The Connection Between Disease and Imbalance

  What is Ayurveda exactly? Ayurveda is a natural system of medicine originating in India and translating to the knowledge of life. This term is based on the idea of balance throughout our bodily systems, our minds, and our consciousness. It classifies diseases according to where they originate physically, psychologically, and spiritually. The purpose of Ayurveda is to protect the health of the healthy and alleviate the disorders in diseased people by helping them find their individual balance in their own bodies. 

Ayurveda classifies balance through three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Vata deals with movement in the lower abdomen and the mind. If the Vata is disturbed it can cause fear, depression, and nervousness. Pitta deals with energy, mainly in the middle of the body. Excess Pitta can create feelings of anger, hate, and jealousy. Kapha deals with cohesion, lubrication, and structure in the chest and upper torso. If the Kapha dosha is aggravated it can cause feelings of possessiveness, greed, and attachment. In some practices, humans are classified according to their doshas, and which of them dominates creating an imbalance in the body. This can show susceptibility to certain illnesses. Different imbalances in these doshas can be caused by many things like diet, changing or different environments, emotions, and other experiences a person might encounter. 

The balance of the doshas is not only centered on humans dealing with balance, but it also functions with all living organisms. Think about intaking something that’s already out of balance and just imagine how that can affect everything inside of you. If one system in your body is out of balance, take for example your digestive system, it not only affects your digestion and ability to absorb nutrients, but problems with those lead to other problems like mental health, problems with skin, and could cause issues with your gut microbiome. In order to be healthy, people need balance in all aspects of their lives. For this reason, people are starting to take a closer look at these medicinal practices and how finding imbalances can be the key to dealing with illnesses and diseases and finding the root causes of them.

I believe the Ayurveda concept makes complete sense when dealing with how disease prevails in humans and other animals. All the systems of the body have to work in harmony in order to keep us healthy and strong so it would be extremely beneficial to look into how imbalance affects how our body works. Not only would it be great to explore how those imbalances create these diseases we are seeing, but also how we can learn to treat just those specific portions of the body or disease to bring back that balance we need while not disrupting any other systems through side effects or anything else that would create another change in the body that’s not particularly necessary. 

Metabolism refers to the bodily process of extracting energy from food. The cell’s metabolism is all of the chemical reactions that collectively take place inside of a cell. The end product, or intermediate product, of metabolism, are metabolites that maintain balance by the metabolic pathways staying tightly regulated. Everything you ingest is being metabolized and is converted into energy by combining with oxygen in the body. In order for the body to maintain this cycle, it needs balance within the systems.

Diabetes messes with the metabolism by affecting the body's processes and preventing the body from storing energy that it gets from the food we intake. This happens because the reduced insulin levels create high blood glucose levels that can lead to serious consequences. Diabetes connects to the microbiome and other systems of the body. One imbalance of the hormones, like beta-cell damage, can cause many different issues in the body like increased lipolysis, decreased peripheral muscle uptake, and increased glucose production. With everything in the body being connected, it’s no surprise that it’s not only the pancreas that regulates glucose levels. Your liver can also produce glucose and the organs work together. Glucose released from the metabolism after being fed is dietary glucose and the release of that causes hepatic glucose to be inhibited.

Like many other diseases, diabetes comes with other complications if not properly treated. Damage to the blood vessels in the eyes, also known as diabetic retinopathy, is caused by high blood sugar and can cause blurry vision or can completely stop blood flow by damaging the retina. Kidneys are also overworked causing nephropathy which is the deterioration of kidney function and can lead to end-stage renal disease. Peripheral nervous system nerves can be damaged by decreased blood flow and high blood sugar causing pain and numbness, this is one of the most common complications of diabetes. Narrowing of the blood vessels also occurs because the high amount of glucose in the blood decreases the elasticity of blood vessels which can lead to a lack of blood flow to the extremities. Diabetes also increases your risk of having a stroke, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease. 

Along with all of the biological factors of diabetes, there are also economic and societal impacts placed on individuals with the disease. Many people consider it a pandemic and the World Health Organization estimates that it will be the 7th leading cause of death by the time we get to 2030. The cost to take care of the disease in the United States has also risen by 41%. Your wallet not only gets dented from regulating the disease itself but also from the additional bills you have to pay that come from complications arising from the disease requiring hospital stays, new medications, or procedures. 

When there is an imbalance in one area of your life, it affects another area, and another, and so on. We are affected by disease not only in our bodies, but in our daily lives. In the activities we do, how we spend our money, how we live. Your whole life could change one day because you find out your beta cells are damaged. You change what you eat, the activities you do, how you save and spend your money, all to get yourself back in balance because of one little change. We as people make these changes because we know we need to keep that balance in order to stay healthy and happy. We may not know how to keep that balance but that’s what we figure out on the way to finding it and that is why Ayurveda is so important.