Curated Paper 1

        The idea of Ayurveda and its association with disease is a new concept to me and before beginning this semester/class I had never heard of Ayurvedic medicine. As I researched more about Ayurvedic medicine I was surprised to learn that it has been around for at least 3,000 years, if not much longer. It originated in India and is often considered one of the oldest holistic healing systems. The term Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit words, ayur which means life and veda which can mean science or knowledge. When put together/translated it means knowledge of life. In one article that I found it states, “Based on the idea that disease is due to an imbalance or stress in a person’s consciousness, Ayurveda encourages certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment.” I agree with a lot of the ideas of Ayurveda and how our bodies are connected to our environments. I think that a person is more prone to disease and illnesses when they are in a negative environment. A person who doesn’t eat well, has a job they hate, worries all the time, etc will have a worse mental or physical health when compared to a person who eats healthy, enjoys their job, and generally enjoys life. Our environments help shape who we are and as a result can have an impact on our mental and physical health.

        I think it is really interesting how the main goal of Ayurveda treatments is for the patient to regain a balance between the mind, body, spirit and even the environment. Some of the research that I did suggested that Ayurveda treatments begin with an internal purification process which is then followed by a special diet, herbal remedies, massage therapy, yoga, and lastly meditation. This treatment is supposed to aid the patient by helping to reduce symptoms, worry, increase resistance to future diseases and provide other possible benefits. In an article that I found it stated, “Those who practice Ayurveda believe every person is made of five basic elements found in the universe: space, air, fire, water and earth.” This is an interesting way to think of what makes up a person. In the same article it states that these elements combine in a human’s body to form three life forces or energies which are called doshas. These doshas control how a person’s body works and functions. If there is an imbalance in one or more of the doshas then a person will get sick or develop health issues. Hippocrates, who lived thousands of years ago, said, “All disease begins in the gut.” This idea is also a foundational principle of ayurveda. Ayurveda teaches that when your digestive fire is burning brightly a person is able to maximize any foods or experiences they consume. By doing this a person feels much better overall. Ayurveda also teaches that when a person’s digestive fire is weak, that person’s body will struggle to obtain nutrients from food as well as eliminate any impurities within their body. Some signs of this weak fire include allergies, acne, bloating and possibly mental health problems. 

I think that the idea of doshas is really interesting but I still think that there are still lots of things that are out of our control. Some things that are out of our control include heritable diseases, unforeseen accidents and accidental exposure to illnesses. I think in certain situations a person should seek medical help from a doctor rather than from a physician that practices Ayurveda treatments. 

I really enjoyed learning more about diabetes  because in my family there are many cases of diabetes, on both sides of my family. My mom has a sister who is diabetic while my grandpa and great-aunt (on my dad’s side) both lost a leg due to diabetes. In these cases, if they would have taken the necessary steps before it became really serious they probably wouldn’t have had to have their legs amputated. I’m sure most people know someone who has type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It is crazy to think about  how common diabetes is in our society and country. While I know a handful of people with diabetes I didn’t really understand the main differences between them. For instance I didn’t realize that Type 1 diabetes can occur suddenly and at any age, while Type 2 is more gradual and mostly occurs in adults. It was also interesting to learn that the majority of people in the U.S. that have diabetes suffer from Type 2 diabetes. Another thing that I thought was interesting was the concordance among identical twins and there is a 50% chance with Type 1 diabetes and a 90% chance with Type 2 diabetes. I also thought it was interesting that non-Caucasian races are more likely to get type 2 diabetes. It makes sense, to me, that a person can inherit Type 1 diabetes but I thought it was interesting how unfavorable environmental factors can cause it. I also didn’t even realize that certain drugs or chemicals can be a cause for Type 1 diabetes. 

I thought it was interesting that there are certain modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors associated with Type 2 diabetes. In some cases you can do a lot to reduce the chances of getting diabetes like frequent exercise and maintaining a low blood pressure and cholesterol. At the same time sometimes there are a lot of things that you can’t control such as age, family history and race/ethnicity. So in some cases the chances of a person getting diabetes is a lot higher than another person’s chances based on factors outside that person’s control.

I was surprised by the top 15 leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2013. There were a few that I might have guessed like heart disease, cancer and accidents but there were also a lot that surprised me like diabetes, septicemia, influenza and pneumonia. On the following slide I liked how it shows the importance of exercise. There are definitely days where I really don’t want to go to the gym and exercise but I almost always force myself to go and as a result I always feel better after going then I would have if I didn’t end up going. I agree with the importance of regular exercise and how it can help a person in many different ways.  When I was younger I remember learning and hearing about how physical inactivity and obesity was becoming an epidemic in the United States. I even remember when Michelle Obama helped institute changes to school lunches. I remember how all my classmates hated the new lunches. At the time I didn’t realize just how much physical inactivity was contributing to the mortality of so many people. Looking at the slide Global Epidemic of Inactivity on Diabetes beyond biology presentation it is easy to see just how many thousands of people died from physical inactivity in 2004. It makes sense now why there was such a push for people to exercise more in the years following 2004. 

I thought it was interesting reading the Economic Costs of Diabetes in 2012. I don’t think most people consider or ever think about how much money is spent on diabetes in the U.S.. In 2012 the total estimated economic cost of diabetes was $245 billion dollars which is just crazy to think about. In just five years there was a 41% increase which I think is insane. According to the paper a person with diagnosed diabetes spends around $13,700 on hospital bills and around $7,900 can be attributed to diabetes. That is $7,900 more that a person with diabetes spends per year than a person without diabetes. I also found it really interesting to learn  more about diabetes and the effects it has on a person’s health as well as on the economy. After doing more research I found an updated cost of diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. from 2017. In 2017 the estimated cost was around $327 billion which is a 26% increase from 2012. In this same article it said that people with diagnosed diabetes on average incur $16,752 per year and $9,601 is related to diabetes. One way that we can use this information to help better the lives of many people is by raising awareness around this topic. By raising awareness of diabetes we can help provide support to those that have diabetes while also helping to prevent diabetes.

For the section on Ayurveda I combined a couple of different journal entries as well as the Ayurveda assignment. I also did quite a lot of research to expand on what Ayurveda is and the different aspects of it. For the section of diabetes I mainly just included a couple of different journal entries on diabetes.