My morning starts with a good sleep routine. Try to figure out how many hours of sleep you need to feel at your best. A sign of well-rested restorative sleep is being able to fall asleep quickly and waking up feeling energized and ready to start the day with minimal to no interruptions during the sleep cycles (light, deep, REM) specifically deep sleep. Sleep cycles begin with light sleep, where the heart rate begins to slows down and the body relaxes. That transitions into deep sleep, the most restorative stage, during which the body repairs tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system. REM, rapid eye movement, is the next sleep cycle/stage to occur. This stage is when dreaming occurs as well as memory consolidation and learning. While we sleep, these stages or cycles repeat in a cyclical pattern, each lasting about 90 minutes, ensuring a balanced and well rested sleep.

Note: make sure to prioritize family, rest, & friends over work or spiritual life balance.

وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًۭا ┃Surah An-Naba (78:9)┃“And We made your sleep [a means for] rest.”

وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلَّيْلَ لِبَاسًۭا ┃Surah An-Naba (78:10)┃“And made the night as a cover.”

Without the dark, we wouldn’t have melatonin production to sleep properly. Our bodies naturally produce melatonin when it gets dark.

On days when I get less sleep than usual, I make it a point to nourish my body with a breakfast rich in high-quality bioavailable (animal) protein and fiber. This helps support my mood, energy levels, cortisol/hormonal balance, blood sugar, and my nervous system (stress resilience/management) throughout the day. I also have a cute little qayloola.

I open the ultrahuman ring app and look at my sleep score, total sleep time, & sleep cycles as soon as I wake.

Tips for better well rested sleep:

1. Try to eat your last meal 2-3 hours before sleep so it is not interrupted by blood sugar elevation and ongoing digestion which will disrupt overall sleep quality.
2. Get enough movement during the day which helps your body feel naturally tired at night and ready for sleep.
3. Morning sunlight to support melatonin production later at night
4. Aim to get less blue light from screens in the evening that inhibit melatonin production. (thank you hustle culture and apple)
5. No big white bright fluorescent lights after sunset
6. Sauna or warm shower late at night (helps to decrease overall body temperature for better sleep)
7. A body pregnancy pillow so you can wrap yourself around it
8. Neom body oil – Lavender, Jasmine, and Brazilian Rosewood
9. Saffron or Rose Oud on hair and behind ears
10. ASMR

What are some factors that affect overall sleep quality?

1. Room temperature
2. Humidity
3. Noise levels
4. Stimulants like caffeine
5. Prolonged blood sugar spikes from late night eating
6. Waking up in the middle of the night from a hormone imbalance such as elevated cortisol
7. Blue light exposure before sleep (inhibits melatonin production which is needed for deep quality sleep)
8. Little kids crawling on top of you and sleeping on you in the middle of the night

Note: the total time required for sleep doesn’t account for the barakah (ongoing spiritual blessings) in time. You may get less hours of optimal, deep, and well-rested sleep, but have more barakah during the day by starting your day with worship, reciting your morning adhkar, reciting surah al-baqarah daily or every 2-3 days, or reciting istighfar before/after fajr.

وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ ┃Surah Adh-Dhariyat (51:18)┃“And in the hours before dawn, they would ask forgiveness (from Allah).”

Morning sunlight + earth time (grounding): I try to get sunlight in my eyes to regulate my sleep-wake cycle (circadian rhythm) and to help with serotonin production usually by sitting outside, reading, or working/learning on my laptop. There’s a saying called “go touch grass” aka get back in touch with reality and I literally love doing that on a daily basis as part of my self-care routine aka grounding.

Morning Reading: Islamic Book, Health/Nutrition/Herbalism/Functional Medicine Book.

Quran: Hifdh using Tarteel app + Hifdh teacher 2 times a week.

Hadeeth: Hadeeth memorization using Wahi app (coming soon which I’m super excited about)

Chaptrs:

Morning prayer: Tahajjud, Fajr + 2 sunnah before, Doha (sometimes)

Morning adkhar: Recite the morning adhkar for spiritual protection + barakah during the day using the Dhikr & Dua app.

Dhikr: أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ – “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest, inner peace, tranquility. Color coded dhikr counters with you at all times even while working so working turns into worshipping.

Gym, Sauna, Nature trail walk + Surah Al-Baqarah Combo: (this routine alternates but Surah Al-Baqarah is a non-negotiable). Total sauna time is 20-25 minutes.

Business hobby: Amoura

Gut + Hormone health nutrient-dense meals as someone who doesn’t count calories but does count nutrients.

My nutrition philosophy is that I eat in order to worship better. I don’t worship to eat. Your body is an Amaanah and the soul is the more important eternal entity than the body but we need to prioritize both while we are living.

Morning Digestive Elixir: I start off the morning and nourish my digestive system with a turmeric, black pepper, ginger, saffron, and coconut water shot. (1/2 cup)

Honey Sea Salt Latte: 2 shots espresso (any organic coffee beans), 1 cup A2 grass-fed whole milk (8g protein) or organic low-temperature pasteurized grass-fed whole milk (8g protein), pinch of celtic sea salt, and 3-5 tablespoons of raw & unfiltered local honey or monkfruit with erythritol.

Favorite lazy takeout food will forever be Thai food. (Pad Kee Mow with Minced Chicken – extra chicken – spicy level 3/4 out of 5)

Life hack: being productive during the day, basically “fasting the entire day” – no full meals just water and sparkling water and the above and then making your last meal (dinner) the biggest nutrient-dense full-sized meal. The food always hits because the taste buds are especially primed/desensitized with the fasting for any meal. Fasting heightens taste sensitivity. (this works depending on the phase you’re at during your menstrual cycle) (the only drawback is that the more you use your brain (working/studying) the more energy/fuel you consume in the form of glucose or ketones if you’re in a fasting or low-carb state)

Morning Supplements:

1. Raw black seed oil (100% cold-pressed and hexane free) It has anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties – it’s great for gut health.
2. Prenatal supplement bc I’m not playing about my fertility or my future children’s health
3. CBD (full spectrum) under my tongue (the sublingual route) to help relax and support my nervous system and lower the activity in my amygdala since I inherited the entrepreneurial gene from my dad
4. Resveratrol for longevity and gracefully aging
5. Magnesium Glycinate

I work with my cycle. When I’m back in my follicular/ovulatory cycle, all the business mentality energy seeps back into my bloodstream and I’m ready to softly hustle again.

Work:

My work schedule varies – it could be part-time, full-time, or no-time aka burnout or a vacation. The hours could be client facing (initial & follow up sessions) or admin work including charting, billing various health insurance claims, continuously learning/reading, writing educational blog posts, researching different client’s health conditions + their symptoms and figuring out how to help them best, and organizing all the information that comes with running a business (& most importantly staying organized).

Figuring out your internal drive or motivation or “your reason(s) why” helps with burnout. For me, it’s many different factors but I genuinely love what I do and it’s very rewarding being in a position to help others improve their health and wellbeing. Ultimately, I constantly remind myself that nothing is more important that praying on time with khushoo and prioritizing worship over anything else. Work itself can be a means of worship and using that money as sadaqa, helping others, spending on family & friends is using the resource that comes from work as a means of reward. Once I reach a sustainable system that allows me to reach 10k months using health insurance and cash paying clients, I will travel for a month inshallah. (Southeast Asia: Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam & Indonesia)