How ayurvedic medicine can prevent illness

At a size of $9.58 billion, the Indian wellness industry is always demanding better healthcare infrastructure and novel medical techniques to meet its health needs. As Ayurveda originates from India, it has been the perfect system of preventive medicine for this market. Its impact is huge in India. Over 77% of Indian households trust and use Ayurvedic products to treat ailments and maintain the family’s health. Not only is it effective in curing ailments but also promotes a healthier lifestyle, leaving patients feeling healthier than before. 

Due to rising demand, the Government of India, through the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy), has been promoting research, education, and development of traditional medicine. As Ayurvedic techniques get more refined through novel research, they get better at providing relief to patients. Ayurveda aims to promote holistic health to the population and prevent the appearance of ailments in the first place rather than having to treat them as the patient suffers. Here, we explore how Ayurveda is preventive medicine that can help prevent illness. 

What is Preventative Medicine?

Preventive medicine is the practice of being proactive with healthcare to maintain the overall health of a patient to prevent illness or disability and allow them to lead a healthy lifestyle. It is practiced by government agencies, physicians, and individuals all over the world. Vaccinations are a typical example of preventive medicine used in the west.

Ayurveda on the other hand finds its basis in being a preventive system of medicine. Ayurveda believes in holistic health. It helps patients find a balance in their body, mind, and spirit to help them lead a healthy lifestyle. In this manner, when they are balanced, diseases are unable to take root in their body. This helps prevent disease and suffering. 

Many may find this notion challenging. You may wonder how to maintain a healthy life every day. After all, life today can be fast-paced and stressful, leading to many unhealthy habits. Moreover, many of us have a hard time abstaining from unhealthy habits. Thankfully, Ayurveda does not ask you to give up on the things you enjoy. Instead, it promotes balanced living. You can use a multitude of Ayurvedic practices including medicine, diets, exercise, and meditation to balance out the imbalances caused by stress, poor diets, and other habits that negatively influence your health.

Importance and Benefits of Preventative Medicine

Preventive medicine is vital for an individual’s health and well-being. As we age, the toll our lifestyle takes on our health starts to compound. Yet, we all want to be healthy and happy throughout our life, even in our old age. Preventive medicine plays a crucial role in this. By helping you lead a healthy lifestyle and follow better practices, preventive medicine can help you maintain good health every day. 

The effect of preventive medicine, used regularly, will start to show as you continue to age. While many suffer the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle, including disease, disability, or even death, people who make use of preventive medical knowledge continue to retain their health long after their peers. 

What’s more, preventive medicine also helps our society. Several nations around the world have a rapidly aging population. Projections show that 37.6% of Germany’s population will be over 60 years old by 2050. This means that in a few decades most countries will contain a large number of old or aging individuals who are more susceptible to diseases. This makes the prevention of disease spread a priority for maintaining societal health. Using preventive medicines will ensure a larger number of healthy individuals who will be responsible for barring the rampant spread of disease. 

Preventive medicine can also be extremely cost-effective. Every year, the US spends around $12,530 per person on healthcare. Preventive medicines that prevent or delay the onset of disease can help individuals stay safe from the crippling healthcare costs of curing diseases. It also safeguards you from the suffering of having to battle and recover from a debilitating illness. 

How Ayurveda can Prevent Illness

According to Ayurveda, diseases are caused due to imbalances in one’s Doshas. Doshas are mind-body elements that determine a person’s unique bodily constitution. The three Doshas are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Our lifestyles affect the balance of doshas in our bodies. Stresses and poor lifestyles cause an imbalance of these Doshas leading to illness and suffering.

Ayurveda aims at bringing balance to one’s Doshas. ayurvedic practitioners study the individual to determine the constitution of the Doshas in their body. They then create a plan to balance the patient’s doshas. This can include techniques such as dietary changes, naturopathic medicine, yogic exercises, and detoxification treatments. Balancing the Doshas helps treat conditions the patient has been suffering from and also helps prevent the recurrence of these conditions and the appearance of other ailments. 

Once the patient’s doshas are balanced, the ayurvedic practitioner can focus on creating a plan for the patient to follow which will ensure that they remain focused on leading a healthy lifestyle and maintaining holistic health. 

Maintaining Holistic Health with Ayurveda

Ayurveda preaches holistic health. It uses practices like a healthy diet, naturopathic medicine, yoga, and meditation to ensure the health of the body, mind, and spirit. Ayurveda believes that health is indicated not only by a healthy body. The mind and soul of a patient are vital to maintaining holistic health. 

This can also be seen in ayurvedic medicines, which are usually herbal or naturopathic. An important feature of these medicines is that they do not cause side effects. As ayurvedic medicines don’t focus on treating symptoms of disease but on balancing the doshas. It is difficult for any side effects to arise once the doshas are balanced.

Yoga and Meditation are also important parts of Ayurveda as they keep the body healthy, the mind sharp and the spirit revitalized. It is important to integrate yoga and meditation into ayurvedic treatments as they form the spiritual and psychological basis for the treatments. While Ayurveda helps maintain balanced health, Yoga and Meditation align the mind and spirit with the process of healing. 

It is clear that to remain healthy using Ayurveda, it is vital to formulate a unique health plan using a variety of ayurvedic practices and techniques. This will help you achieve and maintain holistic health. However, as with any form of medicine, it can be dangerous to self-prescribe these treatments. Ayurvedic medicine can only help prevent illness if treatment is guided by experienced, knowledgeable practitioners. Alveda helps bring you, qualified ayurvedic practitioners, from various areas of expertise. Sign up for a consultation today, to create your unique ayurvedic health plan. Soon, you too can use preventative medicine for your holistic health!

The Science Behind Ayurveda

Is Ayurveda based on scientific evidence? How effective Ayurveda can be? Do Ayurveda doctors have medical training? Is Ayurvedic medicine effective and safe? These and other questions are often asked before choosing to consult an Ayurvedic doctor.
Ayurveda is a very logical science based on basic scientific principles. The science of Ayurveda depends not only on the symptoms with which the patient is concerned, but also believes in a comprehensive examination to discover the root cause of the disease.

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is a system of holistic medicine and science that originated in ancient India. The word Ayurveda translates to “The Science of Life”. It is a form of naturopathic healthcare that is over 3000 years old. The science behind Ayurveda preaches the principle of holistic wellness. This means that wellness depends on the balance of physical, mental, and spiritual health. The primary goal of ayurvedic science is to ensure good health by preventing disease rather than just treating it. 

Ayurveda is based on the fact that man is a part of nature rather than apart from nature. The belief is hinged on the knowledge that when ancient man used to fall ill, he used to cure himself using the resources provided by nature. For thousands of years, Ayurvedic science has researched these natural remedies and aims to use them with the intent of creating a balance between the body and our environment.

The human being is a part of nature

Alternative medicine and science have always had a tenuous relationship. Ayurveda, however, is different since it follows a scientific method. Ayurvedic science first appeared in the Vedas. It has since been refined over thousands of years by sage scientists who researched the causes of ailments, herbal treatments, and much more. This research was compiled into books known as Samhitas. Each subsequent generation of sages reviewed the knowledge compiled by the previous generation. In this way, the evolution of Ayurvedic medicine has followed the scientific process by using a form of peer review between sages.

The Difference Between Ayurveda and Modern Medicine

While Ayurveda is a form of holistic medicine and science, there are significant distinctions between Ayurvedic medicine and modern medicine. These are based primarily on the fundamental difference in objectives of both systems of medicine. Ayurvedic science focuses on the prevention of disease. It aims at bringing balance to the body spirit and mind to prevent a disease from manifesting in the first place. Modern medicine on the other hand aims at curing diseases. This can often be challenging as a cure for each disease has to be developed independently. The following are some additional differences between both systems of medicine. 

Ayurveda believes that health is governed by certain mind-body elements known as Doshas. There are three Doshas present in the body, namely, Vata, Pitha, and Kapha. The belief is that each individual has a unique constitution of Doshas in their body and any imbalance in this constitution can lead to illness. Modern medicine on the other hand believes that diseases are caused by external pathogens which take hold of the body when immunity is low. Ayurveda helps the body raise its immunity to ensure that these pathogens cannot gain a hold on the body. 

Ayurvedic medicine has a holistic approach

Ayurvedic medicine is a proactive form of medicine whereas modern medicine is reactive. Ayurvedic practitioners study your doshas and use treatments to bring back balance to the body. In comparison, western doctors treat the body to cure ailments. 

Another vital difference between ayurvedic science and modern medicine is the types of treatments used. Ayurveda primarily relies on natural herbs and remedies which help bring balance to a person’s body. Western medicine uses chemicals and formulations to treat diseases. Although effective in the short term, these medicines can lead to adverse side effects that cause suffering in the future. Ayurvedic herbs rarely cause such side effects. 

In essence, both these systems of medicine are most beneficial when used in tandem – Modern medicine to cure diseases and Ayurveda to bring holistic health to the body.

How effective Ayurveda can be? 

Ayurvedic medicine has the potential to be extremely effective. People may imply Ayurveda and science are opposites, but Ayurveda follows tried and tested methods to meet the patients’ needs the same way modern medicine does. This is why there are several Ayurvedic treatments with an efficacy rate higher than even modern medicines.

A clinical trial conducted in 2013 concluded that certain Ayurvedic treatments for osteoarthritis have efficacy as good as certain types of allopathic osteoarthritis medications. These can help patients manage pain effectively without causing any bothersome side effects. While modern medicine treats the symptoms of the ailment, Ayurveda prescribes lifestyle changes including dietary changes, herbal medication, exercise, and blood purification therapies.

Another study verified Ayurveda’s effectiveness in helping patients manage the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. They used a formulation of five Ayurvedic herbs to arrive at the most effective results for treatment. Turmeric is used frequently in Ayurvedic preparations. Two studies published in the early 2000s suggested that it may help patients with ulcerative colitis.

Another illness Ayurveda is great at treating is psoriasis. While allopathy has no known cure for psoriasis, by addressing the root cause of the problem, Ayurveda can treat it. They use a treatment called panchakarma, which includes herbal remedies and dietary changes used to detox the body.

While Ayurveda has proven its effectiveness time and time again, there is a severe lack of funding for modern scientific research into these miraculous treatments. In the last decade, there has been a heavy push for more research into alternative medicine and science to take advantage of their age-old knowledge. 

Is Ayurveda medicine safe?

As with any form of healthcare, Ayurvedic science is not without its risks. Ayurveda aims to bring the body mind and spirit into balance, however, improper use of Ayurvedic treatments can cause more harm than good. Self-prescribed treatments may have adverse effects on the body. The doshas can be thrown completely out of balance which will lead to more illness. Even the dosage Ayurvedic treatments must be taken needs to be informed and precise. 

Always use Ayurvedic supplements & treatments under the supervision of an Ayurvedic physician

Avoid harming your health by taking Ayurvedic treatments only under the supervision of an experienced Ayurvedic practitioner. Unfortunately for most people outside of India, doctors practicing holistic medicine and science are scarce. If available, they are extremely expensive. Luckily Alveda has you covered. It is a platform that partners with hundreds of experienced, verified Ayurvedic doctors to treat patients all over the world. All you need to do is sign up for an online consultation using their website. Start your health journey with Ayurvedic science using Alveda today.

Sources:
https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/ayurvedic-medicine-in-depth#:~:text=Is%20Ayurvedic%20Medicine%20Effective%3F,small%20or%20not%20well%2Ddesigned.

Ayurvedic Doshas Guide: Vata, Pitta, Kapha

According to Ayurveda teachings, at birth, each person receives unique combinations of Doshas. Due to the qualitative level of life, the genetic Dosha remains unchanged. When there is the domination of one of the energies and insufficient accumulation of the other, an imbalance may occur. As a result, a person may fall ill or take a job he or she does not like. To influence the qualitative functioning of Dosha, one needs to regulate his or her life, eat well and maintain inner harmony.

What are Doshas in Ayurveda?

Dosha is a special source of energy, which arises as a result of connections of 5 basic elements according to Ayurveda teachings. As in nature, there are certain combinations of these elements within each person, which form the basic principle of Dosha emergence. These Doshas control all processes, both biological and physiological. Through interactions between the Doshas, you can achieve good health and well-being.

Relationship between Chakras and Doshas

Ayurveda is the science of life. All its principles are based on Buddhist philosophy. So it’s not surprising that Doshas and Chakras are similar concepts for some people. They are different, but they can influence each other. 

Their main similarity is that both Doshas and Chakras are related to the basic elements that form the universe. By identifying element deficiencies you can help improve Chakra functioning. It is possible to use Doshas to achieve these goals.

For example, the root Chakra depends on the earth element. If there is an excess of air and ether, one feels unnecessarily anxious and depressed. To correct this, one needs to work with the root Chakra to help increase confidence. To do this, dinacharya rituals are performed in the morning.

The solar plexus Chakras are directly dependent on the element of fire. When it is deficient, one has to practice Agni. This means adjusting your diet and normalizing your digestion.

Vata Dosha

Each of the Doshas has its characteristics and differences. Vata Dosha is considered fundamental, and a lot depends on its balance. Let’s consider it in more detail.

What is Vata Dosha?

Vata Dosha is one of the types of Doshas considered the driving force in Ayurveda. It is the one that makes the other Doshas move. With its help, one can balance energy and equilibrium. It also improves thinking and willpower, makes one want to move, and has no difficulty with the respiratory tract.

Vata Body Type

Vata is practically isolated from material values and daily life. It is the foundation of solidity and may seem contradictory and inconsistent. People who of all Dosha body types have Vata body type often move around a lot and change the flow of their thoughts and the routes of their movements. To others, they are like wandering foreigners, but appearances can deceive.

Vata Mind

Vata Dosha manifests itself in altered thoughts and behavior, as well as unconventional reactions to the world around us. This is due to the broad outlook on life on the part of a person and the functioning of his brain and nervous system. Therefore, people with predominant Vata Dosha often think a lot and are generators of ideas. 

These people who have such symptoms of Vata Dosha are capable of learning new things quickly, but can very quickly forget the material they have just learned. They are very nervous and have problems falling asleep quickly. It is also extremely difficult for them to wake up in the morning, as a rule, they do not get up after the first alarm clock.

Vata: Out-of-Balance Symptoms

If the balance of Vata is out, various troubles may appear both physically and emotionally. In case of excessive Vata Dosha, the person gets aggravated with flatulence, hypertension, and problems with the nervous system. As a result, the person becomes nervous, overly restless, and suffers from insomnia

If Vata is in deficit, stagnation, constipation, loss of sensitivity, and decreased activity of thought processes are manifested. In such a situation, a person moves very slowly and cannot make quick and correct decisions.

How to Balance Vata?

If there is an imbalance of Vata Dosha, you should try to balance it out. To do this, you should follow certain recommendations:

  • Spend more time on rest – this is extremely important because if the balance of Vata Dosha is disturbed, it is associated with overwork. If one has this feeling, one should stop and just take a rest. A night’s rest in this case is invaluable, otherwise, insomnia can occur, which is extremely bad.
  • Don’t forget to meditate – it is a meditation that is most beneficial for Vata’s problems. With its help, you will be able to restore the mind and body and bring back the natural cycle of the body.
  • Eat regularly and of good quality – meals should be three times a day with good food. 

For example, breakfast should consist of hot meals. Fresh ginger can improve digestion, but it should be eaten in small amounts.

Pitta Dosha

Pitta Dosha also has its characteristics, which are important to understand and be aware of how to stabilize it.

Pitta Dosha is the symbiosis of fire and water. With its help all metabolic processes of the body are regulated. It also maintains comfortable body temperature and hormone levels. Feelings of hunger, thirst and thought processes are directly related to an imbalance in Pitta Dosha.

Pitta Body Type

For Pitta Dosha, the most classic are those of medium build, who are neither overweight nor thin. Such people like physical training, they are industrious and are constantly in motion. That’s why they don’t accumulate extra pounds. Even if they show up at a certain stage, such people can lose the extra weight quickly. 

Most people with Pitta Dosha look spectacular and the constriction of the body is visually pleasing. Their gait is always confident, they will not slouch and keep their back straight. Their sleep is quite sensitive, but they fall asleep very quickly.

Pitta Mind

Symptoms of Pitta Dosha: 

  • can navigate quickly; 
  • structures everything;
  • can control/manage processes. 

Because of their skills, they are good leaders and can help others.  Many of them realize themselves as teachers or mentors. They spend their finances carefully and systematically.

Most of these people prefer to spend time in nature, doing sports outdoors. They prefer bright and ventilated rooms for work. They also have a competitive spirit and often compare themselves with other people. In clothing, they prefer freedom and natural materials.

Pitta: Out-of-Balance Symptoms

Almost all diseases for people with Pitta Dosha are related to loss of harmony. The easiest ones pass as emotional outbursts. This is due to an imbalance towards the fire which can suppress other Doshas. In such moments, infections or inflammations can occur in the body. 

Also, people with imbalanced Doshas may notice deterioration in vision and digestive problems that lead to emotional discomfort. Women experience such disharmony during menstruation or menopause.

How to Balance Pitta?

When Pitta Dosha is properly balanced, a person shows tremendous energy, which is used for ordinary work. In case Pitta is not balanced, a person easily gets out of temper and shows strong discontent and desire to show power. Such people should immediately determine that the lack of even emotions pisses them off. 

To balance the Dosha one needs to have an active rest. Their dinner should be light at such times. One can also turn off the phone and not take work home. In a calm environment, the Dosha is balanced and the next day the person no longer experiences such emotions. 

One can also meditate to calm down and engage in self-discovery. One should not give in to the urge to eat a big and heavy dinner, because this only destroys Dosha. Also, artificial stimulants and alcohol will have a detrimental effect on it.

Kapha Dosha

Kapha Dosha is the last fundamental Dosha in Ayurvedic teaching. It has its structure and features.

What is Kapha Dosha?

Kapha Dosha consists of a symbiosis of water and earth elements. This type of Dosha can support the body’s resistance to negative factors and is responsible for nutrition. People with predominant Kapha Dosha are thoughtful, calm, and stress-resistant.

Kapha Body Type

People with this Dosha have a large build. You may usually notice the following symptoms of Kapha Dosha:

  • their muscles are usually smooth and dense;
  • their joints are rounded;
  • their skin is soft and greasy;
  • their hair is thick. 

Everyone with Kapha Dosha has smooth and white teeth.

Also, such a person can be recognized by their conversation. They speak slowly and ponder over their words. They tend to gain weight quickly and are very strong. If you work on yourself properly, people with Kapha Dosha can develop unprecedented stamina.

Kapha Mind

People with the Dosha Kapha type are considered devoted and loving friends. They are often referred to as philosophers. This Dosha encourages the perception of new knowledge and develops long-term memory. People with such Dosha will scrupulously study any information. 

Such people are most comfortable in a cold and humid environment. To restore Dosha, they need to rest in warm and tropical places.

Kapha: Out-of-Balance Symptoms

When Kapha is imbalanced, negative processes occur in the physical and emotional state. People with Kapha Dosha can catch a cold or infection. They also have a tendency to gain weight regardless of doing sports is manifested. Due to this, there is a decrease in motivation and drowsiness. 

Depression and hyperlipidemia may appear during the cold season. Diabetes, cataracts, kidney stones, and hypothyroidism can also be diagnosed in people with Kapha Dosha imbalance.

How to Balance Kapha?

To balance Kapha Dosha, one needs to move more actively. This can be done by dancing or exercising. For those who are not very fond of such activities, one can start walking every day. Don’t forget to drink liquids regularly to avoid blocking Doshas.