Diabetes and Ayurveda

Faith Olson

Biology Capstone

Diabetes and Ayurveda

Ayurveda is commonly known in many countries but is not often talked about in western medicine. Ayurveda is a healing mind, body, and spirit type of medicine. Overall, well being and health are huge factors in how everyday humans combat their lives and needs. Specifically, diabetes is number seven on the leading health issues in the United States today which affects the general population. By learning a bit more about diabetes and Ayurveda we can educate to prevent further some from developing types of diabetes through mindfulness and exercise.

Diabetes is a well-known condition but not many are educated on how this condition affects the body and how drastic it is to live with it. Diabetes is considered a “chronic disease” and deals mainly with the pancreas which is the organ that produces insulin needed to help extract the glucose from food we eat each day. The glucose that we obtain through food produces energy. Hyperglycemia is the heightened glucose levels that is associated with the insulin regulating. Sometimes this happens among pregnant women called gestational diabetes.

I have a family member that is Type 1, that means he was born with the deficiency and his body cannot make the insulin required to function without the input of external insulin. The biggest issue economically is the cost of insulin and how it is on the rise. The biggest problem with it is that insurance does not cover the whole price and often leaves diabetics skipping out on food and healthy habits to afford the insulin to survive. According to singlecare.com in 2018 the cost to make insulin costs roughly a couple dollars to make but costs the public in the United States roughly a couple hundred per month.

According to the slides “Diabetes beyond biology” the average annual cost for diabetes care is 2.3 times higher than the average. This is due to the unique conditions that need to meet a requirement for insulin each time they eat or perform daily tasks and exercise. It is a well talked about thing in my family about how the cost is on the rise and that although we wish something could happen about it, nothing really is getting done. In other countries there is a cap placed on insulin prices which allow the public to keep affording it each month. There was a story that I read a while back about a man who tried to scrounge up enough to pay for the insulin but he couldn’t so he tried to ration his insulin till his next paycheck where he could just barely afford it but he never made it to the paycheck and died. This scary ordeal happens more often than it is shared about which means it is not talked about.

Any event requiring hospitalization is expensive for anyone whether insurance helps or not. However, being diabetic does not help in any sort of way when it comes to hospital visits. As the human body ages the cell regeneration slows down which is why the body starts to break down in a way. As a diabetic gets older there are more risks that are prone to happen with any hospital visit. Anyone with medium family income often cannot afford these costly complications without using up most of their life savings. Anyone can understand why hospital bills increase the chance of filing for bankruptcy after a major complication. This hard truth is easier to accept than changing the way corporations over charge their patients such as a single Tylenol pill costing $15. (healthline.com)

The leading causes of death in the U.S. is constantly hanging overhead the public as they try to ignore the facts and educate to change. For that reason, the general population continue to contribute the leading causes without a lifestyle change. Physical inactivity is hard at this time due to the virus that has shut down all normal methods of exercising outside one’s home. These include swimming pools, gyms, and the fear of interacting with people who have contracted the virus but are symptom-less now. Diabetes was number 7 in 2013 and with the continuous insulin prices shooting an all-time high it is not surprising although sad. Obesity often deals with Type 2 diabetes. This type means that this person generally was not born with the insulin regulation deficiency.

Exercise deals with a lot of the human body regulation. It keeps our bodies at a healthy weight which allows us to perform all the necessary bodily functions including keeping our organs running properly. Exercise is a daily requirement for the human body whether its walking around or riding a bike. There are numerous different exercises that help the body no matter how small and non-significant they might seem. One example might be parking a bit farther away from a building and walking to it than picking a parking spot directly in front of it. Another might be tossing a ball around in the backyard. Each small exercise adds up and as Sir Isaac Newton used to say, “A body in motion, tends to stay in motion.”

Ayurveda comes back into play when talking about the law of motion in the sense that everything about the body is connected and when one part of the connection isn’t working as well then the whole body isn’t working as well as a whole. The body is one giant circuit board that always needs all moving parts to work or else other parts will not get the stimulation they need to function causing a dead circuit board. Ayurveda is apart of this very same principle that when one part of the cycle is blocked it can affect the others in the same manner. With the right exercise and mindfulness the body can run smoothly for much longer.