When routines change: Ramadan, travel and late shifts

Some months your routine is turned upside down: fasting hours, a long-haul flight, a holiday job with late shifts. You cannot always keep perfect sleep, but you can plan so the disruption is shorter and safer.

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Sleep during Ramadan: what research shows

• For those who fast, Ramadan often brings later evenings, a pre-dawn meal (suhoor) and different school and work hours.
• A small 2005 study of about 100 adults in Riyadh by Professor Ahmed BaHammam found that bedtimes and wake times shifted later during Ramadan, but total sleep time and daytime sleepiness did not change significantly.
• Interestingly, people in the study who were not fasting also went to bed later, which the author linked to shops, malls and restaurants opening late and television programmes running late into the night.
• A 2018 review by Almeneessier and BaHammam concluded that sleep delays reported in earlier studies may reflect accompanying lifestyle changes rather than the fast itself, and suggested that waking for suhoor may interrupt early-morning sleep.
• The practical message: it is mostly timing, light, meals and late nights that affect sleep in Ramadan, and those are things you can plan.

Practical Ramadan sleep tips from UAE doctors

• A family medicine specialist in Abu Dhabi quoted by Gulf News in 2026 suggested shifting bedtime and wake-up time by 15 to 30 minutes a day for a few days before Ramadan.
• She recommended a core block of four to six continuous hours of sleep at roughly the same time each night, topped up elsewhere, and noted that adults still need about seven to eight hours in total. Teenagers need more (see the first lesson in this module).
• A 20 to 30 minute afternoon nap can help, but long evening naps or naps late in the day make it harder to sleep at night (Gulf News).
• The same article's own tips list advises avoiding caffeine and energy drinks at least six hours before bed, getting bright light after waking, keeping evening lighting dim, and cutting back heavy meals and late-night screens.
• Respect your family's routine and talk together about quiet hours. The 'Ramadan and fasting while you study' lesson in the Keeping Your Faith and Values Away From Home module has more on planning study around fasting.

Jet lag: why it happens and which way is harder

• The NHS lists difficulty sleeping at bedtime and waking in the morning, tiredness, difficulty staying awake during the day, poor sleep quality, and concentration and memory problems as signs of jet lag. It usually improves within a few days.
• The CDC explains that jet lag comes from a mismatch between your body clock and local time after crossing at least two time zones.
• Flying west is easier than flying east. The CDC gives average adjustment rates of about 1.5 hours a day westward and 1 hour a day eastward.
• From the Gulf, that means a trip west to Europe or North America is usually gentler than a trip east to East Asia or Australia.

Beating jet lag without medicines

• Before you go: for 2 to 3 days, shift your sleep about 1 hour earlier each day for an eastward trip, or 1 hour later for a westward trip (CDC).
• On the flight: drink plenty of water, try to sleep if it is night at your destination, and avoid too much caffeine, which can make jet lag worse (NHS).
• On arrival: switch your sleep schedule to local time as quickly as possible, go outside during the day, and avoid napping through the day (NHS).
• Light is your strongest tool. After flying east, seek bright morning light and avoid light in the evening; after flying west, avoid very early bright light (CDC).
• If you must nap, the CDC suggests short naps of 20 to 30 minutes, as longer ones can interfere with night-time sleep. Avoid caffeine in the hours before bed.
• For trips of only 2 to 3 days, the NHS suggests you could keep to your home eating and sleeping times. The NHS says medicines are not usually needed for jet lag; do not take any sleep aid or supplement unless a doctor has advised it.

Late shifts and late events

• Holiday jobs, events and volunteering can mean late finishes. Check the rules on working hours for your age in the Earning Money module.
• The Sleep Foundation advises keeping a consistent sleep schedule, even on days off, and asking the people you live with to respect your sleep time.
• If you sleep in daylight, draw the shades or use an eye mask, and use earplugs or white noise for sound (Sleep Foundation).
• The Sleep Foundation describes midnight to 6am as one of the most dangerous periods for drowsy driving. Arrange a lift home rather than driving tired, and if you feel drowsy while driving, pull over somewhere safe.