Benefits of Tahajud Prayer in Reducing Stress

Author: Diana Tarisa Putri – 19711145

Tahajud prayer is a sunnah muakkad prayer which is held at night or the last third of the night after waking up from sleep. This prayer can be done at least two cycles of prayer and is not part of the five daily obligatory prayers. Even though it is not obligatory, the call for the midnight prayer is contained in the Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Isra' verse 79 which means: “And on some nights, perform the midnight prayer (as an act of worship) in addition to you: hopefully your Lord will raise you to a place where commendable."

In addition to getting a commendable place, the midnight prayer also has many virtues and benefits, namely prayers are answered and sins are forgiven as stated in the hadith of the history of Bukhari and Muslim which means: "Every night our Lord Tabaraka wa Ta'ala descends (to heavens of the world) when the final third of the night remains. He said: “Whoever calls Me, I will accept his call. Whoever asks Me, I allow his request. And whoever asks My forgiveness, I forgive him."

The benefits of this prayer are not only limited in the field of religion, in the medical field it also has its own benefits, such as reducing stress. From a psychological point of view, stress is defined as an internal state caused by the psychological needs of the body or environmental or social situations that are potentially dangerous, poses a challenge, provides change, or requires a person's defense mechanisms. Prostrating at night will circulate oxygen-rich blood to the brain. This will provide a stable effect on the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which functions in the regulation of the hormones cortisol, androgens, and aldosterone. These hormones function in reducing stress. In addition, the movement of prostration also triggers the secretion of the hormones serotonin, endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin which are known as the “happy hormone”. These hormones will reduce stress physiologically.

In addition, prayer movements such as takbir, bowing, and greetings provide good benefits for the body's organ systems, heart, bones, muscles, nerves, and skin. This movement is a process of relaxing the body after working in a static position for hours. People who practice the midnight prayer will also achieve a life that is always optimistic in readiness to face various life problems. In an optimistic attitude, people will stay awake in a state of homeostasis. Homeostatic failure is mainly due to mechanical failure feedback which can cause excessive stress.

The conclusion from the several sources above is that apart from being forgiven for sins, getting a commendable place, and having prayers answered, the midnight prayer can also reduce stress and maintain homeostasis so that a calm and optimistic condition is achieved in living life.

 

Bibliography

Matin, NS, 2018, July. Tahajjud Therapy for Stress Coping: Psychoneuroimmunological Perspective. in 2018 3rd International Conference on Education, Sports, Arts and Management Engineering (ICESAME 2018) (pp. 617-619). AtlantisPress.

Ritonga, A. and Azizah, B., 2018. Midnight Prayer Has an Effect on Reducing Student Stress. Journal of Health Science and Technology, 6 (1), pp. 1-7.

Utami, TN, 2020. Meta-Analysis Study of Tahajud Prayer to Reduce Stress Response. International Journal of Advances in Medical Sciences, 5 (6), pp. 1-7.