Stay healthy: Five bad habits to watch out for during Eid

Social medicine consultant Dr. Abdulhafiz Khoujah said there are five things which people do in Eid that could be detrimental to them.

“The first one is having an unorganized sleeping schedule. People tend to flip their sleeping hours from sleeping throughout the night to sleeping throughout the day during Ramadan. Then Eid comes along and people often spend it deprived of sleep because they have a packed day ahead of them,” said Khoujah.

He added sleep deprivation may cause vertigo and migraines. “People tend to take pills to alleviate the migraine but nothing will work like a good restful sleep. The cause of the migraines is the disruption of the biological clock. The human body needs sufficient hours of sleep in order to feel energized and active,” said Khoujah.

“The second bad thing people tend to do is to eat limitlessly on the day of Eid. Ramadan changes our three-meals-a-day routine and people feel a little disoriented on the first day of Eid. For those who worked hard during Ramadan to lose weight they have to be careful not to stuff themselves on Eid and gain all what they have lost,” said Khoujah.

He added diabetic patients must also remember to monitor their sugar intake in Eid. “Children and adults can share the joys of Eid through candies and sweets. But we must always remember that everything is always more savory in moderation. Greed is the third negative behavior we fall into. Children often overindulge on candies giving themselves toothaches and stomach aches in the following days. Diabetic patients must also not forget their medical condition despite the festive occasion,” said Khoujah.

He added diabetic patients should follow their regular and prescribed diet in order to remain healthy.

“The fourth negative behavior is neglecting exercise. People also tend to neglect exercise after Ramadan. Many stop exercising during Ramadan claiming they do not have the energy to exercise in the afternoon.

However, they fall into the habit of staying at home and sitting on the couch during their usual exercise time,” said Khoujah.

He also said Ramadan is a month when we practice abstinence from food and smoking for those who smoke. “The fifth bad behavior is pertaining to smokers.” said Khoujah.

Smokers tend to smoke heavily on the day of Eid enjoying the long-awaited liberty to smoke during the day. Smoking is very harmful not only to the smoker but to the people around him through second-hand smoking,” said Khoujah.