Sleep schedules

We've been in our apartment for two sleeps now—two sleeps that just happen to coincide with the weekend, which is always quite busy on Gewan Island, and has left us wondering when, precisely, anyone here sleeps. To be fair, while we can hear a distant hum of conversation coming from outside—where people are up and active until late in the evening!—on the first floor of our house, we cannot hear much at all from the second floor of our house (where the bedrooms are).

When I say "late in the evening," I mean that there are still families walking up (and running, depending on their age) up and down the Crystal Walk until 10...11...12...1 o'clock in the evening, which is pretty incredible considering school hours typically start at 7:00 am (I know this is the weekend, so we might see fewer children out on weekdays, but I don't know). 

Here's a picture from about 10:30 PM and you can see all the cafes are quite crowded:

By midnight the air conditioning seems to turn off and I would say most of the families with young children go home. I will admit, however, that we were up quite late last night. I was behind on my homework (from having been busy moving all week) and had to finish a few assignments and when I was done, I suggested that we (Andrew and I—our kids were in bed!) go for a walk...at 1:00 in the morning.

That's how we know the air conditioning must switch off around midnight because it certainly wasn't on. 

It's cool enough at night to be comfortable now (around 90°F or 33°C—hahahaha!) so we weren't too hot walking around. Here's a picture from around 1:30 am (much less crowded, but still a few people walking around, including many security workers—and I just happened to catch both photos while the lights were purple...they actually rotate through a number of colours):

We went to check out the promenade, which is also apparently air conditioned. We had walked across the bridge to The Pearl islands as a family earlier in the evening so we could try to find the bus stop—we're still figuring out transportation options—and we skipped the promenade on the way home because we weren't sure it was air conditioned and by the time we'd crossed the bridge twice we preferred the route we knew was air conditioned. But apparently the promenade is also air conditioned. 

Here's the bridge leading over to The Pearl:

The Promenade runs along the water:

Shops close down for the night at various hours. Some restaurants (particularly the coffee places) were already closed when we went outside; the pharmacy was just closing at 1:00, but there's a little convenience store that is open 24/7.

The lights on the Crystal Walk turn off around 2:00 am (we were home by then). 

So, I would say being out with your family (small kids!) until midnight is fairly common, with nearly everyone home by 2:00 am. 

The fajr (dawn) prayer is then around 4:00 am (with the window for that prayer ending with sunrise, which is around 5:30 am). For many, this is when their day begins—schools start around 7:00 am, for example—but some get up to pray and then return to bed for a few hours. It's wild to me to think about having my little kids out until midnight and then up and out the door before 7:00, but people do it. 

This study showed that there was little difference between a consolidated sleep schedule and a split sleep schedule (those who got up for fajr and those who did not). Participants weren't allowed to nap during the study...but I think napping must be key to surviving the sleep-wake schedule I've observed here.

This study discussing "Sleep from an Islamic Perspective" notes that: "A short mid-day nap (called Qailulah in Islamic culture) is a deeply embedded practice in the Muslim culture, and it takes a religious dimension (Sunnah) for some Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Take a short nap, for Devils do not take naps” [Sahih Aljamie. Alalbani 1647]." 

Benjamin Franklin may have said, ""Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," while Muhammad (pbuh) suggested that “Sleeping early in the day betrays ignorance, in the middle of the day is right, and at the end of the day is stupid” (Fath Al-Bari, p.73). 

So nightlife is alive and well here...with napping being rather important as well, I suppose...