Ayurveda with Diabetes and a Little Bit on Sleep Deprivation

Looking into ayurveda, there is a lot to be found about healing and medicine. I wanted to go past that and learn a little bit more about the origins of the word/concept. We did talk about how ayur means “life” and veda means “knowledge” but I wanted to see exactly where it came from and the why behind it. What I found is that the concept dates back to over 1000 years ago in India and yet, it is still talked about today. I learned that ayurveda encompasses various systems and focuses on a balance between order and disorder (www.healthandhealingny.org). The first thing that always comes to my mind when I hear the word balance is homeostasis. To me, ayurveda is like a much broader meaning of homeostasis where we are looking at balance is all things in life. I’m sure my interpretation of the word/concept will change as we go but for now, balance and homeostasis are how I’ll look at ayurveda.

For our research project, my group chose a topic in which we can apply the concept of ayurveda. We wanted to see if an imbalance in sleep can lead to an imbalance in regulating blood glucose levels, leading to diabetes. I’m sure most people would agree that sleep is essential to maintain good health but could it possibly lead to a serious condition like diabetes?

Discussing diabetes in class has been a great kickstart for my group’s project. Reviewing the physiology behind diabetes has given us great background information about the disease. As we talked about in class, type 2 tells us the body is either resistant to and doesn’t produce enough insulin. As I’ve learned from research, which may be commonly known, sleep is essential for recovery and restoration. Thinking back to balance it would make sense that sleep, which is so important for maintaining a healthy body, could have an impact on cells and their ability to react to insulin. As I said before, this has been a great start but we want to find more information on the behind this disease.

Over the course of my biology courses at SUU, I feel like I have learned quite a bit about diabetes. However, it wasn’t until our class discussion that I started thinking about the holistic impact that the disease can have on the body. Relating the idea of ayurveda to diabetes, I began thinking of how the imbalance of the disease can lead to other imbalances in the body. As we have seen, irregular glucose levels can lead to cardiovascular issues, renal failure, amputation, nerve pain and more. The complications associated with diabetes are so far reaching and it seems most people don’t even realize this.

Diving deeper into the topic, our class has had some intriguing discussions on the disease. Discussions covering the costs of treating diabetes and pondering potential causes behind diabetes becoming an epidemic. A popular opinion is that it is more convenient to eat poorly and that poor diet could lead to the development of the disease. I agreed with that rationale but I think another important piece to the puzzle is that diabetes is relatively easy to manage. With pumps and insulin shots, people can “stay on top” of the disease and minimize symptoms. Due to this, I think people are less likely to try and be active and instead rely on medication. I’ve seen this in doctors’ offices where patients have a choice between taking several medications and exercising daily. Without much surprise, the vast majority chose the former. I believe that mentality is a big part of why diabetes has spiked in the U.S.

A quick sidebar on the costs of diabetes. Reading through Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2017, I was truly amazed at the costs of diabetes, both direct and indirect. One eye-popping stat to me was that 1 in 4 health care dollars spent is attributable to diabetes. I suppose that stat doesn’t seem as unreasonable when you account for all the far reaching implications of the disease. Diabetes causes complications in the heart, kidneys, nerves, vasculature, etc. so ~$330 billion going towards treating the disease actually makes a lot of sense. I knew CVD was a leading cause of death in the U.S. but I never realize that manifestation of that disease can be very well attributed to diabetes. Referring back to ayurveda and balance, it seems an imbalance in the body can snowball into an imbalance in a nation’s economy.

Some final thoughts on diabetes, for now at least. I want to share a personal story about a family member of mine that has struggled with the disease. This family member has type 2 diabetes and frankly, they do very little to manage their condition. Very poor diet choices, lack of physical activity and poor management of medication has lead to several paramedic visits. Recently, this relative had to be hospitalized and sent to the ICU in an effort to wake them from a diabetic coma. Even with several near death occurrences, this family member continues to ignore advice on how to better manage their illness. I wanted to share this story not to berate my family member but rather to show an example of how hard it can be to change someone’s lifestyle, especially if they don’t think they need to change. Combating diabetes has to start at the ground level; teaching kids to stay active and develop good eating habits. Waiting for the disease to develop or waiting till someone develops bad habits is far too late.

Now, to wrap up this blog post. These past few weeks have been full of new information to me. Ayurveda, costs of diabetes, sleep deprivation as it relates to the disease, etc. There has been a lot to think about. I would say my biggest take-away from this class so far is thinking more holistically. Not just toward how diseases affect the body but how they can cause imbalances in unknown areas of life. I’m enjoying this ayurveda way of thinking and I’m excited to see where it takes me during this course.