HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Dr. Remya Krishnan MD PhD ( Ay) Associate Professor &Head of Department,

Dept.of Clinical Pharmacology in Ayurveda

Govt. Ayurveda Medical college ,Mahe

What is health?

Health is the cumulative effect of : Normal structures in the body Normal functioning of all structures in the body Normal anabolism , metabolism and catabolism in the

body. Normal excretory processes, both internal as well as

external. Clear state of self (Atma), mind (Manas) and all motor

and sense organs ( Indriyas). “ Sukha samjnakam arogyam” -HEALTH IS HAPPINESS

Evidence based parameters of health in Ayurveda

• We need not become a doctor to self estimate our health.

Appearance of normal voice and complexion No sufferings of any kind in body and mind. Optimum nourishment of the body (Normal BMI ) Increase in physical strength and immune response. Good appetite at meal time Desire to take the food at times of appetite . Proper digestion of food Good sleep at appropriate time with absence of undesirable dreams . Fresh and enthusiastic feeling on waking up. Proper elimination of urine stool, normal and undisturbed menstrual cycles in

ladies. Unimpairment of mind, intellect and senses with association of all health

parameters above

Now you know

• The cause and circumstances for health and disease are unique.

• Now you know that health is not the absence of disease .

• Health is but the presence of all specific criteria of health .

• Abnormality in any or all these parameters clearly indicate ill health .

Factors which affect health

• The nature of air you breathe .

• The nature of environment you live in.

• The nature of food you eat .

• The nature of physical activity you are engaged in.

• The nature of diet, regimen and treatment that you adopt when you are sick .

• The nature of your genetic predisposition .

• The nature of your mother’s health in pregnancy, diet and medicaments by your mother during her pregnancy.

Prajnaaparadha – cause of ill health

• Prajnaaparadha is the state of absence of knowledge to distinguish what is favourableand what is unfavourable in accordance to the status of your body and mind.

Dhee bhramsha –Impaired Dhee (intellect ) .

Dhrithi bhramsha – Impaired Dhrithi (self control) .

Smruthi bhramsha – Impaired smrithi(memory of experiences )

Dhee bhramsha – Impaired intellect

• The reason is absence of accurate knowledge on how to recognise what is favourable and what is unfavourable and why it is so.

Example , we think that filtered water is safe to drink because we are deprived of the real knowledge that unboiled water is heavy to digest , slows down the metabolism and drainage in course of time, induces blockage in circulatory channels and hence not safe for regular drinking.

Another example for Dhee bhramsha

• Our intellect gets altered ( Dhee bhramsha) many times by wrong information . Example, we think that lemons and oranges are good in cold as they contain Vitamin C . But the truth is that all sour things infact aggravate the mucous and circumstances for thriving of microbes in the body and also inflammation .

• If you drink lemon/orange juice in cold , cold will aggravate within minutes .Your nose & throat will be full of mucous, your cold will shoot up !

Dhrithi bhramsha

• Dhrithi bhramsha is poor mental control despite of proper awareness .

Example ,When your doctor tells you to avoid chocolates / milk / cool drinks for a specific period by reasoning , you neglect his advice.

Taking bath when you have sinusitis by neglecting medical advice

Smruthi bhramsha

• Smruthi bhramsha is inability to recall the experiences .

Example, a person once if once had an aggravation of Asthma by eating pickles forgetting the same and eating again .

A person getting sudden acute sprain applies pain balm by forgetting the fact that pain balm augmented pain last time when he did that .

Ways to health

• True knowledge of causes and circumstances of health and ill health .

• Practice of self control at times of health and ill health .

• Memorising the impact of diet and regimen practiced at times of your ill health.

Food

• How much food we need ?It is completely dependent on your power of appetite and digestion. Eating not in accordance to appetite makes you unhealthy .

• When should we eat ? We must eat only when we get appetite . Appetite comes after the digestion of previous meal you have taken .

• How will I recognise appetite? Obviously you will start feeling to eat . Apart from that you will feel light and energetic . Your belching will be devoid of any smell of previously consumed food. It is important to recognise appetite before eating

• How much should I eat ?You must leave some space in stomach to allow proper digestion and also for water. This will ensure the proper digestion and normal peristaltic movements .Do not eat full stomach .

Do you know?

• Are there any side effects for over nutrition? Most of the diseases in Kerala today prevailing among children and youngsters like infections, inflammatory disorders , allergies, poor concentration, memory loss, recurrent infections of all kinds , stunted growth despite of dumping of nutrients, Diabetes, dyslipidemia, heart attack etc are chiefly owing to over nutrition or incorrect nutrition at times of health as well as disease .

What food should I take ?

• We have to include all the six tastes in our food – sweet, sour, pungent, salty, bitter and astringent .

• The cereals are sweet in taste ,ghee ( the best sweet fat for you) less sour buttermilk , optimum salt , moderate spices , bitter vegetables like bitter gourd, snake gourd, turmeric etc and astringent beans, lentils, peas, lettuce, and other green leafy vegetable.

Scientific evidence in Ayurveda

• Balanced diet is the diet is that which incorporates optimised use of all the six tastes in the diet at health in the form of cereals , pulses , healthy fats , vegetables and fruits which are compatible to the status of your body at the time of food intake and power of digestion.

• Continuous excess use of any taste will provoke unhealthy circumstances in the body which could trigger an infection, allergies, inflammatory diseases , hair fall , Diabetes, cancer, skin ailments , obesity , Asthma , poor memory ,bleeding disorders etc etc .

• Vegetarian predominant diet is most compatible to our gut and body .

Scientific evidence in AyurvedaTaste ( excess use ) Bad effects

Sweet foods ( rice , chappathies,sweets, chocolates, biscuits ,milk and milk products etc)

Thyroid anomalies, obesity, poor appetite,obstruction in blood vessels Memory loss, Cancer, worm infestation , Ascites, etc

Sour foods ( curd, pickles, sauces, sour fruits, tamarind , Malabar tamarind , small bananas , citrus fruits etc)

Fragility of body tissues, Anaemia, visual impairment , trigger of respiratory and skin allergies , bleeding disorders, edema, vertigo etc .

Salty foods ( pappads, namkeen, pickles, dried fish ,curd chillies etc)

Baldness, premature greying of hair, excess thirst, increased body heat , inflammatory disorders , bleeding disorders, impaired circulation , loss of immune strength etc.

Pungent foods ( chillies, pickles, spicy chutneys, garlic,turmeric , fish , chicken etc )

Giddiness, circulatory defects , weakness, impaired fertility , loss of body fat , degenerative process triggered.

Bitter foods ( Bitter gourd, turmeric, unsweetened cocoa, coffee, citrus peel )

Weakness, loss of strenth, impaired circulation, atherogenesis, dehydration

Astringent foods ( green leafy vegetables, green bananas , apples , lentils , peas )

Impaired feritility, emaciation of body, obstruction of bowel and bladder reflexes, sudden onset of paralysis

IMPORTANT CAUSES OF ALL DISEASES

Excess nutrition

1. Eating before the previous meal gets fully digested .

2. Eating excess quantity of food more than required by your body.

Incorrect nutrition

1. Nutrition not suited to the status of the body .

2. Nutrition not suited to the status of the disease

INCORRECT NUTRITION ( scientific evidence in Ayurveda)

• Unsuited diet for daily use- Paneer, pork meat, beef, fish , curd, black gram .Regular intake of these foods would eventually accelerate undesirable reactions in body tissues and result in abnormal immune response , recurrent infections, Allergies, autoimmune diseases, cancers , hypertension , cardiovascular diseases , blood borne diseases , bleeding diseases etc.

• Use of unsuitable diet which triggers the cause of a disease – The use of even one tsp of milk /oil during infections would aggravate the same within minutes as milk/oil is a good culture medium for microbes to grow and multiply

Infections

• Infections are the result of declined immune response to fight the microbes .

• The real culprit are not the microbes , but the adverse circumstances within your body which favour the growth and virulence of microbes .

• The nature of food and water we consume at the time of infections crucially determine the period of recovery from all infections.

If you stay on these foods in infections, you recover amazingly fast !

Microbes survive and multiply in your blood when you are on these foods !

Fermented foods Fruits Milk and milk products Fish , eggs and meat Unboiled waterTender coconut, juices Fried foods

Advantages of Evidence Based Ayurveda (EBA) in infections

• If you follow the guidelines of Evidence Based Ayurveda , recovery period is not more than three days for any acute infection.

• You will feel active and acquire all other parameters of health during the period of recovery .

• Your immune strength will enhance which protects you from any kind of infection in near future.

Recovery= Health

Allergies

• Allergies are not because of declined immune strength but because of altered immune response .

• Altered immune response is because of undesirable antagonism developing in body tissues which develop by the practice of unfavourable diet, regimen and treatment at times of any illness .

• They create latent toxicity in the tissues and provoke Hypersensitivity ( Allergic) reactions .

Evidence Based Management of Allergies

• The scientific treatment for Allergies in Ayurvedais not avoiding dust and smoke but changing the internal circumstances of the body and rectifying the altered immune response.

• The results are fast and primarily focussed on neutralisation of toxins in the circulation in stage 1 and rectification of immune response in stage 2

• Practice of scientific diet and regimen makes the recovery process fast .

Healthy eating

• Healthy diet is the compatible right nutrition for you in the right amount consumed in accordance to your body/ disease status

• Eat only when you are hungry .

• Eat light warm vegetarian foods with predominance of all the six tastes and sweet ( carbohydrates) in predominance in accordance to your appetite.

• Bakery foods, fish and meat, junks and juices, ice creams, cold drinks, chocolates etc are to be highly restricted if you really want a long healthy life

• Drink hot medicated (dry ginger + coriander seeds)frequently in small quantities to improve digestion, metabolism, circulation and excretion .

• Practice moderate physical exercise in empty stomach .

• Follow the special nutrition schedule when you are sick for fast recovery .Follow the advice of science based practitioner of Ayurveda.

Special Nutrition SchedulePRACTICE THIS WHENEVER YOU ARE SICK BY ANY MEANS FOR

FAST RECOVERY !!

Special Nutrition Schedule (SNS) is the specific diet plan and regimen in accordance to the scientific guidelines of Ayurveda to be practiced when you are sick by any means for fast recovery .

• Hot moderate spicy oil free vegetarian food .• No milk and milk products, sour foods, fruits , non

vegetarian foods , bakery , sweets and fermented foods .• No oil bath ( no head bath in respiratory infections ), no

unboiled water or cold water, cool drinks, fruits and fruit juices, tender coconut, HEALTH DRINKS etc .

• Stick on to cooked cereals, rice, dry chappathies , cooked vegetables with moderate spices and salt and frequent intake of hot boiled water ( dry ginger + coriander seeds)

First Aid – Trauma

Cuts and scrapes - Minor cuts and scrapes usually don't require a trip to hospital.

1. Wash the wound thoroughly with clean running water . Dry the area by sterile cotton.

2. Give one Vilwadi tablet immediately to avoid the wound getting septic.

3. To stop the bleeding and accelerate the healing process, apply cotton pad soaked in an Ayurvedic medicine called Murivenna and dress the area well by bandage clothe .

TRAUMA FIRST AID

Wash by clean running water and dryDress the wound by Murivenna soaked sterile cotton pad and leave it for three hours

DO NOT APPLY ANY OTHER OILS OTHER THAN MURIVENNA !

Avoid ice rubbing !

• Never apply ice packs over the injured area !!

• Ice packs impair the circulation to the injured area and delays healing.

• Though ice packs immediately numbs the area and relieves the pain temporarily ,it will induce the chances of nerve tissue and muscle damage and cooling also increases muscular spasms , musle inflammation and pain eventually. The pain becomes intolerable in minutes and for that you are prescribed pain killers !

• Next time, apply Murivenna bandage immediately after washing well and drying for fast healing !!!

First Aid – Trauma

• The earlier Murivenna is applied, stitching could be avoided even for jagged wound which exposes fat and muscle.

• Murivenna accelerates the healing of wound and prevents the chance of infections. Murivenna also prevents the chances of haematoma formation and other complications .

• Murivenna plastering is employed for fracture management in Ayurveda .

• Medical monitoring is required for five days in moderate to severe trauma .

• Special nutrition schedule should be followed ideally for five days .

FIRST AID – Acute Pain

• Acute pain (non traumatic) happens by inflammatory process in your body .

• Any kind of balm or oil application or cold packs over the area will immediately trigger the inflammation and accelerates the pain within minutes.

• Apply dry heat over the area, follow special nutrition schedule and seek Ayurvedic medical help , you will be relieved in not more than 24-48 hours

Ayurvedic ORT

• Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) checks all possible

complications of diarrhoea and vomiting .• Ayurvedic ORS is not merely targeted fast preventing

dehydration, but also therapeutically aims at enhancing the metabolism and effective drainage of microbial /food toxins and also provides optimum nourishment to body tissues .

• Take five tablespoons full of Malar as well as half tsp of Jeera in 10 glasses of water , boil well and give only three tsps in every twenty minutes .

• Ayurvedic ORT treats the disease and stabilises the patient status very fast under medical monitoring in intended cases .

Finally you must know

• The cause and circumstances of health are different from disease .

• Disturbance in health parameters indicates the chances of any disease .

• All diseases progress primarily owing to practice of incorrect and

unscientific nutrition and regimen and not by the deficiency of medicine .

• The best time to improve your health is when you are sick .

• Cure of disease could be only confirmed by the attainment of features of health in the body

HYGIENE IN AYURVEDA

• Hygiene refers to all conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases.

• Hygiene practices refer to the cleaning of environment which we are a part of as well as internal and external hygiene measures for our body and mind .

• There are evidence based guidelines in Ayurvedafor practice of environmental as well as personal hygiene

Air and environment

It is our duty and responsibility to make our environment clean.

Recycle paper, plastic, glass bottles, cardboard, and aluminum cans. (This conserves energy and reduces production emissions.)

Sewage, chemical &organic wastes should not be released into the water bodies.

Avoid or minimise the use of ozone depleting chemicals as they deplete the ozone layer.

Grow plants and allow them to survive long . There are herbs used for medicated fumigation to

disinfect air like Guggulu , Saral, turmeric etc

PERSONAL HYGIENE PRACTICES

• Healthy person should get up in Brahma muhurtha (last three hours of night- 3 am to 6 am )

• Brushing of teeth –Patients suffering from indigestion, vomiting, dyspnoea, cough , fever , facial paralysis , ulcerations of mouth , diseases above neck , must clean by their fingers and not with tooth brush .

• Medicated gargles are advised in accordance to the situation .

• Oil application – Head, ears and feet – good vision, nourishment to body , hair , good sleep, long life and healthy skin

PERSONAL HYGIENE

• Contraindication of oil : All infections, inflammations, allergies,

indigestion, sprain .• Physical exercise – Moderate physical activity for lightness of

body, improving digestion and metabolism, efficiency of functions of all organs, reduction of excess fat, attainment of stable and distinct physique .

• Contraindication- Indigestion, infections, degenerative changes , exertion above food are contraindicated for exercise.

• Bath- in luke warm water over body ( not head) bestows strength, mental wellbeing, removes bad dreams at night , removes the accumulated dirt and dust, enhances lustre of the skin, auspicious, alleviates tiredness

HYGIENE PRACTICES

• Contraindications : Infections,diarrhoea , inflammation in any part of the body, indigestion or just above food.

• Persons should take food only after the digestion of previous food and only those foods that are suitable to his body status in limited quantity .

• You should neither forcefully initiate urges nor suppress them . Attending calls of nature on time is extremely important to maintain your internal biological rhythm .

Points to ponder

Personal hygiene practices are not the same in health and disease

When you are sick, hygiene practice guidelines will be suggested in accordance to your nature of illness and status of body .

Practice of scientific nutrition schedule is the best hygiene practice which gives you thousand times more protection from all kinds of infections than antiseptic hand wash.

Hygiene of interior of the body is the crucial determinant of period of recovery from infections as well as extent of protection of family .

INTERNAL HYGIENE IS CRUCIAL

Fermented foods Fruits (in unsuited status)Milk and milk products

(in unsuited status)Fish , eggs and meat Unboiled waterTender coconut, juices Fried foods Primary causes

Without internal hygiene measures, no use of external hygiene measures !

MENTAL HYGIENE – Sadvritta

• Happiness should be based on dharma (righteousness) .

• Friends should be served with affection and help , whereas wicked persons should be kept at a distance.

• Himsa (Causing injury to others), Steya (stealing ), Anyathaakama ( interest in others’ belongings), Paishunya (abusive language), anritha vachana ( telling lies), sambhinnaaalaapa ( initiating quarrel), vyaapaada ( intention of causing harm) , abhidya (jealousy ), drigviparyaya ( finding fault with scholars and Gurus) are the ten sins that should be avoided

MENTAL HYGIENE

• Those who have no means of livelihood , who are suffering from diseases and who are afflicted with grief are to be supported by all possible means .

• Even the animals and other fellow creatures should be treated with passion and kindness.

• God, cow, teachers, scholars , elders , the physician, the king and the guest should be always honoured with great respect . Surrendering to them ensure our long healthy and peaceful life .

• One should maintain a balanced mind in periods of wealth as well as crisis .

HYGIENE• One should speak appropriate to the occasion and on the target and truth

always.

• One should neither believe everybody nor suspect every one . One must apply his wisdom to distinguish truth and untruth .

• The sense organs should be neither strained nor fondled too much .

• One should take undiplomatic decisions in life by avoiding over attatchment to anything .

• One should cut his nails, trim hairs and moustaches on time , keep his feet and all orifices clean , take bath daily at health and wear hygienic clothing which is pleasant .

• One should use umbrella in sun and rain , should not sneeze, laugh or yawn without covering mouth .

• One should not unnecessarly blow his nose , not scratch the ground without any reason , nor do ugly movements or sit on ones own heels for too long.

HYGIENE

• One should not engage in exertional activities beyond his strength and threshold .

• Should not gaze at the sun for too long

• One should engage himself in a profession which is righteous , which bestows peace of mind and that which constantly encourages him to learn.

• One should not engage in liquor business .

• Compassion for all living beings, practice of self control in physical and mental activities as well as speech , ability to find others interests as one’s own are the chief rules of moral conduct in Ayurveda

Internal hygiene is MOST important !!!

When you are sick , follow these Eat light hot fresh food Dry ginger water No junk Eat more vegetarian food

Do not take bath at feverand head bath during cold .

Points to ponder

• Hygiene- health care practices in Ayurveda are advocated for long healthy peaceful life and fast recovery from all physical and mental ailments .

• Constant practice of these guidelines greatly withholds the instinct for crime in the society .

• Incorporation of health and hygiene guidelines of Evidence Based Ayurveda in school curriculumimmensely contributes to the physical and mental health progress and wellbeing of tomorrow’s citizens .

THANK YOU !

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