Metabolism and Ayurveda

 

I found the topic of Ayurveda to be very interesting because it is all about the connectedness of the mind, body, and spirit which I feel like I have heard about in other contexts throughout my life without using the specific term Ayurveda. For example, I have an aunt that is very involved in homeopathic treatments. From what she has explained to me it is all about energies and the balance of those energies. There are physical or mental stressors that trigger an imbalance of those energies that she treats with extremely diluted substances that are supposed to interact with the person’s energy to recenter them. There is not much scientific evidence backing Ayurveda and homeopathic medical practices, but nevertheless, my aunt swears by it. Even if it is just a placebo effect it still shows that there is a relationship between the mind and body that is important for healing and that they are both important things to consider during medical treatment.

            After researching diabetes, it was interesting to compare that disease and its effects on the body with the ideas of Ayurveda. Diabetes shows that if one thing gets thrown off in the body the whole body starts having other issues since the balance has been thrown off. Since blood sugar levels are unable to be properly regulated by the systems in place, other systems try to pick up that slack which leads to issues in seemingly unrelated systems since they have to do a job they are not designed for. I had previously noticed that people with diabetes often have other medical conditions they need treatment for, but I never would have guessed that those conditions could be connected to diabetes. Diabetes could lead to things like increased inflammation or differences in the microbiome when compared to someone who does not have diabetes. Even things like mental health get affected by this disease. In the article “Chronic Illness and Mental Health: Recognizing and Treating Depression” by the National Institute of Mental Health, it states that diabetes may increase your risk for depression, and if the person does get depression, then the symptoms of both diseases often increase creating an even worse situation for the person. I think that this is especially a good example of Ayurveda and shows the connectedness of mind and body since diseases of the body and mind can make each other’s symptoms worse. I do not fully understand if there is any chemical evidence for the relationship between the severity of symptoms of diabetes and depression or if it just more of an example of Ayurveda and the connectedness of mind and body.

            In some of the microbiome content provided, I learned about the connectedness of the microbiome and the whole body. This is similar to the fact that diabetes often leads to other complications since a change in the microbiome may lead to other diseases or complications as well. I believe this shows just how delicate the balance of the body is and how easy it is to throw off that balance which can lead to some pretty extreme consequences if not addressed quickly. I found this information super interesting because your gut microbiome is linked to your digestive health, which I was aware of, but it is also linked to things like weight or sleep patterns which I was not previously aware of. I think that the gut microbiome would be a super interesting thing to research because if we can take some medication that targets the gut maybe we can help with the high obesity levels in our society or maybe help people with insomnia get some good sleep. In the article, “Cancer and The Gut Microbiota: An Unexpected Link” it describes the relationship between the gut microbiome and disease. Something may throw off the microbiome which leads to disease but then trying to treat that disease by changing something in the microbiome may lead to side effects with the intestinal barrier, so once that balance is skewed it is hard to correct.

            The relationship between the microbiome and cancer was very intriguing to me since I have just taken microbiology and a lot of that information is still fresh in my brain. All of the treatments paired with bacteria sounded very situational and did not seem to have a high or consistent success rate. For example, in some cases, gram-positive bacteria would help with cancer treatments, but then in other cases, the gram-positive bacteria would make treatments less effective. The antibiotic treatments paired with cancer sounded especially shaky since that would get rid of some harmful bacteria, but it would also get rid of other good bacteria which disturbs the balance of the microbiome and may have more negative side effects. Overall, I found it interesting that something as small as bacteria in our gut can have such a big impact on the whole body and things like cancer which can be life-threatening. I was aware the microbiome affected things like IBS but at least that will not kill you like cancer may.

            After doing this research I feel a lot more open-minded and aware of all parts of the body when it comes to disease. I think that it would be beneficial to not simply treat symptoms of a disease but try and see the bigger picture of the illness. Even just making sure the patient is in a good headspace can make a big difference in treatment. I know sometimes when I think too much, I give myself a headache and if I just take a minute to breathe and readjust the headache goes away. There is definitely a strong connection between the mind and the body when it comes to disease and other physical ailments.