You can avoid caffeine headaches during Ramadan. Don't fall victim to the unexplained headaches in the first few days. Find out how.

Ever wonder why you are getting a strange headache at night during the first days of Ramadan? Right around Iftar (break-fast) time? Do you think it is a caffeine headache? Do you usually drink a lot of coffee or tea?

As Muslims begin fasting in Ramadan, a lot of Muslims will complain about "caffeine headaches". Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and not drinking coffee in the morning leads many to believe that they are having a caffeine headache. Is this possible?

Caffeine is a drug. In fact, it is the most commonly abused addictive drug in the world. It has many effects on the body. It is found in teas, coffee, diet pills, and in other foods. A weaker form is also found in chocolate. But can a lack of caffeine cause headaches?

Caffeine has a 3 to 7 hour half life. That means that after 7 hours your body still has half the caffeine you started with. After 14 hours you still have 25% of the initial caffeine concentration in your system. Of course, caffeine clearance varies, but this is the average. In pregnant women caffeine is not recommended and has a half life of over 18 hours. Women taking oral contraceptives will clear caffeine in 13 hours.

Because caffeine takes so long to clear, your headaches are probably not being caused by a lack of caffeine. Yes, caffeine withdrawal causes painful headaches, but it may not be the culprit during Ramadan. In fact, it may take a few days to a week for your body to clear caffeine completely; hence caffeine is the least of your worries. But as the fasting period in Ramadan gets longer (longer days in the summer months), the caffeine may start to become an issue, if you are a fast metabolize of caffeine.

The most common causes of "Ramadan headaches" is dehydration. Throughout the day, you are losing water through urination, sweating, and breathing. The imbalance will usually cause a mild, tolerable headache. This is usually what you are feeling close to Iftar (break-fast) time. This is especially pronounced in the first week of Ramadan when your body hasn't yet adjusted.

Make sure you stay hydrated. If your urine is clear to slightly yellow, you are drinking enough water. If it very yellow, to dark yellow, you need to be drinking more. Hydrate really well at break-fast time.

Another common cause of headaches is not enough sleep. Make sure you get a good night's rest. People usually overlook this, but it causes headaches more often than caffeine does.

In order to avoid caffeine headaches, try to drink your caffeine in the evening. Reverse your daily routine. Caffeine stays in your body for a long time, so you should not experience any headaches. Start a few days before Ramadan by having a small cup of coffee at night.

Another suggestion is to slowly start drinking less and less caffeine, so that by the time Ramadan comes, you won't be dependent on such high levels of caffeine.

Hopefully, these tips will help you out and keep you Ramadan headache free.

It's that time of year again! Ramadan begins in less than a week. It's a great time to start good habits and stop bad ones.

While Ramadan is designed to be a month of empathy, caring, compassion, humility, piety, and many other things, it's also a great time of year to make changes. This is the month of fasting, wherein Muslims are required to fast during the daylight hours. No food, no drink, no smoke, no chewing gum, no form of oral sustenance whatsoever. Basically, you are NPO while the sun is up. The point of this month is to be able to empathize with those who are less fortunate and gain some humblitude.

But sustenance isn't the only thing you are supposed to avoid. You are also supposed to be a better human being, be kind, don't lie, cheat, steal, be more generous, and be a better person overall.

For these reasons and many others, Ramadan is a great time to do "New Year's Resolutions". I always tell Muslim friends and patients that this is the time to quit smoking, adopt a new diet regimen, make other lifestyle changes, avoid saturated fat, eat more fruits and vegetables, and so on and so forth. Ramadan is perfect in that regard. It's great for stopping bad habits.

Ramadan is also great for starting new good habits. Become more generous, donate to local food shelters, start a new diet for life (like the Alo Diet http://www.AloDiet.com), begin a nightly exercise routine, pray more, get closer to God, help a friend in need, become more humble, donate a skill you know, give a talk at a local grade school, see patients for free at a local clinic, do more "family" stuff, plant a tree, etc, etc. You get the picture.... BE A BETTER PERSON!

Let's all make a commitment to maximizing this Ramadan and making the world around us a better place!

Enjoy this Ramadan!

(stay tuned on a follow up post regard medical research that has been conducted on people who fast during Ramadan)

I am not big on New Year's Resolutions. I think that if you decide to do something good, you should start right away. Not wait for some magical time. Don't delay, procrastinate and waste time. Just start your new habit.

If you are a big fan of New Year's Resolutionsm here are some that I think you should consider:

1. Stop smoking! This is the single most important lifestyle modification that will make the biggest impact on your life. Stop hookah, cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, whatever it is.... Just stop! Nothing makes a bigger impact on your health and future than quitting smoking. If you have already tried quitting, try again! Most people try quitting 7-11 times before they finally kick the habit. It is the hardest addiction to break, we know that. But you have to fight it! I can't tell you how bad it is. Every patient I've had who has had a heart attack under the age of 50 has been a smoker! Smoking runs in families. If you smoke, your kids are more likely to smoke. Of all the things your kids could inherit, don't let this be one of them. People who smoke are dumber, have lower IQs, are more likely to be depressed and have mental issues, and teens that smoke are more likely to be obese adults. Please stop this God awful habit.

2. Stop eating! I know you aren't going to start an exercise program. Our lives are busy. We can squeeze in some exercise once or twice a week if we try. That's just life. Instead, stop eating! Eighty-five percent of your body composition is what you eat. The last 10-15% can be fixed by exercise. If you want to look good and lose weight, stop eating so much. I like to use substitution. Substitute good things for bad. Instead of mayonaise, use mustard. Instead of ground beef, use ground turkey. Instead of butter, use oil. Instead of white bread, use multigrain. Instead of sugar, use splenda. Salad instead of potatoes. Veggies instead of fries.

All diets work! Just pick one and do it! Atkins, Low Fat, Zone, Southbeach, Weight Watchers, whatever it is..... just pick one and do it! They all work. Pick one you can actually do! Then..... eat like that forever! A diet is not temporary! Do you breathe temporarily? A diet is a lifelong committment. Just do it!

3. Start moving! I realize that it's hard to get people to move and exercise. Just try to get moving somehow. Get an exercise bike or something. Get a health club membership (and actually use it). Get your kids and friends involved. Pick up a new hobby or sport that involves activity. Biking, weight-lifting, hiking, climbing, basketball, golf, anything. Exercise helps your mental health, mood, longevity, waist size, and overall wellbeing! Just do it!

4. Stay out of the sun! If you don't want wrinkles and don't want to age, steer clear of UV rays. It's that simple.

5. Change your worst characteristic! Figure out what you hate about yourself. Or what people hate about you. And change it! What is it that you do that you wish you could change? Temper? Lying? Condescending? Not romantic? Arrogance? Non-commital? Ignorant? Racist? Get better!

6. Change careers! If you hate your job and your life.... now is a great time to quit and be what you've always wanted to be. Stop making yourself (and everyone else at work) miserable. Take classes, move to a new city, explore your dreams!

7. Adopt a charity! If you don't give to charity.... you should. Find a cause you like and decide to adopt that cause. Find a charity for that cause and give them financial support as well as volunteer your time. It can be anything!

8. Spend more time with family! If you haven't seen your parents, grandparents, kids, spouse, cousins, whatever it is.... find them, call them, spend time with them. I am sure we all do this anyways, but put in some extra effort this year.

9. Stop spending! You don't have to buy everything on earth that you want. You don't need 300 pairs of shoes! You don't need 5 computers. You don't need new speakers. You don't need that dress. You don't need a new car. Stop spending this year, and save. Americans affinity for saving is only 5%. We only save 5% of what we make. Is that not insane? Find discount stores and purchase thing online if you need them. You don't need "brand name" everything. Get the Target, Walmart, Jewel, or Aldi version. They are all made in the same factory anyways and are exactly the same. Spend less! Only buy things you need! Make that a goal this year! You will be very happy!

10. Reconnect! Find someone from your past and reconnect. In a genuine sense. See what they are up to or how they have been doing. See if they want to hang out. Facebook has brought the present and past together. Find some old friends and hang out.

11. Visit someone sick. If any of your friends or family members are ill, pay them a visit. This is rewarding for you and very uplifting for them.

12. Help someone out! Someone needs a contact, needs a letter of recommendation, needs a phone number.... help someone out! If their life is made better, so will yours!

If you think of anything else, start right away. Don't wait a year!

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd expound on the Muslim view of Jesus Christ. I've been asked about this at work nearly every day for the past few weeks.

Muslims love Jesus Christ and consider him one of the top 5 historical figures in history, alongside Moses, Abraham, Adam and Muhammad.

In fact, it is a requirement of our faith to believe in Jesus Christ. Muslims have to believe in Jesus Christ! No other religion that I know of has a prerequisite of its own faith, to believe in a religious figure of another faith. Since we consider Jesus Christ to be one of our own prophets and messengers from God, we consider him as a part of our faith as well. We believe that God continually kept sending prophets to us over time to renew his message. We believe the message is the same, starting with Adam, through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, Lot, Joseph, Jesus and all the way through Muhammad.

In fact, Jesus Christ foretold of Muhammad. He said that if another messenger comes after him and tells us that Jesus is from God, then he is also from God. In essence Jesus told us about Muhammad. Take a look at 1 John 4:2 you will see that Jesus says, "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God.” The word spirit in the Bible usually refers to prophets.

Want more proof that Muslims hold Jesus in the highest regard? The word "Jesus Christ" is mentioned in our book (the Quran) 33 times, whereas "Muhammad" is only mentioned 4 times. In fact, an entire chapter of our Quran is titled and dedicated to the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary.

We believe in the Virgin birth, that Jesus was taken up by God (resurrection), and that he will return (second coming). People don't realize this.

The Quran encourages Muslim to work with Christians, Jews and people of faith on common moral issues and values. The Quran says, “Oh Christians and Jews, bring your women and children, and we will bring ours, and let us discuss the birth of Christ.” (3:61) in another place it ends with “and let us agree on a kind word.” (3:64)

The Quran says that the closest people to you are the Christians. (5:82)

Prophet Muhammad said: “He who hurts a Christian or Jew has hurt me.”

Most people don't realize that there is so much similarity between Islam and Christianity. William Baker, a famous Biblical scholar and theologian wrote a book titled, More in common than you think, wherein he outlines the similarities between the world's largest two faiths. Check it out on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/More-Common-Than-You-Think/dp/0910643016/

A very good friend of mine who is a Catholic priest once said to me, "You are more Christian than I am" after we discussed the above Muslim views about Jesus Christ.

Enjoy the holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Eid, Happy Kwanza, and all the other wonderful holidays!