Evidence mapPaperPMID 40150489Full record

ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Impact of Ramadan Fasting on Mental Health, Body Composition, Physical Activity, and Sleep Outcomes Among University Students.

Nour Amin Elsahoryi, Mohammed O Ibrahim, Omar Amin Alhaj, Gaida Abu Doleh, Abeer Ali Aljahdali

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Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

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0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Nour Amin ElsahoryiDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman 11196, Jordan.ORCID 0000-0003-2029-4045
Mohammed O IbrahimDepartment of Nutrition and Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mutah University, Karak 61710, Jordan.ORCID 0000-0001-7319-2056
Omar Amin AlhajDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman 11196, Jordan.ORCID 0000-0003-0082-3843
Gaida Abu DolehDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman 11196, Jordan.
Abeer Ali AljahdaliDepartment of Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0003-3104-1019

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOver two billion Muslims across the world practice Ramadan fasting, which involves refraining from food and drink from dawn to sunset. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Ramadan fasting on mental health (depression, anxiety, stress), body composition, physical activity, and sleep quality among Jordanian university students.

methodsThis study utilized a quasi-experimental, pre-post-intervention design. It was conducted between March and April 2024 and included 77 students from the University of Petra (UOP) in Amman, Jordan. Bivariate analysis was performed to compare the variables pre-post Ramadan fasting. A linear mixed-effects model assessed the association between Ramadan fasting and each outcome.

resultsThe results indicated that Ramadan fasting was not associated with a change in the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21 score). Ramadan fasting led to a decrease in sleep quality, indicated by an increase in the PSQI score (β = 0.92;

conclusionIn conclusion, Ramadan fasting can positively affect body composition through a reduction in weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and other parameters of fat, emphasizing its potential role in body composition improvement. However, fasting was also accompanied by poorer sleep quality, including, specifically, poorer subjective sleep quality and sleep duration and greater disturbance. The associated impairments to sleep revealed in these findings demand strategies to mitigate sleep impairments, alongside, where possible, potential beneficial effects of fasting on body composition.

Indexed as

body compositionmental healthRamadan fastingsleep qualityuniversity students

Identifiers

PMID40150489
PMCPMC11942262

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.