There exists an age-old proverb, “prevention is better than cure,” but do people really implement it in terms of health and disease? Majority would say no, as people don’t run unless the alarm buzzes aloud. During this chaos, sometimes, side effects or severe harm can happen. Additionally, in today’s time, diseases and disorders are inevitable. Thus, there is an increasing demand for approaches giving priority to public and community health along with treating illness; one of them being the 5000-year old Indian heritage called Ayurveda.
Why Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is far more than just an approach to cure a disease. It’s a multidimensional holistic system of medicine that ensures physical, mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing of an individual. Other highlights of Ayurveda are summarized below:
1. Personalized Treatment:
Every individual is unique in terms of their physical, physiological, and mental nature, and vulnerability to diseases. Ayurveda considers this individuality or ‘prakruti’ when prescribing holistic treatments. The prakruti is in turn governed by three types of “bodily energies” called Doshas- vata, pitta, kapha, linked to the functions, such as movement, transformation, and support and growth, respectively. This basis holds relevance because any disease or ailment ultimately impairs body’s functioning.
2. Permanency of Cure
Ayurvedic treatment looks for the root cause of the disease and its relationship with the patient’s thoughts, beliefs, and lifestyle. It provides a permanent cure by encouraging some lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to restore the balance between the mind, body, spirit, and the environment.
3. Safety Concerns
Ayurvedic preparations comprise constituents of herbal and natural origin, which are considered comparably safer alternatives than synthetic medicines. However, like any other medicinal approach, Ayurvedic medications also have potential for side effects, toxic effects, and contraindications as well as interactions. Thus, it is imperative to consult and take the treatment from a duly trained, licensed, and experienced ayurvedic practitioner to ensure complete safety. Beware of the quacks running ‘khandani ayurvedic davakhana’ claiming a 100% cure to everything.
4. Health Benefits
The most important benefit of Ayurveda is that it aids in reducing stress, anxiety and insomnia, that are major issues deleteriously impacting human health worldwide. It also helps in healing and fighting illnesses by rebooting the body’s own defenses. Ability to lower blood pressure and cholesterol naturally is its another aspect.
Nowadays, nutritive Ayurvedic diets are also in trend, that comprise fresh herbs, vegetables, teas, healthy fats, spices, foods with a high load of antioxidants, and proteins for weight control and to be in shape (Ayurnutrigenomics). Ayurveda also helps in restoring hormonal balance, reducing inflammation, strengthening digestion, kicking the toxins out of the system, and fastening the recovery from various injuries and illnesses ranging from cold to cancer.
5. Holistic Growth and Development
Apart from the above-mentioned health benefits, Ayurveda also helps in restoring the harmony between humans and nature by promoting balanced living in accordance with nature’s laws. It helps in realizing human values, boosting self-love, and carving a more responsible and socially interactive being by recalibrating the physical, mental, spiritual and social settings of an individual.
Wow! so many qualities in one. Wondering why is it still accepted as just an alternative?
