Teresa De Enrique

Capstone; Biology of Disease

09/23/2018

Curated Paper 1:

                Ayurveda,” The science of Life”, is one of the oldest meanings in science that basically focus on human health with the only use of natural sources and habits. This Indian concept states that in order to have a healthy life, without any serious disease, we have to show a healthy balance between body, mind and spirt. Basically, it wants us to realize that having a healthy life does not mean not being sick or the use of medications and drugs; “healthy” in this context means having a good-healthy diet that provides your body with all the necessary nutrients, exercise, good sleep and positive thinking. Sometimes our body shows symptoms of sickness, such as fever, headaches, stomach ache and sore throat, but all of these are necessary reactions that our body needs to go through in order to fight the disease. That’s why when we are sick we shouldn’t immediately start taking antibiotics but we should first let our body do its job and ‘sweat everything out (the virus)” through natural ways.

                  For example, this week I been having a severe cold and it made me think about Ayurveda. I thought about how our body shows different protection barriers against viruses in order to fight the cold without the use of any hard medications, such as propolis and tea with honey. When we are sick just the fact of eating healthier, drink a lot of water/orange juice and having a good long sleep can help our body to recover and fight the cold. This process can take longer than using medication, but it’s a better and healthier way for our body and it also helps against antibiotic resistance. Moreover, I wasn’t able to go work out because I wasn’t feeling very good and I also had a lot to study for my histology class. Not being able to work out this past 5 days made me feel very different, kind of sad and disappointment at myself. Today was the first day I went out again and did a small work out at the gym, at the end of my work out I already felt much better than when I started working out. This made me realize that sometimes when we get out of our comfort, in my case out of bed, and we go do something it makes our mind feel better which in turn makes our body feel better as well. Exercise is part of the Ayurveda concept and it show me that it actually works, I would highly recommend everyone to go out and do something that they enjoy doing because it will make them feel way better.

                Exercise and having a healthy diet in general is something very important due to the fact that it can come directly in contact with the appearance of diseases, such as obesity and high blood levels. Obesity and high blood levels of glucose comes in hand with diabetes; diabetes is when the blood glucose is too high, meaning there is no balance and so diseases start to appear. Suffering from diabetes is not one of the most dangerous disease but its consequences can help for the appearance of bigger ones, such as cancer or heart disease.

                In addition, Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) is often found in diabetes as well, and is when the body does not have enough insulin or cannot use the insulin to turn it into glucose. If people suffer from Hyperglycemia and get not treated they can end up suffering from other diseases, such as heart disease, damage in the eyes and kidney, nerve damage and periodental disease. A person suffering from hyperglycemia is going to show an increase in thirst, headaches, trouble concentrating, blurred vision, frequent peeing, fatigue, and blood sugar more than 180mg/dL. Having high blood sugar can happen if someone eats too much or does not exercise enough. This means that obesity increases the changes of suffering from diabetes. Now a day, there is not a cure for diabetes which means that once you get it there is no way back; this should already shock everyone to take care of themselves by having a healthy life style. Having a healthy life helps a lot to reduce the chances of someone suffering from diabetes and other diseases; taking care of ourselves should be our first priority and then we can always help others to realize that eating healthy, exercise, no stress and be spiritually happy with our selves can have a huge impact on our lives.          

                Focusing on a healthy life style I realize that is not how much you eat or how much exercise you do, but more how well you take care of yourself mentality and physically. A lot of people think that if they don’t eat as much and they make starve themselves is going to help them to lose weight and be healthier in general; although this is never going to be true do to when you don’t eat you are taking away the energy that your body needs and so instead your body is going to start storing fat due to it will think that it is in starvation mode. Today we find ourselves in a society where looking skinny as possible and not having any breakouts in our face means your beautiful and basically that your worth it, this is one of the main reasons why we have so many girls making starving themselves getting to a point of being anorexic. This is a lack of knowledge due to the fact that somebody can lose weight just by knowing what to eat and what not and when to eat it, with the adding of some type of exercise. Having a healthy diet does not mean you cannot eat any type of sweets or bad fats, but you should have self-control and not consume them continuously. I personally think that having a balance of the different nutrients necessary for our body to function correctly is what gives a healthy and strong body, which in turn gives us a strong immune system and so less chances to get sick. Moreover, having a healthy life increases someone’s selvesteem due to the fact we feel better about ourselves and we have a better mindset.

                Furthermore, people do not realize that being sick is not just being able to handle the pain and suffering part but also being able to pay for the right medical care while needed, such as medicine and doctor assistant. In the U.S paying for health care is one of the first things that should change due to there is so many citizens that are unable to just go to the doctor to be diagnosed because they are unable to pay for it. I feel that this is very sad because people sometimes instead of taking care of themselves and go get the medicine they don’t and so they end up with worse conditions, getting to a point that they are unable to be treated. Moreover, when people are sick they are also unable to work as hard as usual, meaning their income is going to be lower, and having to pay for medical care is going to be even harder. Health care should be accessible for everyone, even for poor people, do to everyone has the right to be treated equally; not just because your millionaire you’re going to be treated by a better doctor and have a better service in general than someone that is a lower class but is even sicker. Unfortunately, we are leaving in a society that just focuses on money instead on the health of the patient.