Groggy to Great

Tips for making the most of Dhul Hijjah.

I'm sure we've all heard of the 5AM club and the barakah in the morning hours. Own your morning, own you day, they say. I can't deny the power of the morning hours, the stillness makes my mind clearer, and helps me find my bearings for the day. I enjoy the serenity of a slow morning when I wake up early. I want Fajr to be the start of my day, as the sunnah recommends it.

“The Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever prays Fajr in congregation, then sits remembering Allah until the sun has risen, then he prays two Rak'ah, then for him is the reward like that of a Hajj and Umrah." He said: "The Messenger of Allah said: 'Complete, complete, complete.’” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, 586)

But now that Fajr is at 3AM and Isha at 11PM, it’s harder than ever. The hardest part isn't getting up at 3:30 for Fajr, Alhamdulillah, Allah has made that easy for me. It’s staying awake after the fact. I'll pray my sunnah and fard, then listen to morning adhkar. If I haven't dozed off by then, next on my list is reading Quran and Arabic lessons. By the time I'm half way through my Quran session, my eyes are half way closed, my head is tipping forward and my words are slurring. I'll try to revive myself by eating a date or a slice of toast. It’ll power me through another 10-15 mins before my head is tipping back while watching my Arabic lessons. I once tried doing an ab workout to jog me up, but everything I tried only gave me brief energy boosts, before I would inevitably start wilting again.

It wasn't until I was listening to a Huberman Lab podcast about increasing stress that I cracked the code to boosting my energy! Cortisol and adrenaline are the notorious stress hormones scapegoated for every heinous symptom we experience. That red, fat, ugly pimple? Stress. Can't focus? Stress. Hair thinning? Stress. But what if I told you that stress is good?

Cortisol and adrenaline are not merely error codes of the body. They serve vital functions as well. Cortisol encourages movement and alertness while adrenaline improves blood circulation. Together, they act as energy boosters! I can't deny all of the unpleasant side effects they’re accused of, but the key is balance and being at the right place at the right time. Too much stress at night? Bad. It'll keep us up, make us scatter brained, and suddenly that two minute task becomes an insurmountable mountain. But stress in the morning? Wonderful! It wakes up all our organs, gives us energy and increases focus.

Cortisol will increase during the day no matter what, because it aids in essential functions like immunity and metabolism. But if we intentionally release it in the morning, it won’t get released later in day around 8-9PM, which is associated with depressive disorders, anxiety, and insomnia.

So getting stressed earlier in the day to release these hormones is ideal. Bad news first thing in the morning will do the trick, but luckily there are less distasteful ways to increase these energy hormones.

Tummo breathing¹, which involves deeply inhaling through the nose and forcefully exhaling through the mouth, increases adrenaline. This did increase my alertness first thing in the morning and it was easy to do with morning sleepiness. However, the effect was short lived for me. As soon as I stopped doing the breathing exercise, I was dozing off again.

Cold shower, though uncomfortable, is a good one! It really wakes me up and makes me feel refreshed. The effects last a couple hours, which is pretty good!

Caffeine is also researched to support increases in energy and alertness. I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t attest to it’s effectiveness. Let me know how it makes you feel if you do!

My favourite hack is morning sunlight. Looking at the sky for 2-10 minutes increases cortisol and leads to better focus, energy, and learning throughout the day. Turning on the lights is not enough, very bright artificial lights have a luminance of 1000 lux (unit of measure for light) and ordinary room light has 100-200 lux. Compared to sunny days which have 100,000 lux and even cloudy days that have 10,000 lux. At least half an hour before sunrise the sky does begin to light up, I like to stand outside and look at the sky for about 2 minutes and I can feel my spine standing straighter and hear my stomach rousing.

I even learned a sunnah that highlights looking up at the morning sky. Making dua while looking at the skies spiritually connects us to Allah and the heavens, but as it turns out, it also has great benefits for energy and focus!

"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never went out of my house without raising his eye to the sky and saying: "O Allah! I seek refuge in Thee lest I stray or be led astray, or slip or made to slip, or cause injustice, or suffer injustice, or do wrong, or have wrong done to me." (Sunan Abi Dawud, 5094)

These tips, especially sunlight have really changed the game for me and help me stay awake in the remembrance of Allah between Fajr and sunrise. I’ve noticed that my mood has a huge impact on my alertness. If I go to bed the night before in a good mood, I wake up the next morning with significantly more energy with less effort. Other days I have to push myself to stay up till sunrise, and usually have to go back to sleep after sunrise to catch up on some rest.

I hope these tips help you make the most of the ten days of Dhul Hijjah. I’d love for you all to share some things you’re doing to make the most of these days!

“There are no days during which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these days,” meaning the (first) ten days of Dhul- Hijjah.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, 1727).

1. This is an ancient practice of the Tibetan people that dates back to the 8th century. ‘Tummo’ means ‘heat’ and it was a practice used to increase body temperature while living in the snowy Tibetan mountains.