Curated Paper 1 Ayurveda & Diabetes

Haley Yates

Capstone 4500

Curated Paper 1

            For this capstone course, a central theme that we will be focusing on is balance. Part of the idea of balance is a term Ayurveda. I have never heard the term Ayurveda once in my entire 21 years of living. I’ve heard of the concept of mind, body, and spirit and how they are all connected, but I never knew there was term for it. The root word “ayur” means life, and “veda” refers to knowledge, or science. So, in whole it’s the connection of science to life. We’ve talked about how there needs to be a balance between various things in the body. For example, there are different antagonistic systems that use opposing hormones, like insulin and glucagon, to keep the body in a balance. When we step out of this balance is when there can be disease, such as diabetes in this example. Other examples include the cell cycle getting out of balance resulting in cancer, threshold effect resulting in autoimmune diseases, etc. This term, Ayurveda, is our theme for the semester, so I’m going to try to find connections between these different elements, not only in this class, but in my everyday life. Something interesting we talked about today was the difference between mind and spirit and how our backgrounds could influence how we define these terms. We all have different experiences and values and so we all have a different perspective on this class, SUU, Utah, and life in general. We all have something to add to the conversation because we are all different and see the world differently. And we can use our past experiences from previous classes to make connections in this capstone class.

            I tried to find connections from my previous classes in my everyday life. I’m currently a biology tutor in the tutoring center and students are coming in with questions about the chemistry portion of their Biology 1610 course. I tried to show them that electron movement and the various different bonds come into play when they start talking about structure of proteins, or the electron transport chain in cellular respiration and photosynthesis. It may not seem relevant to them now, but it is important to know so they can understand content later in the course. It applies to the idea of this capstone class. Previous knowledge from all our classes applies to this one. In regard to Ayurveda, I’ve noticed that when I feel sick, or my body is out of balance, my mind suffers as well. I often feel tired, unable to pay attention, and am easily distracted. So that’s a connection between body and mind that I experience all the time.

            After some further research on Ayurveda, I’ve found that there is a whole institution dedicated to living this balanced lifestyle. Ayurveda isn’t just a word, it’s a way of life. The website I found talked about the maintenance of healthy living through balance in right thinking, diet, lifestyle, and the use of herbs. To me, it seems a little strange to dedicate your life to this stuff. I understand the connection between mind, body, and spirit, and can see that balance is important to health, but this just isn’t for me.

            The website also stated that balance is order, unbalance is disorder; heath is order, disease is disorder. I can see how this now relates to this course. According to this definition, when there is an imbalance in the body, the result is a disease. However, the body does a pretty good job of keeping itself in balance. There are various systems in place for that specific reason. When the body gets too far out of balance or these regulatory systems malfunction, then there is some sort of disease. I also thought it was interesting that they have three different energies of the body. They each govern a different aspect of the body and depending on which one is out of balance can result in a different disorder. And to maintain that balance is different for everybody because we all have our own energy. There’s not a lot we can control, but they mention that we do have control over diet and lifestyle and that we can strengthen the body, mind, and consciousness. I’m not sure I buy into the idea that changing the way I think or what I eat can make a disease go away. I guess I’ve been more exposed to western medicine and would rather take a drug or have a surgery to help me heal.

            Diabetes is a good example of the need for balance in the body. An imbalance of hormones in the blood, specifically insulin, results in the disease. There can either be no insulin secreted or cells don’t respond to it. Either way, the increased glucose now causes an imbalance resulting in a disease. It demonstrates the need for balance with hormones and their pathways in the body. The effects of diabetes reach out beyond the biology of the body as well. Imbalances in your lifestyle can lead to diabetes too. This goes back the Ayurveda concept of control. We have control over our diet and exercise and so can strengthen, or weaken in the case of diabetes, our body, mind, and consciousness.

Diabetes is something that I’m familiar with. My grandpa and my aunt both had it, and both died from diabetes related complications. I also have a friend that has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was little and has lived with it her whole life. One of the papers we read for class talked about ways to manage diabetes and a big preventative was lifestyle changes. My grandpa lost his legs because of diabetes, and ultimately died because of heart failure. My aunt also mismanaged her diabetes and lost her life as well. My friend with type 1 has always been diligent about checking her blood sugar and watching what she eats. She’s had some medical complications because of the disease, but she’s managed it well enough that the disease doesn’t dictate her life. I watched the health of my grandpa and aunt decline because they weren’t willing to make little lifestyle changes that would have helped manage the effects of having diabetes that would have led to a better quality of life, and maybe even a longer life.

Diabetes has genetic tendencies and so with several of my family members diagnosed, I always wonder if I might be diagnosed someday. But I think type 2 diabetes relies heavily on lifestyle. The paper we read for class said that the reduction in the incidence of diabetes was directly associated with the degree of lifestyle change. If I manage my lifestyle by exercising and watching what I eat, I can prevent being diagnosed with diabetes. And according to Ayurveda, strengthen my mind as well as my body. I’ve seen my mom make the same types of lifestyle changes to prevent a diagnosis as well. This goes into the education part of a disease. I’ve seen firsthand the burden that diabetes can have. And I’ve also seen the effects of a healthy lifestyle. I’ve learned from personal experience as well as in a classroom. Not everyone has the opportunity to learn like that. And even other students on SUU’s campus won’t hear about diseases in a classroom. It’s easier for me to make the choice to lead a healthy lifestyle because I’ve seen the effects of diabetes being managed and mismanaged. It might be harder for someone to change their lifestyle when they’ve been diagnosed at age 65, and have been living a certain way for so long.

While we’ve been talking about diabetes and exercise, I was reminded of a class I took as a freshman. It was Wellness Dynamics and I had forgotten I even took that class until today. This is another example of education having a role with disease. I honestly don’t remember a lot from that class, but I remember going through the different body systems and talking a little bit about the diseases associated with the body systems. I was exercising a lot more while I was taking this class. The effects of being exposed to possible diseases and the benefits of exercising motivated me to go running. Maybe, the more people hear about diabetes and its risks, the more people would be willing to make lifestyle changes. The paper talked about health care professionals specifically identifying high-risk patients to help them prevent a diagnosis. However, I don’t think it should just fall on them. Doctors can only do so much. It should be a responsibility for all community members. But I guess it ultimately falls on the individual. They must make the choice themselves. It just might be easier if they’re more informed.

For me, diseases just don’t seem real until it’s happening to me. I didn’t think I’d break a bone, until I crashed a dirt bike. I didn’t know that kind of pain until I experienced it. Sometimes people won’t change their lifestyle until they get diagnosed with diabetes. But then it’s too late. I can sit here and educate people on the risks of diabetes all day long, but if they’re like me, they won’t think it applies to them. This disconnect between mind and body could be the downfall of many people getting diagnosed with diabetes, or any other disease for that matter. If more people, myself included, can learn to apply this idea of Ayurveda and take control of their lifestyle, diet, and exercise, in turn strengthening their body and mind, perhaps the increase of diabetes diagnosis will slow down.