Connection Between Balance and Disease

 

Connection Between Balance and Disease

            Our bodies are intricate organisms that have a delicate balance of physical, mental, and spiritual health. This balance is known as Ayurveda, where our overall health is a composite of these different areas. When one or more of these aspects are thrown out of balance, we call our condition “diseased.” This idea is rooted in Indian beliefs and is translated to “the science of life.” Our life is not just determined by our physical health, although Western medicine has seemed to put a heavy focus on this aspect, but rather our life is determined by several different categories in our overall health. The goal of medicine is to help diagnose, treat, and prevent disease from occurring. Diagnosis and treatment are both topics that most people are familiar with as they go to doctors for treatment. The one that seems to be overlooked, even by some doctors, is the prevention of disease. Every doctor I know would tell someone to live a healthy lifestyle such as staying active, eating healthy, and staying well rested, but it doesn’t seem to be highly stressed in the treatment or prevention of disease. Could an emphasis on balancing these components lead to an overall reduction in the onset of disease? Should this idea of balance play a more important role in the prevention of disease?

            In a past job, I worked in a computer refurbishing warehouse where I would evaluate computers and see if they were worth fixing for resale. Part of that evaluation was to see if all the tiny parts still worked together and communicated correctly. If they did not, then I would try to fix them to the best of my ability. One thing that amazed me while working with these computers was how delicate they were. One small piece that wasn’t working to its fullest potential would cause the entire system to have problems. Even issues that would seem unrelated to the computer working, such as the fan not spinning fast enough, would make the computer stop working. As if the parts were all out of balance. While this was an inspection of physical hardware and not various intangible states of being, it nonetheless provided me with an experience to which I can compare these concepts.

In a more human and emotional instance, I attended a collegiate track meet where I was competing in the pole vault. It was my first competition of the season, and I was eager to get warmed up and begin my jumping. I had friends, family, and teammates there to support me and I didn’t want to let them down. As I was warming up, I noticed that my hamstring wasn’t performing at its best. I didn’t think I had too much to worry about as I had a previous hamstring injury that would occasionally flare up but not be a hindrance to my performance. This time, I was wrong. As I was taking my practice jumps, I noticed the pain and discomfort increasing. Afraid that my coach would make me sit out of the competition, I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to disappoint the people that traveled to watch me perform. After taking my first attempt, I realized that I needed to take care of myself and not further the issue before it was too late. I pulled myself from the competition before causing a lasting injury. Later that day, I received a text from a family friend that had a son competing at the same track meet. She asked me what had happened, and I explained to her that I did not warm up properly and it affected my performance. She then asked me if I had anything going on in my life externally causing internal stress, anxiety, or guilt. She wanted to know if I had something on my mind that “hamstringed” me. I couldn’t think of anything specific and attributed the issue to my old injury and an improper warm-up. Although in this example I did not think there was a direct tie of the balance of my life to my issue, I don’t discredit the possibility. It’s possible that my mental or emotional health was suffering and throwing my physical health out of balance as an effect.

            We’ve seen through this course that imbalances in a system can cause drastic consequences radiating out in unexpected ways. Diabetes is caused when the body does not produce enough or any insulin. This causes an issue with processing sugars. Insulin plays a wide role in the body’s state of homeostasis. Without it, issues can arise in other places other than the blood sugar content like in the brain, eyes, heart, etc. This is a great example of how a small imbalance can cause larger issues. While type I diabetes is something that occurs unpreventably in the body, type II diabetes is something that we can sometimes have more control over. Looking at the economic costs of diabetes, it is almost impossible to afford the medication required to treat the illness making prevention a much more needed form of “treatment.” Adding an emphasis on public health and changing lifestyle would help prevent diabetes and manage the numerous complications that accompany this disease. How should we be changing these lifestyles and balances, though? How can we know what to prioritize?

Knowing Ayurveda involves a delicate balance of several factors, I wanted to know which factors were most important in the balance. Are all components weighted equally? Should mental health take priority over physical health? Are these weights the same for everyone? Every person is unique, and they all have specific needs. We process stimuli and situations differently mentally, emotionally, and physically. One great example of these differences is the gut microbiome within each of us. No two are the same. This means that each microbiome has a different balance. In a study done with mice, they found that they can make an obese mouse skinny or a skinny mouse obese just by taking a specific microbiota from one and transplanting it into the other. They also found that having a higher or lower concentration of a different microbiota causes irregularities in sleep patterns. At first glance, the gut microbiome does not seem like it should have a profound effect on the rest of one’s health, but, as we’ve seen, it can affect other areas of our health.

            While studying the two topics of Ayurveda and the gut microbiome, I started to think about the connection between the two through Eastern medicine practices. It brought my reading to chakras, specifically the solar plexus chakra. This chakra is responsible for bringing energy, warmth, and light to the body. The qualities brought by this chakra are intellect, ego, willpower, and aggression. When it is in balance, it causes feelings of confidence, self-motivation, and purpose. When it is not in balance, it can cause feelings of fatigue, overeating, excessive weight gain, digestive system disorders, hypoglycemia, and diabetes. Having this chakra out of balance is said to cause a lot of the same problems that the microbiome out of balance can cause. The ways that are used to unblock this chakra are to perform yoga positions, meditate, and use affirmations.

            The main takeaway I have had thus far that Diabetes, the gut microbiome, and other diseases mentioned support the idea that an imbalance in an organism leads to disease. Prevention of disease and imbalance would be an extremely effective way to treat these issues before they occur. It wouldn’t be a cure-all because some things are just not preventable such as type I diabetes mentioned earlier, but living a healthier life and keeping balance in one’s life would greatly help the vast majority of people.