5 Sunnah Ways to Achieve a Healthier Lifestyle

Hot girl summer, That Girl, Clean Girl, Project 50 – the trends for a healthier lifestyle keep changing to suit a new aesthetic and create a guide to living your best life.

But I am here to remind you that 1400 years ago our blessed Prophet Muhammad ﷺ already set the way on how we can live our healthiest lives.

We're going to look at a few of the Sunnahs you can incorporate into your day to feel your absolute best:

"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me: 'Whoever revives my Sunnah then he has loved me. And whoever loved me, he shall be with me in Paradise.'" (Tirmidhi: 2678)

Quick Overview

1. Sleep Early

Let's start with the most important one:

Rasulullah ﷺ used to go to sleep as soon as he finished Isha prayer if he didn’t have any essential affairs.

From Abu Barzah, it is stated that the Prophet Sallallaahu ‘Alaihi Wasallam did not like to sleep before prayer Isha’ and chat afterward.” (H.R. Bukhari)

By going to sleep early, we will also wake up early in the third half of the night for Tahajjud prayers, and if that's too difficult to maintain every day, that's ok, let's all try to stay consistent in our Fajr prayers.

The benefits of sleeping early for our health are many. Going to sleep early is good for the liver and spinal cord. As we sleep early, the liver has a longer time to neutralise the poisonous things inside our bodies.

The summer months prove to be a good time to get into a good routine before bed. By switching your phone off and heading straight to sleep after Isha salah, you can get a good amount of sleep before Fajr time!

2. Waking Up Early

Prophet Muhammed ﷺ was an early riser and never liked to sleep in after Fajr.

In one hadith, Rasulullah prayed that Allah will make the morning time as the time for his people’s blessing.

“O Allah, bless my people in the morning time.” (Hadith of Abu Daud: 2606, Ibn Majah: 2236, and Tirmidhi: 1212)

Recent research shows that being exposed to bright natural sunlight within the early hours of waking puts several neuro-chemicals and hormones into a state of positivity.

Both our mood and immune system functions are a lot better – and this just a few of the benefits to becoming an early riser.

3. Hydration (Nabidh Drink)

While we tend to see early morning drink recipes trend on TikTok, the Sunnah drink prepared by our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has endless benefits that we should remind ourselves of.

The combination of dates and water would be consumed by Rasulullah ﷺ in both the morning and night.

Ibn ‘Abbas reported that Nabidh was prepared for Allah’s Messenger (SAW) at the beginning of the night and he would drink it in the morning and the following night and the following day and the night after that up to the afternoon. If anything was left out of that he gave it to his servant or gave orders for it to be poured out. (Sahih Muslim No. 4971)

Recipe Of Nabidh:

Note: You can either use dates OR raisins, but not the two ingredients together at the same time.

1. Take 6-7 dates (Ajwa) OR a handful of raisins

2. 6-8 oz of water

3. After the Isha prayer time, take the given amount of dates or raisins and store them in water

4. Soak it overnight at room temperature till the Fajr

5. Remove the raisins or the dates and drink the water

An important point here is that the ingredients must not be soaked for more than 2 to 3 days as it may lead to the process of alcohol brewing.

Nabidh can be served to guests as a substitute for tea, not only for its numerous health benefits, but also as a way of encouraging the revival of this Sunnah.

The drink is an alkalizing tonic that removes acidity from an individual and is important to the digestive system as it removes metabolic wastes from the body.

Due to the ingredients having a high amount of soluble fibre, it improves both digestion and memory. Not to mention the positive effects it has on the prostate, chest, throat, liver, spleen, and other organ functions. Most of all, it is one of the greatest Sunnahs of our Prophet (SAW).

4. Qaylulah (Sunnah Nap)

The Sunnah midday nap is ideally taken before the dhuhr prayer, so if you did wake up nice and early for Fajr or even Tahajjud then now is your time to have a little rest.

While this may not always be feasible with work and school schedules, making use of this Sunnah on the weekends or on your day off helps to increase productivity.

He (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would take a nap at midday so that this siesta would give him the strength to pray qiyaam al-layl (voluntary prayers at night).

He ﷺ would say: “Take a nap at midday, for the Shaytaan does not take a nap at midday.” Narrated by at-Tabaraani in al-Awsat, 28; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in as-Saheehah, 1647.

5. Sunnah of Moderate Eating

It was narrated that ‘Atiyyah bin ‘Amir Al-Juhani said: “I heard Salman, when he was forced to eat food, say: ‘It is sufficient for me that I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: The people who most eat their fill in this world will be the most hungry on the Day of Resurrection.’” [13]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) also said:

“The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Adam to eat a few morsels to keep him alive. If he must fill it, then one-third for his food, one-third for his drink, and one-third for air.” (al-Tirmidhi)

Eating too much also makes the heart hard and heedless of Allah.

And that is why the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and his companions used to go hungry quite frequently, even in the presence of abundance. Why should we follow this sunnah?

● It's a good way to maintain personal weight

● We'll feel more energetic and be more active throughout the day.

● Health will improve as many illnesses stem from the stomach.

● The digestive system will over time become stronger due to not needing to constantly overwork.

● Greed will decrease and our gratitude will increase

● We'll easily find the courage and ability to regularly fast.

Although we have only touched on the surface of how we can revive the Sunnah in our daily lives, these 5 ways can really help us improve our overall health if we remian consistent with them.

Let us know in the comments of what you thought of this article as well as some more Sunnahs we can easily implement into our everyday lives!

(P.S. It's a lot easier than Project 50 so give it a go, improve your health habits and gain rewards whilst doing so!)