Khailulah, siesta, midday napping and Brain

Do you ever feel your energy levels dip after lunch? Do you sometimes wish you could have a siesta to make you feel more refreshed? We have all heard or embraced the siesta habit at some point in our lives. Siesta is the Spanish word for the afternoon nap and khailulah is its equivalent in Arabic. This longtime practice is still respected in the Arab world (the Middle East) and Latin and Mediterranean countries. It is said that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) practiced the khailulah and recommended it. It is an ideal way to jumpstart energy and stimulate the brain half way through the day, getting rid of lethargy produced by the noon heat in order to restart work afresh.

In fact, siesta or taking midday naps are good for your brain and the best part is siesta or Khailulah is sunnah of the prophet. Scientists know that we have a tendency to feel tired in the early part of the afternoon, but they also know that a short period of shut-eye can increase productivity by over 30% and alertness by as much as 100%. Tests by NASA have shown that memory and concentration are also given a boost, while stress and risk of heart disease is reduced by 34%.

Researchers at the University of Haifa in cooperation with the Sleep Laboratory at the Sheba Medical Center and researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal recently concluded that a daytime nap changes the course of consolidation in the brain in several positive ways. This research mirrors several other recent studies with similar conclusions.

In this new research, it was revealed that a daytime nap speeds up and improves memory consolidation. Two groups of participants in the study practiced a repeated motor activity, which consisted of bringing the thumb and a finger together at a specific sequence. The research examined the "how" aspect of memory in the participants' ability to perform the task quickly and in the correct sequence. One of the groups was allowed to nap for an hour and a half after learning the task while the other group stayed awake

The group that slept in the afternoon showed a distinct improvement in their task performance by that evening, as opposed to the group that stayed awake, which did not exhibit any improvement. Following an entire night's sleep, both groups exhibited the same skill level. "This part of the research showed that a daytime nap speeds up performance improvement in the brain. After a night's sleep the two groups were at the same level, but the group that slept in the afternoon improved much faster than the group that stayed awake

Further, Scientists at The University of Manchester have for the first time uncovered how brain cells or 'neurons' that keep us alert become turned off after we take our lunch. Dr Denis Burdakov, the lead researcher based in Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences said that after a meal the glucose blocks neurons that make orexins, which are tiny proteins that help us stay conscious. Due to this we tend to be sleepy after a nice meal in the afternoon. Wallahu A’lam

Fajr Prayer and Brain

Among the daily chores of each person’s life is the waking up in the mornings…And for Muslims one of these early chores is to perform the Fajr prayer..Fajr ..(the obligatory prayer before dawn)Fajr, literally means 'tearing"..it is the garb of death that one tears off oneself when one awakens for fajr..sleep is a sort/shape of death, in the physical sense...and it is 'death itself' in the spiritual sense because one is absolutely overwhelmed by the 'desire of flesh& bone' to rest/relax/take it easy...

"Resistance to awakening at fajr is the first attack of the ease seeking self..the 'nafs'... it tells our conciousness:
'hey everyone is asleep,you wont be harming anyone by sleeping some more,this is such a naive and simple error ,so no big deal,if you miss fajr..you can say it later during the day'.

But in truth, it is the first stab that the ”ease/comfort-seeking” , “shortcuts loving” part of us ('nafs') takes at our spirituality/practicality/self-management/self discipline..it's first score ,and the most damaging one, against our spiritual self esteem/our confidence. it is the first goal against our healthful living,since missing fajr will deflate our spiritual esteem ,first thing in the morning.....and as the shortcut seeking indiscipline (nafs) manages to ride us and dictate to us our actions in the wee hours of the morning...we will spend the entire day as subjects/slaves to it, and not rulers/riders on our nafs.....and during the rest of the day, the low confidence,the low self esteem,the deflated trust in ourselves and in Allah's support for us,we will make a million more mistakes and regress a million more levels ,and ofcourse a day started with remorse, will end,if not in more guilt,then definitely in repentance.

"Allah is the Engineer of our physical and mental machine..He knows the best routine for us to reap optimal advantages from our mind and body machines..SO, if Allah has made our machines such that they must be awake before sunrise,and must go through the wadhou (ablution)rituals,and then prayers,then we WOULD be harming our own machines if we missed attending that specified act for maintenance and sustenance of our own mind and body machines."

Resting our body is not a function of 'sleep'..it is a function of the 'Provider/Samad/Allah"....as in the Holy Quran, (probably surah muzammil) where Allah Rabbul Izzat Instructs about tahajjud prayers..and also grants that during the day following tahajjud,one has a long haul of work to do, Allah Rabbul Izzat reminds that "it is Allah who controls/regulates the quantum of day/toiling and night/resting"....so i interpret it to mean that the amount of work i will put in during the day does not depend on the rest/sleep i had the previous night, but depends on The Regulating Almighty Authority of The Rahmaan.May all muslims,including myself, be garnted the Blessing of fajr prayers in congregation,each day of our lives.

The Creator Subhanahu wa ta’alaa, has decreed that humans, the deputies of Allah over all creation must awake every day before any other created entity designed to work in the day and rest at night, does..

The limit of fajr is around 20 minutes before the sun peeps from across the horizon..

(20 minutes for the congregational prayer..

20 minutes before the sun ‘rises’ because if the imaam makes an error,and the congregation needs to be repeated, it may be done before sunrise.)

Fajr is at a time, when our bodies and minds, are naturally in their deepest slumber..our hormones ,especially “melatonin” which is secreted from a tiny gland in our brain(the pineal body), does so in proportion to the amount/depth of darkness that our eyes/mind perceives.

Melatonin…once secereted executes 3 functions :

1. it deepens our sleep,or tends to lull us back to sleep
2. it causes the release of very negligibly minute amounts of ‘endorphins’(a naturally existing neurotransmitter with actions of heroine/morphine/opium, synthesized in our brains)..these act on our brain’s ‘motivation and reward center’ and comfort us exactly like a mother pats a child to sleep.
3. another chemical is released from the brain ,in response to melatonin, and that strengthens our immune system.(the system that defends against infections/disease)and hastens repair processes in our body.

Thus ,when a person awakes before dawn, the darkness/scarcity of natural light around, causes a Melatonin surge in our brains…this will remain true all our lives, no matter how old one’s habit of saying fajr..the waking up at fajr will always need effort,…the melatonin surge actually ‘lulls’ one to sleep..i have experienced this, and many will agree with me that the sleep one dives into after that first eye-opening at fajr,is deepest and most delicious….thus awakening at fajr, with the sound of the Azaan, or the alram, is ‘an exercise against one’s ‘natural desire to continue sleeping’.

Whenever a human body/mind is made to exert physically against one’s desire/will, messages of ‘discomfort’ from the ‘reward and motivation centre’ of the brain cause another hormone to be released by the ‘hypothalamus’ .

This hormone called the ‘cortisol releasing factor(C.R.F.)’ is meant to “Alarm the body and prepare it for operating optimally in unfavorable/unwanted circumstances.”

The C.R.F then flows to/oozes onto the principal gland of our body, ‘the pituitary gland’ which is attached to the undersurface of the hypothalamus and causes the release of:

1.minute amounts of ‘beta-endorphins’ that act on the ‘motivation and reward center’ and tend to alleviate the feelings of discomfort.

2.a hormone called “A.C.T.H.”

A.C.T.H. flows with the blood towards the kidneys where it causes the release of a hormone ‘Cortisol’ from the glands attached to the kidneys’ upper ends.

Cortisol executes the following actions throughout our body:

1. it cleaves the excess protein from the entire body’s muscles and scrapes fat out of fat stores pushing them into the blood stream. (this is the protein and fat that was in excess and a residue from the previous day’s intake of food).
2. #1, causes the amount of circulating proteins and fats to increase and ,with the exception of the liver, the absorption of glucose into all body tissues is blocked.

This results in ‘fat’(instead of glucose) being used as ‘fuel’ for all physical and mental activity,(doing wadhoo, walking to the mosque, saying the fajr prayers) and glucose is stored in the liver , creating a deposit of this ‘preferred’ fuel that can last the next 24 hours, even if no food is taken/available.

Also the excess protein in circulation is converted into building blocks and sent to whichever repair site within the body needs them.(and in 24 hours there are millions of micro-repair-needing sites created by the wear and tear of ‘living’)

Any protein that is in excess of that needed for repair, is mixed with the fats stored in the liver to make the easily usable fuel, ‘glucose’.

3.cortisol causes an increase in the number of red blood cells…cells that carry oxygen to all body tissues.

4.cortisol increases the depth of breathing.

Thus, a person who gets up for fajr prayers and denies oneself the ‘urge’ to indulge in the short-term-gratification of more sleep, reaps the following advantages:

1. the excess fats and proteins from yesterday’s meals are used up constructively/productively..and the body and brain is relieved of the ‘dullness’ they would essentially cause if not used.
2. repair needed in the body is initiated, and for that ,the ‘fuel’ used is the less-preferred , ‘fats’. Also recovery from disease or injury that the body may be suffering from, is hastened due to the abundance of basic building blocks(proteins) in the blood stream.
3. the increased depth of breathing, and the increased numbers of vehicles(red blood cells)that convey the morning’s freshness(oxygen) to all body tissues, will cause the fajr saying individual to exploit more of that freshness .

4. the increased number of red blood cells will enliven the texture of one’s skin.

5. the awareness that one has managed to defeat one’s

“Nafs”(innate inertia/resistance to ‘positive endeavor’) by saying the fajr in congregation, will enhance the self-esteem (and in this respect, fajr is an act that can not be beaten by any other, as the first act of one’s day, giving a very dense/viscous dose of well-being/being in harmony with nature, first thing in the morning) and through the ‘motivation and reward centre’ this perception elevates one’s mood.

When the ‘reward and motivation center’ perceives this gratification (which is after one has completed fajr) the ‘stimulus’ of discomfort (at waking up for fajr), is no more,and thus ‘cortisol’ secretions cease. Wallahu A'lam

Brain Plasticity and Kusyu' in Solah

Human beings have always been brash enough to ask questions of why people behave or think the way they are and yet lacked the necessary gifts to answer them. I believe that human behaviors could be easily understood from nature and nurture perspectives. From nurture perspective, we could comprehend human behavior from environmental factors, which are modifiable and changeable. The way people behave and react is the product of his/her interaction with his/her surroundings. A person gets sad because of the significant sad events took place in his/her life. Similarly, another person laughs because something amuses him/her. The magnitude of sadness and laughs depends on the gravity of events.

The other way of understanding human behavior rest within the 1.4 kg lump of wrinkled tissue that serves as the motherboard for all the body’s other systems and this tissue is what we called brain. Previously, we used to an idea that adult human brain is essentially immutable, hardwired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much stuck with what we have. We also accept the notion that drugs can alter brain’s structure. However, drug is not the only variable that could change our brains’ configuration. Recent study by Harvard University’s neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone proved otherwise as the brain reorganized itself based on the input it received be it an internal or external one.
Pascual-Leone instructed the volunteers to learn and practice a little five-finger piano exercise. He also directed the members of one group to play as fluidly as they could, trying to keep to the metronome's 60 beats per minute. Every day for five days, the volunteers practiced for two hours. Then they took a test. At the end of each day's practice session, they sat beneath a coil of wire that sent a brief magnetic pulse into the motor cortex of their brain, located in a strip running from the crown of the head toward each ear. The so-called transcranial-magnetic-stimulation (TMS) test allows scientists to infer the function of neurons just beneath the coil. In the piano players, the TMS mapped how much of the motor cortex controlled the finger movements needed for the piano exercise. What the scientists found was that after a week of practice, the stretch of motor cortex devoted to these finger movements took over surrounding areas like dandelions on a suburban lawn.

The finding was in line with a growing number of discoveries at the time showing that greater use of a particular muscle causes the brain to devote more cortical real estate to it. But Pascual-Leone did not stop there. He extended the experiment by having another group of volunteers merely think about practicing the piano exercise. They played the simple piece of music in their head, holding their hands still while imagining how they would move their fingers. Then they too sat beneath the TMS coil.

When the scientists compared the TMS data on the two groups--those who actually tickled the ivories and those who only imagined doing so--they glimpsed a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter. For what the TMS revealed was that the region of motor cortex that controls the piano-playing fingers also expanded in the brains of volunteers who imagined playing the music--just as it had in those who actually played it.

"Mental practice resulted in a similar reorganization" of the brain, Pascual-Leone later wrote. If his results hold for other forms of movement (and there is no reason to think they don't), then mentally practicing a golf swing or a forward pass or a swimming turn could lead to mastery with less physical practice. Even more profound, the discovery showed that mental training had the power to change the physical structure of the brain.

So, if we want to perfect our Solah and have a really Kusyu’ Solah, for example, we can start practising the solah itself in our mind. Start with the Niyah, follow by the Takbiratul Ihram then up to Tahiyatul Akhir and Salam. Slowly imagine in our mind the behavioural sequencing of this act. Feel it. Understand the meaning of every single Quranic recitation we make. Do it five minutes before each Solah. Only then you perform your real Solah. And only then you can feel the different. Cognitive rehearsal can get rid of your daily hassle stressors from your mind and heart and thus bring in you a different state of mind, a clear mind before Allah the AlMighty. In addition, you combine it with body scanning technique from the Mindfulness Therapy then you might double your chance to be kusyu’ in Solah. Wallahu A'lam

Brain and Kusyu’ in solah

What happened when one prays and has an indeed kusyu’ solah?



Well, when people perform solah, the frontal lobes are highly active, increasing beyond their normal state. This is the area of the brain that controls our state of attention. It is well known that prayer "experts" around the globe are intensely focused and in a state of high attention when they pray.

The second things that occur when people pray is a decrease of activity in the posterior parietal areas of the brain. This is the part of the brain that gives us our sense of self, separates everything "outside" of us, from us, and gives us a sense of individualism. Also it is the part responsible for spatial orientation. Studies with regards to brain and meditation have confirmed this phenomenon.

Solah is to detach oneself from desires and objects by offering full submission to Allah the AlMighty and effectively separate oneself from the transitory nature of the world. This is undeniably a mental effort. In addition, our body has its own way of communicating outwardly to the world and inwardly to oneself. How we position our body has a lot to do with what happens with our mind and our breath. In Solah, we move our muscles in sequencing and repetitive manner accompany by rhythmic recitation of the quranic verses which is again a mental activities and physiological efforts. The correlation of physical states with mental states in solah reinforces the correspondence between neural functions and behavior.

This is so because during Solah there is "an increase in the areas of the [cerebral] cortex taking part in perception of specific information and an increase in the functional relationship between the two hemispheres". These observations support the cognitive claims of the "mindful state" in Solah by showing an increase in functional awareness. Performing solah is believed to result in increased EEG coherence, blood flow to the brain, muscle relaxation, and a decrease in stress hormones (see http://info.miu.edu/tm_research/tm_charts/1Phys.html).

In addition, neurobiologist James Austin suggests that the decrease in respiration (during solah) reduces neuronal firing in the medulla, most likely through corollary discharges from the central pattern generator for the diaphragm to the brain. The inhibition of the medulla causes alteration of higher-level functioning because when it is inhibited, it cannot inhibit higher functioning. Austin also claims that mental "transition periods" increase, shifting "rhythm of entry into activated states," in addition to fashioning different roles for other neurotransmitters. The alterations in bodily rhythms are consistent with the observed effects on neuronal responses in meditation. Additionally, the effect on neurotransmitters explains how set-points for mood can change, if recent research suggesting roles for dopamine and serotonin in mood is accurate. Solah could also do some of the work of the psychotropic drugs that either block or facilitate the uptake of certain neurotransmitters.

A different study suggests that daily meditation can alter the physical structure of the brain and may even slow brain deterioration related to aging. Study condcuted by Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital, showed that parts of the brain known as the cerebral cortex were thicker in 20 people who prayed, compared with 15 people who did not pray. She presented the study at Neuroscience 2005, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. It also appears in the journal NeuroReport issued that year.

Our Brain Structure



Wallahu A’lam