Ayurveda

According to Ayuverda, the oldest healing science that is originated more than 5,000 years ago, health is not only an absence of disease, but it is a completely holistic level of vitality throughout all facets of our lives. Ayuverda explains that there are three fundamental states of a being such as the physical, mental and the spiritual. Health is a balance off all these three states and their relationship with the outside world.[1] As a result, the Ayurvedic approach to treating any single aspect of our health begins with taking into account the whole of who we are: body, mind, and spirit. Therefore, Ayurveda encourages certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment.

Life presents us with many challenges and opportunities. Although there is much over which we have little control, we do have the power to decide about some things, such as diet and lifestyle. To maintain balance and health, it is important to pay attention to these decisions. Diet and lifestyle appropriate to one’s individual constitution strengthen the body, mind and consciousness.

Just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, each person has a particular pattern of energy (an individual combination of physical, mental and emotional characteristics) which comprises their own constitution. This constitution is determined at conception by several factors and remains the same throughout one’s life. Many factors, both internal and external, act upon us to disturb this balance and are reflected as a change in one’s constitution from the balanced state. Examples of these emotional and physical stresses include one’s emotional state, diet and food choices, seasons and weather, physical trauma, work, and family relationships. Once these factors are understood, one can take appropriate actions to nullify or minimize their effects or eliminate the causes of imbalance and re-establish one’s original constitution. Balance is the natural order; imbalance is disorder. Health is order; disease is disorder. Within the body there is a constant interaction between order and disorder. When one understands the nature and structure of disorder, one can re-establish order. 

[1]  Sharma PV, editor. Susrutha Samhitha. (Vol. 1). Varanasi: Chaukhambha Visvabharati; (2004). 173 p.

What the Science Says About the Effectiveness of Ayurvedic Medicine

Many well-designed clinical trials and systematic research reviews suggest that Ayurvedic approaches are effective. For examples:

• Results from a 2013 clinical trial compared two Ayurvedic formulations of plant extracts against the natural product glucosamine sulphate and the drug celecoxib in 440 people with knee osteoarthritis. All four products provided similar reductions in pain and improvements in function.[1] The trail was done in 2018 was also shown the effectiveness of an Ayuverda treatments.[2]

• A preliminary and small NCCIH-funded 2011 pilot study with 43 people found that conventional and Ayurvedic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis were similarly effective. The conventional drug tested was methotrexate and the Ayurvedic treatment included 40 herbal compounds.[3]

• Outcomes from a small short-term clinical trial with 89 men and women suggested that a formulation of five Ayurvedic herbs may help people with type 2 diabetes.[4]

• Turmeric, an herb often used in Ayurvedic preparations, may help with ulcerative colitis, but the two studies reporting this were small—one, published in 2005, included 10 people while the other, published in 2006, had 89.[5]

• Indigestion or Dyspepsia (Amlapitta) patients experienced statistically significant improvements after taking combination of Ayuverda drugs for three weeks.[6]

• Ayuverda treatment for memory and cognitive functions was found to be effective in enhancing both immediate and general memory in people with MCI as well as improving executive function, attention, and information processing speed.[7]

• Builds on earlier investigations in breast cancer survivors that found a positive effect of integrated Ayurvedic medicine on improved quality of life; new research will evaluate ways to make this intervention easier to incorporate into peoples’ lives. The proposed Ayurvedic intervention includes diet, lifestyle, yoga, and pressure point treatment.[8]