During Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, the followers of Islam have to refrain from eating & drinking from dawn until sunset.
Sometimes a professional sports event coincides with the holy month, and it is difficult for the athletes to give peak performance.
Here are a few strategies that athletes deploy to manage fasting during a sports event.
Strategy 1: Outside fasting hours, eat slow-release carbohydrates such as sweet potato and corn and drink plenty of fluids.
Strategy 2: Don’t train during the hottest parts of the day and take short day naps because fasting affects sleep patterns, which can hamper performance.
Strategy 3: Don’t fast on the match day and compensate for this missed day(s) on a later date(s).
This is similar to what menstruating women, people on medication & ill people etc., do, as they can’t fast, so they make up for lost days on later dates.
Strategy 4: Postpone fasting altogether and make up for each missed day on a later day.
