— The relevance of Ayurveda in present day health care system —
Part – 1
“Soyam Ayurveda shashwato nirdishyathe” claims the Rishi in the charaka samhita. The science of Ayurveda is eternal, because it deals with things which are inherent in Nature.The science of Ayurveda, deals with the factors that influence the happiness (health) and the unhappiness lill health) of the living beings , the causative factors, clinical signs and symptoms and the therapeutic approaehes. The Rishis were clear that there will be no such times when this science will be irrelevant.
Sincere and tireless efforts have been made in the western world, for the promotion of health and the control of diseases.Because of the efforts of these scientists and health workers we have a huge armamentarium, loaded with vaccines, antibiotics, nuclear imaging techniques, laminar flow operation theaters, anti proliferative agents and many more diagnostic and therapeutic tools ,to tackle the scourge of diseases.
We will briefly overlook the progress of medicine in the past few centuries. AR omran, has studied the evolution of health care in the western hemisphere and has broadly divided them into the following phases .
1. Age of pestilence and famine( Before 1900)
2 .Age of receding pandemics(1900-1930)
3.Age of Degenerative man made diseases (1930-1965)
4. Age of delayed degenerative diseases 1965.2000)
5. Age of inactivity and obesity
These phases seem to be applicable to the other developed and developing nations as well.In the initial years the main diseases that affected mankind (especially in the west and their colonies) were related to infections and lack of adequate nutrition. The major causes of death were diarrheal diseases, and other epidemics. All effort was directed in controlling these during this era of pestilence and famine. Then the era of industrialization started, initially in the west and subsequently in their colonies . The rail way networks were established in the early twentieth century. The transport of non perishable food stuffs like cereals and livestock was facilitated. So the food became more widely available. And also better public health facilides enabled better control of infectious diseases. Not only foodstuffs, but factory rolled cigarettes also became cheaper and easily available. The widespread industrialization shifted the population from the villages to the towns.With the increasing dependence on mechanization, the physical activity levels came down drastically.With the abundant availability of high calorie food stuffs, cigarettes and poor activity levels, the age of degenerative man made diseases set in. These diseases were predominantly cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis, obesity, chronic lung disease etc. With the advancement in health care, the mortality associated with these diseases was brought down and average life span improved.Thus the era of delayed degenerative diseases started.With the entertainment revolution, powered by the advancement in technology, now we have to battle problems related to inactivity like childhood obesity.And now the challenges we face are related to the mechanized life and high calorie energy rich fast foods which are manifesting as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, strokes,Cancers arthritis,etc,etc
0 Comments