An ancient tradition of natural treatments

Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing that’s stood the test of time. First originating in the Vedic culture of India, it’s actually considered by many to be the oldest healing science there is. Ayurvedic medicine is based on the premise that there are three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha and that disease and illness originate from an imbalance in the three energies.

The primary goal of Ayurvedic medicine is to help people live long, healthy and balanced lives without the need for prescription drugs, complicated surgeries or suffering through painful conditions. In fact, the very word Ayurveda itself means something in Sanskrit similar to “lifespan build on knowledge” or “science of life.”

Although people living in India have relied on traditional Ayurvedic practices to heal everything from infertility to digestive issues for centuries, luckily in recent years – as complementary and alternative health practices have become more popular across the world – Ayurveda has been enjoying a worldwide resurgence and is still practiced effectively today.

According to a 2015 report published by University of Maryland Medical Center, Ayurvedic medicine can help treat inflammatory, hormonal, digestive and autoimmune conditions, including:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Anxiety or depression
• Asthma
• Cancer
• Dementia
• Dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation)
• Herpes
• High blood pressure or cholesterol
• Parkinson’s disease
• Perimenopausal problems
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and cramps

Ayurvedic herbs, practices and recommendations, including yoga or meditation, have also been shown to be helpful as a home remedy for acne, relieving chronic constipation or IBS, fighting chronic fatigue syndrome, reducing pain and lowering obesity risk.

How does ayurvedic medicine work?

Ayurvedic practitioners use a well-balanced healthy diet, lifestyle changes, stress relief and various herbal remedies to heal all sorts of conditions by helping bring the body back into balance. The overall belief is that disease and suffering result from an imbalance in the three doshas, or the body’s three basic energy types: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

According to Ayurvedic medicine, everyone is unique in terms of his or her individual balance between these three energy (or personality) types. Everyone has some vata, pitta and kapha to their personality, but usually one or two of the doshas are more dominant in a particular person; this ultimately governs body type, appetite, energy levels, moods and tendencies. Each dosha has both physical and emotional characteristics, so Ayurvedic practitioners use the three doshas to describe common traits of someone’s body type and personality.

Unlike the one-size-fits-all approach to western medical treatment, which fails to address the huge diversity among patients, Ayurveda takes into account individuality when prescribing holistic treatments.

The 3 doshas of Ayurvedic medicine

• Vata – Vata energy is often said to be like the wind. It’s primarily in charge of mobility, motion, circulation, breathing and other essential body functions. Vata types are known to be creative and energetic when they’re in balance but fearful, stressed and “scatter-brained” when they’re not. Physically, vata types are usually on the thin side, have smaller bones and tend not to put on weight easily. They also might be cold much of the time, have a delicate digestive system and have dry, sensitive skin.
• Pitta – Pitta is the energy force that governs most metabolic activity, including digestion, absorption of nutrients, body temperature and energy expenditure. Pitta types tend to be smart, hard-working and driven (even competitive) when in balance but can be overly angry and aggressive when they’re not. They tend to have a medium build, be athletic and are versatile in terms of putting on weight or muscle.
• Kapha – Kapha controls growth in the body and is considered the nourishing dosha. It supplies moisturize to the cells and organs and helps keep a strong immune system. Kaphas are known for being grounded, supportive, loving and forgiving when in balance – almost like a motherly type. However, they can also be lazy, insecure, envious and sad when they’re not in balance.

By helping to balance the three doshas – not letting one type become overly dominant and another to become ignored – handling stress, following a healthy diet, dealing with change and maintaining relationships are all expected to be easier.

Two of the most important aspects of restoring balance in Ayurveda is tuning in to the natural rhythms of your body and also bringing your lifestyle into sync with nature and its cyclical patterns. This includes lining up your activity level, food choices, sleep and so on with the time of day, seasons – and for women, even their menstrual cycles. Ayurveda can help ease stress and restore a healthy circadian rhythm in this way, which benefits everything from your hormones to appetite.

To help rebalance your doshas and prescribe a certain diet, healing herbs and restful practices, an Ayurvedic practitioner will take your medical history, check your vital signs such as your pulse and reflexes, examine your skin, look inside your mouth at your gums and tongue and speak to you about your sleep and relationships. All of these factors help the practitioner first determine your primary dosha, then figure out which aspects of the doshas might be out of balance – for example, if you’re overworking, under-sleeping or not consuming enough nutrients.

 

Ayurvedic medicine research and studies

One of the core benefits of Ayurveda and what makes it stand apart from western medicine is that it takes into account bioindividuality and a patient’s entire body-mind-spirit connection. Rather than treating symptoms with drugs and ignoring the underlying problems, Ayurvedic medicine aims to look at the root of disease and how it’s related to a person’s thoughts, beliefs and lifestyle – in other words, a person’s “vital energy.”

What’s especially of interest to researchers studying traditional healing symptoms such as Ayurveda is the power of the mind and its connection to the body. Since various studies have acknowledged that beliefs have the ability to change someone’s health, even after controlling for placebos, new health models are beginning to focus more on including the mind and its interaction with the body as a primary lever of curing diseases.

Better controlling stress seems to be one of the primary benefits of Ayurveda, according to a western medical viewpoint. We know that chronic stress can ruin your quality of life and that lower stress levels are correlated with better health, longevity, weight management and overall happiness. A healthier diet, natural herbs, better sleep and improved hormonal balance also all likely play a role in healing with Ayurvedic medicine.

7 benefits of Ayurvedic medicine

• Helps lower stress and anxiety

Because stress is related to nearly every aspect of overall health, an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner might call for a number of different techniques used to naturally treat anxiety and depression symptoms, lower cortisol and rebalance the body’s hormones or energy. These can include meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, herbal treatments, skin brushing, visualization or repeating inspirational mantras.

Studies have found that transcendental meditation, a component of one branch of Ayurveda called Maharishi, helps lower symptoms of anxiety with regular practice. Pranayama, a series of various targeted breathing exercises, also helps calm nerves and results in better energy, restful sleep and improved hormonal function. And while yoga isn’t always necessarily included in someone’s recovery plan, it, too, offers well-documented benefits for reducing stress and anxiety.

Over the past several decades, efforts have been underway to help find non-pharmacologic therapies to relieve stress and anxiety. Yoga has been shown to be a simple, low-cost and effective option for many people. One large-scale review conducted by St Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Massachusetts found that after reviewing over 35 trials investigating the effects of yoga, results from 25 trials showed significant improvements in signs and symptoms of stress and anxiety. Fourteen of the 35 studies also reported biochemical and physiological improvements in various markers of stress and anxiety.

Other research shows that regular yoga practice can improve autonomic nervous functions by triggering neuro-hormonal mechanisms and suppressing sympathetic activity, or the body’s “fight or flight” response. Several reports even suggest that yoga is beneficial for physical health of cancer patients and can effectively fight free radical damage.

• Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol

Studies show that Ayurveda diets and relaxation techniques can lower inflammation and help reduce plaque buildup, even reversing the thickening of artery walls known as atherosclerosis in both healthy adults and those with a higher risk for heart disease. Atherosclerosis is a slow, complex disease in which cholesterol, fats and other substances build up in the inner lining of an artery. This buildup, known as plaque, can lead to heart attack and stroke. Thankfully, Ayurvedic techniques lower cholesterol naturally and naturally lower blood pressure.

• Helps with recovery from injuries and illnesses

Research supports the idea of the Ayurvedic concept of immune-modulation and healing. By targeting inflammation, which is the root of most diseases, Ayurvedic medicine can help lower pain and swelling, improve blood flow and fight inflammatory conditions like arthritis and fibromyalgia as effectively as medication.

Ayurveda is also especially helpful in detoxing the body using various herbs, teas, healthy foods and plenty of rest. Certain practices also increase circulation and liver function. For example, Abhyanga is the practice of rubbing the skin with herbal or essential oils to increase blood flow and help draw toxins out of the body through the skin. Ayurveda practitioners might also prescribe various herbs that help lower cortisol such as holy basil or ashwagandha.

• Promotes a nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich diet

Ayurvedic medicine promotes a mostly plant-based diet filled with a variety of real, whole foods. While each person’s diet depends on body type and needs, Ayurvedic diets for the three different dosha types all include various fresh herbs, spices, teas, vegetables, healthy fats, high-antioxidant foods and protein.

General dietary guidelines of Ayurveda emphasize consuming fresh, hot and easy to digest foods, while taking into account several variations that depend on someone’s ancestry, customs and traditions. For example, Ayurveda practitioners consider social, geographic and climatic variables when prescribing a diet to balance the doshas.

In coastal areas, cooling and detoxifying fermented foods are common. For example, pickled, probiotic-rich foods are prescribed to help with digestion and temperature regulation. In other regions, and during colder parts of the year, healthy fats and hot foods are emphasized more to help warm the body and promote better circulation.

• Can help with weight loss or maintenance

While fast weight loss isn’t necessarily the primary goal, Ayurvedic medicine can help someone shed excess weight naturally using a healthy diet, stress reduction and even essential oils for weight loss. A 2009 study conducted by the NutriHealth Systems Center in New Delhi, India, found that adjusting someone’s healthy diet to take into account individual food preferences and needs helped participants lose weight effectively. This is likely because Ayurveda promotes compliance and believes that a diet should be balanced, practical and easy to follow.

Among the 200 subjects, 27.5 percent were vatta with lean body types, 41.5 percent were pitta with medium body types, and 31 percent were kapha-dominant with larger body types. At the beginning, kapha and pitta people weighed more than vatta people. After the three months of therapy, the pitta group lost the most weight. The decrease in all measurements was higher in pitta and kapha people than in vatta individuals, and the diets based on Ayurvedic constitution proved to be useful in promoting weight loss for those who needed it.

• Lowers inflammation

Ayurvedic medicine rests on the assumption that a combination of a poor diet, bad digestion, not enough rest or sleep and insufficient air (vaayu) inhaled cause oxidative stress and inflammation. This results in an imbalance in metabolism – or in other words – in the three doshas.

The focus of Ayurvedic healing looks at using various ways of reducing inflammation with hopes of regulating the heart and circulatory system, digestive tract and the means of elimination of wastes. People are prescribed a combination of herbal treatments, antioxidants to quench free radicals, exercise that is gentle but boosts metabolism and circulation, and a combination of phytochemicals from natural herbs. By addressing many factors including stress, individual food intolerances, overstimulation and a lack of nutrients, many people experience lower levels of inflammation and increased energy and healing.

Researchers have found one benefit of Ayurveda is the belief that one herb or one drug alone cannot cure the imbalance of doshas for everyone. Therefore, in most cases, Ayurveda practitioners recommend a combination of herbs and plants or staple foods for different inflammatory treatments. A good example is the ancient recommendation for an herbal formulation of beneficial turmeric in combination with black pepper.

Studies have found this mixture increases the bioavailibilty of beneficial compounds, reduces toxicity and speeds healing. It’s now known that the bioavailibity of curcumin – the active ingredient of turmeric – is increased by piperine, an active compound in black pepper, by preventing the glucuronidation of the curcumin.

• Helps with hormonal balance

People have turned to Ayurveda to balance hormones naturally, conceive and have a healthy, natural pregnancy or menstrual cycle for thousands of years. Studies have even shown that various therapeutic effects of Ayurveda have been effective in helping to treat subfertility due to Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age, resulting from insulin resistance and hormonal imbalances.

A 2010 study done by the Institute of Indigenous Medicine at The University of Colombo in Sri Lanka found that using various essential oils to balance hormones, herbal treatments and lifestyle changes daily for a six-month period resulted in 85 percent of the female patients successfully overcoming Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, with 75 percent of the patients being able to naturally conceive. Ayurveda treatment regimens have also helped women for centuries overcome absent periods (amenorrhea) or infrequent menstruation, irregular periods, infrequent or no ovulation, multiple immature follicles, increased levels of male hormones, thinning hair, excess facial and body hair growth and various symptoms of PMS, including acne and oily skin.

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This article originally appeared on DrAxe.com and is republished here with permission.