes I go to bed at 9:30pm; other times I stay up until midnight. Most of the time I go to bed between 10-11pm. If I’m not sleepy, I stay up until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. Reading is an excellent activity to do during this time, since it becomes obvious when I’m too sleepy to read.

When my alarm goes off every morning, I turn it off, stretch for a couple seconds, and sit up. I don’t think about it. I’ve learned that the longer it takes me to get up, the more likely I am to try to sleep in. So I don’t allow myself to have conversations in my head about the benefits of sleeping in once the alarm goes off. Even if I want to sleep in, I always get up right away.

After a few days of using this approach, I found that my sleep patterns settled into a natural rhythm. If I got too little sleep one night, I’d automatically be sleepier earlier and get more sleep the next night. And if I had lots of energy and wasn’t tired, I’d sleep less. My body learned when to knock me out because it knew I would always get up at the same time and that my wake-up time wasn’t negotiable.

A side effect was that on average, I slept about 90 minutes less per night, but I actually felt more well-rested. I was sleeping almost the entire time I was in bed.

I read that most insomniacs are people who go to bed when they aren’t sleepy. If you aren’t sleepy and find yourself unable to fall asleep quickly, get up and stay awake for a while. Resist sleep until your body begins to release the hormones that rob you of consciousness. If you simply go to bed when you’re sleepy and then get up at a fixed time, you’ll cure your insomnia. The first night you’ll stay up late, but you’ll fall asleep right away. You may be tired that first day from getting up too early and getting only a few hours of sleep the whole night, but you’ll slog through the day and will want to go to bed earlier that second night. After a few days, you’ll settle into a pattern of going to bed at roughly the same time and falling asleep right away.

So if you want to become an early riser (or just exert more control over your sleep patterns), then try this: Go to bed only when you’re too sleepy to stay up, and get up at a fixed time every morning.





Wa'alaykum salam wa rahmatallahi wa barakatuhu

[Rizak]

With a few sleep issues myself, I'd love to share some short gems and secrets I have picked up. Things that actually work.

First of all, do dua =] Always, always to dua. Ask and recieve inshaAllah, very easy.

The two issues I have had are:
Oversleeping & Irregular Sleep

Great, I cut down sleep from 7 or 8 hours to 4-5 but sometimes that stretch of time happened to come in after fajr, sometimes DURING and a few times even in the afternoon! Not a great schedule if you actually have stuff to do.



HOW DO YOU CUT DOWN ON SLEEP?(My personal list)
EAT HEALTHY
(As Nahyan has mentioned) Eat healthy. Juice is awesome because it tastes great and it's all natural! Just get up, grab the blender and throw in some fruits, I dont care what you have just do it. Ditch the chai and coffee... and dont even THINK about the donuts. If you eat unhealthy, unnatural junk food your body will not respond naturally.


CUT THE CAFFEINE
This deserves it's own, seperate but special mention. No more caffiene.
Caffiene's the worlds most popular drug.

One website describes it as, " The white, bitter-tasting, crystalline substance..." Er... sound a bit like something else?

For a first timer caffiene will spike their energy levels and brain activity while circulating to all body tissue within FIVE minutes. However, like most drugs, this effect will not be as monstrous after regular use.

Why is this bad?
For the sake of simplicity, lets say your energy level without caffiene is on average rated a 1.
First time caffiene use will boost this up to 2. Woohoo!
After regular use, your default energy level without caffiene is 0. With1.

Now to achieve a normal state you drink caffiene. Let me remind you that people who aren't addicted to caffiene achieve this level for free.
Caffiene it's

RUN
Not yet! Please stay and read this first. I love waking up early and running. After Fajr is the best time. It's nice and cool from the darkness of the night, sprinklers are not going to attack you, traffic is slow and the beautiful sun is slowly rising from the east, inshaAllah.

Running is a great way to kick off your day it will actually BOOST your energy. Don't believe me? Google "Runners high".
When you cycle, swim, run, or carry out any other form of strenuous endurance exercise, your pituitary gland releases substantial quantities of 'endorphins', chemicals which can block sensations of pain and produce overall feelings of euphoria. During high energy in the morning, especially after running is a great time to plan out your day.

On top of that, running will help improve your diet.
I know you're probably thinking "Riza, you're officially crazy..." but I can attest to that. (Not to being crazy, inshaAllah) You will NOT want to eat a bag of cheetos if you're running daily because you can feel all that nasty stuff inside of you when you run.

How much should you run? I started off with a fast run for 3/4 of a mile and worked my way up to 4 miles a day in a few weeks. Don't worry too much about the specifics, go out and run at your own pace. It's absolutely FREE to run, the only person stopping you is the person in the mirror.



TO BE CONTINUED INSHA ALLAH.

[muhsinmuttaqi]

Assalamu Alaykum

Hiking, especially in mountains or forests, is also very beneficial.
Shaykhul Ibn Taymiyyah used to go walking every morning after Fajr and recite dhikr and enjoying the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Imam Al Shafi'ee, raheematullah, used to divide the nights into three thirds:
One third for learning, one third for sleep, and one third for worship.

I think there is also a desciption how Prophet Daoud, alayhissalam, spents the nights.

Some suggestions:

1. Keep you brain busy before sleep. When you study or memorize Qur'an or do recitation or listen to recitations, it will be in your mind while you sleep. It happened to me. I listened to recitations and while the recitations went on I fell asleep. It was as it was in my subconscious. It was like dreaming about it and in the morning I awoke with the recitations in my mind. The dream about recitation was also the factor that woke me up.

2. The body knows when we need to go sleep and if your body needs sleep you will fall asleep, even I you don't want to fall asleep.

3. Sleep on the floor.

[Abu Rumaisa]

Best article ever abut sleep management....how to be an early riser..


http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/