Early to bed and early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise. This saying taught in primary school is one of the most important learnings, relevant throughout our life. According to research, enough sleep and waking up early helps the body and mind get enough relaxation and rest. It is also very important for maintaining overall health of the body.
Our grandparents and great grandparents used to live a healthy and active life. One of the recipes for this was sleeping early and waking up early. Allah has provided us the night for rest as has been mentioned in the Qur’an
“And We have made your sleep as a rest.” (Qur’an 78:9)
Abu Barzah (RA) reported: “… He (Prophet) would dislike sleeping before it (Isha prayers) or talking after it (Isha Prayers).” [Sunan Abi Dawud 398: http://sunnah.com/abudawud/2/8]
Early morning comes to us with some obvious benefits – both spiritual and health.
Spiritual DawBenefits:
1.Allah, Almighty says in the Qur’an:
“Perform the Salat (Prayer) from midday till the darkness of the night, and recite the Qur’an in the early dawn. Verily, the recitation of the Qur’an in the early dawn is ever witnessed (attended by the angels).” [Qur’an 17:78].
- If a person sleeps early he has a fair chance of waking up for sometimes during the night to offer Tahajjud too. The Prophet (PBUH) said, “The two Rak’ah before the dawn (Fajr) prayer are better than this world and all it contains.” [Sunnah.com reference: Sahih Muslim 725 a: (http://sunnah.com/muslim/6/118)].
- Allah has placed special type of barakah during early morning hours. 0ur Prophet (PBUH) prayed to Allah to grant abundance to the Ummah in their early mornings: “O Allah, bless my nation in their early mornings (i.e. what they do early in the morning)” (Sunan Ibn Majah: http://sunnah.com/urn/1265550).
Health Benefits :
- Relaxed mind: A peaceful sleep in the night relieves physical and mental stress that is caused during the process of regular activities. It relaxes the body and mind.
- Enhances memory: Sleeping early lets our mind arrange the thoughts well. Waking up early with a fresh mind will repossess all of it.
- Gives time for breakfast: To ensure food to our intestines waking up early in the morning and breaking the fast by 10 AM is very important.
- Positive performance: Inadequate sleep will curb our ability to think creatively, cope up with stress and concentrate and thus it will have a negative impact on our performance.
- Helps metabolism: Our body needs to send away all the unwanted waste from within. We need to eat and sleep on time to maintain energy.
To grab our share from these blessings it is imperative for us to wake up early. And the only way to achieve this is ‘To Sleep Early’. Unfortunately, we nowadays made the sign of the night more visible than the sign of day by staying up all night and sleeping most during the day. The invasion of the smart phones, televisions into our bedrooms and addiction to PC games keeps many of us awake for late hours in the night.
