Subjective perception of sports performance, training, sleep and dietary patterns of Malaysian junior Muslim athletes during Ramadan intermittent fasting

To examine the subjective perception of daily acute fasting on sports performance, training, sleep and dietary patterns of Muslim athletes during the Ramadan month. Seven hundred and thirty-four [411 male and 323 female] Malaysian Junior-level Muslim athletes [mean age 16.3 +/- 2.6 y] participated in the survey which was designed to establish the personal perception of their sport performance, sleep pattern, food and fluid intake during Ramadan fasting. The survey was conducted during and immediately after the month of Ramadan in 2009. Twenty-four percent of the athletes perceived that there was an adverse effect of the Ramadan fast on their sporting performance and 29.3% reported that quality of training during Ramadan was also negatively influenced. Majority [48.2%] of the athletes stated that Ramadan fasting did not affect their normal sleep pattern but 66.6% of them complained of sleepiness during the daytime. Half of the athletes [41.4%] maintained the caloric intake during Ramadan as they normally would with the majority of them [76.2%] reporting that they consumed more fluids during Ramadan. Overall, Malaysian Junior-level Muslim athletes showed diverse views in their perception of changes in their training, sleep and dietary patterns during Ramadan fast. These individual differences probably indicate differences in the athletes' adaptability and coping strategies during fasting and training in Ramadan

Temporal patterns of subjective experiences and self-regulation during Ramadan fasting among elite archers: a qualitative analysis

Some major competitions [e.g. London Olympics, 2012] are scheduled during the Ramadan fasting month. Little attention has been given to explore the archers' performance related subjective experiences with a qualitative method. Therefore, this study addressed individual archers' subjective experiences within the framework of self-regulation during Ramadan. Eleven elite Malaysian Muslim fasting archers volunteered to participate in the study. Grounded theory was the qualitative approach used to examine the subjective experiences of athletes during Ramadan. Interviews were conducted and inductive content analysis was adopted to identify the temporal patterns of self-regulation of subjective experiences across the fasting period. Inductive content analysis identified [a] physical, [b] mental,[c] emotional, [d] behavioral, and [e] spiritual experiences. Overall patterns revealed that experiences associated with physical, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual dimensions dominated in the first phase of fasting, while the mental dimension surfaced increasingly in the latter phase of fasting. The trend showed changes in the patterns of experiences among the major domains across the temporal dimension. Athletes reported increased subjective experiences in mental factors toward the latter half of the fasting period. Practitioners should emphasize on mental aspects of training, as these appear to be salient in archery performance