🍜 Fasting and Maslow's Hierarchy
How Maslow's hierarchy of needs highlights the benefits of fasting and why you should use fasting as a tool for productivity.
Salaam!
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 🔺
This hierarchy represents the categories of needs that human beings have, and how they relate to one another. At the bottom is physiological needs (basic needs) such as food, water and sleep. These needs are categorised as the most important, and only once they have been met, can you move further up the hierarchy.
Where are we? 📍
Thankfully, most of us reading this will be comfortably in the top regions of this hierarchy. We therefore put a lot of emphasis of gaining prestige through high paying jobs and some of us even start blogs to keep themselves busy 🙄. While this is a blessing we should be thankful for, the downside is that we can lose our natural human drive and true perspective on our lives.
Fasting to the rescue! 🎉
Fasting knocks us all the way back down to the humble bottom of this hierarchy. Since our bodies now have to focus on the lack of essential nutrients over the clutter of modern life, we can gain clarity on all of the higher up aspects of the hierarchy. This not only gives us an easy sense of fulfilment when we finally eat, but also lets us tackle the other problems in our lives with a fresh perspective.
Do the Sunnah fasts 😤
While we are familiar with the obligatory fasts during Ramadan, we can often forget the Sunnah fasts of Monday and Thursday (+ Friday if you’ve got those two days down). I recently tried fasting on Monday and felt transported back to the days of Ramadan, with high levels of focus (before I got hungry in the afternoon) and a closer feeling towards God during prayer.
Psst…Side note for the men 🧔🏽♂️
It is known that men have more career success in their late 30s onwards. This can be attributed to a decrease in hormones and sexual desire. Fasting temporarily reduces your hormone levels so you can use it as a hack to gain that 30+ focus and drive during your day. Don’t waste your early years, you won’t get them back.
Get in touch! 🤗
Email: contactproductiveislam@gmail.com
I’d love to hear from you.