THE INFLUENCE OF FASTING AND HUNGER ON MOTIVATION

Abstract

This study is to examine the influence of fasting and hunger on motivation. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), it is found that 31.3 percent of individuals that had been screened through the National Health Screening Initiative in 2023 are overweight with body mass index (BMI) over 25 kg/m2. Another 22.2 percent were obese with a BMI of more than 31 kg/m2 and in total, 53.5 percent of Malaysians that had been screened were either overweight or obese. Through a comprehensive literature review and analysis of recent studies, this paper explores the correlations between fasting and hunger, related to its physiological details. This paper highlights the Islamic perspective of fasting according to the Islamic beliefs which is one of the five pillars of Islam and other Islamic perspectives consists of nafs al-ammarah, nafs al-lawammah and aql with its relation to the science of motivation and self-regulation. This paper concludes that most of the studies found a positive relationship with fasting and that fasting gives many benefits for human beings especially in the spiritual aspects. A deeper understanding is needed for this study and the effect of sample size and exploring the different seasons of Ramadan across all countries.