The role of lifestyle changes to diet, physical activity, and sleep during Ramadan in controlling metabolic syndrome in adults: a scoping review

Abstract

This scoping review aimed to investigate the role of lifestyle changes during Ramadan in controlling metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adults. The lifestyle factors investigated were diet, physical activity (PA) and sleep. The review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist, and Joanna Briggs Institute methodological frameworks. The Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCO), and Scopus databases were searched using the following terms: “diet”, “physical activity”, “sleep” and/or “lifestyle” with “Ramadan”, “Ramadan month” or “the month of Ramadan”. The selection included all research articles published from January 1998 until the end of June 2023. Only full-text studies that met the selection criteria were reviewed. A lack of robust evidence exists on the impact of lifestyle changes during Ramadan on MetS components. The scarcity of cohort studies in this area is likely because they could only be conducted during a particular month each year. However, the available evidence shows that lifestyle changes during Ramadan, including PA, diet and sleep, may be significant in MetS control. The evidence suggests that diet is the most influential factor on MetS components during Ramadan month, whereas sleep is the least influential. Ramadan represents an opportunity for patients to enhance their control of MetS components by combining a healthy diet with PA and good sleep hygiene. Further robust studies are required to develop an in-depth understanding of the impact of lifestyle changes during Ramadan on MetS components.

Keywords

• metabolic syndrome
• obesity
• ramadan
• fasting
• diet
• physical activity
• sleep