Ayurveda, Metabolism & Microbiome Curated Paper

Ayurveda, Metabolism & Microbiome

Hearing the word ayurveda sounds so foreign and originally made me think it was going to be something almost mystical. Once I began to read more into it I realized it is honestly very similar to a lot of natural therapies or practices done here in the US that seem pretty normal. It seems to me that the whole idea of ayurveda is to look into every aspect of your life in order to solve a health problem you’re having. They do this by using different herbs or minerals to help your diet, as well as things like meditation and yoga to help your mind and body, and even different spiritual practices. To me this seems like a great way to look at treating illnesses. I specifically found the idea of how much power your mind has in your overall health to be very interesting.

In class we talked about some specific things that the mind controls that affects the body such as hormones and the nervous system in general. It’s pretty cool to be able to have proof of the mind-body connection at a molecular level with hormones and things like that, but I think that looking at the idea of ayurveda with a wider lens is very interesting too. For example, I’ve been able to see the mind-body connection a lot of times based on what I eat. If I’m eating badly for an extended period of time I physically feel worse but it even begins to affect my energy and mood. In order to fix the problem I need to fix my diet first. It works in reverse as well, there are many physical symptoms that come along with mental illnesses like depression. Using that same logic when someone has a bigger health issue could also be very helpful, and it’s the whole idea of ayurveda when it comes down to it. I think it could only be beneficial to look at how we can not only take care of our body, but also our mind when something is wrong. The root of the problem might be physical or mental but by covering both bases, the problem is much more likely to be solved. Modern medicines are incredible and very helpful in the treatment of many diseases but if used alongside alternative medical practices such as ayurveda they have the potential of being even more effective. 

It’s interesting how we were able to link the idea of ayurveda to examples of different real life diseases that many people around the world struggle with everyday. The ability that our body has to maintain a balance across all of the different systems in our body is astonishing in itself. There are just so many things that could go wrong when you think about it. You could have a digestive problem which leads to you not getting the proper nutrients to your cells, there could be a hormone imbalance which causes issues in your metabolism or even things like your mood and mental state. There are infinitely more minute processes going on in your body each and everyday that, if knocked out of balance for whatever reason, could really impact your health. Through our discussion and reflection I have gained an even greater appreciation for the complexity of what our bodies do on a molecular level.

In my biochemistry class, we were given an assignment to research prions which turned out to be a great real life example of the importance of maintaining balance in our bodies. Prions are proteins that are misfolded and therefore don’t function correctly. These misfolding proteins then have the ability to cause other normal functioning proteins to fold incorrectly which then causes a chain reaction. The diseases associated with prions cause neurological degeneration and things like dementia, insomnia and general cognitive issues. This immediately made me think of how a tiny change can cause a huge problem down the road if not taken care of. Now these prion diseases don’t typically come about because of an imbalance in your body, they’re genetic or can be contracted by eating contaminated food. They also can’t be easily treated even early on in the process, unlike some other diseases caused by imbalances in our body. But I just found it interesting that such a small problem could produce such large consequences down the road.

Another classic example of a specific condition that is caused by an imbalance in our bodies is diabetes. As we have researched and discussed diabetes I have found it very interesting to learn about how the absence of beta cells in the pancreas has such a huge effect on the entire body. That small imbalance in the pancreas ends up affecting the brain, colon, muscles, immune system and other systems throughout the body. I always kind of just pictured diabetes as being a problem with the pancreas, which it is, but it’s important to look at what problems stem from the original imbalance of not having the proper pancreatic function. This also gives me a greater appreciation for health care providers that can consistently diagnose patients correctly. Obviously symptoms for certain diseases have been documented and recorded so they know what to look for, but in the beginning stages of diabetes for instance, the patient might be having headaches, blurry vision or they could even just be saying that they’ve been extra thirsty. These three things individually could be related to tons of different problems, yet our understanding of how diabetes affects the rest of the body allows the provider to link the symptoms and find the root of the problem and try to help the patient treat the root of all of the imbalance they’re experiencing. 

One of the unique things about diabetes is that since there is no real “cure” for it at the moment, supplementing with insulin is how they work around the problem with insulin production in the pancreas. This comes with a responsibility for the individual to constantly be aware of how their body is reacting to the food they’re eating and being ready to balance whatever is going on by either injecting themselves with insulin or eating something high in sugar to make sure a balance is achieved. I asked my brother in law, who has had type one diabetes almost all of his life, how it has affected him. The thing I found most interesting was when he talked about how he feels when his sugar is too high or low and the kind of symptoms he feels. Depending on if his sugar is high or low he can begin to feel dizzy, light headed, sleepy, or even nauseous. The craziest symptom he mentioned was that when his sugar gets really low his cognitive function starts going way down and he starts getting loopy. My sister loves to give him a hard time because when he gets really low it seems like he’s high or drunk or something. He’ll start to slur his words, and his balance gets worse and a lot of times if it gets really low he won’t even remember anything that happened. This happens very rarely and he does a good job of taking care of himself, but it was really interesting to hear how many different physical and neurological symptoms he experiences due to diabetes. 

I found his experience super interesting because of the variety of symptoms he experiences based on how out of balance his blood sugar is. Again this plays into the idea of ayurveda very well. As his blood sugar gets further and further from normal he gets more extreme or harmful side effects. I think this is consistent with ayurveda in that the more imbalance is occurring within our bodies, whether that is mentally or physically, the more extreme or noticeable the consequences become. For people with diabetes it is nice because you can test your blood and see if you need more sugar or more insulin, but with other illnesses the hard part can be identifying the root of the problem and fixing it rather than chasing around the symptoms and trying to deal with each of them individually. 

The final specific example of ayurveda I’d like to mention has to do with the gut microbiome. It is amazing to think about the vast number of microorganisms that live in and on our bodies that we don’t even notice. It is estimated that about two kilograms of microorganisms live in an adult person, which is crazy. The problem is that we don’t really know a whole lot about the specific microorganisms that we find in the microbiomes of different individuals. We know what a “typical” microbiome looks like, but even then it’s really hard to determine which organisms are good and which are bad, or if they both benefit and hurt the individual. To me this is promising. Scientists have already found ways to manipulate the microbiome of individuals in a positive way with the little amount of understanding there is on the topic. I can only imagine what kinds of benefits can be produced once there is a better understanding of what exactly the specific microorganisms do for us. It would be extremely helpful to be able to test a sample from an individual and be able to tell them exactly how their gut microbiome is out of balance and be able to provide a way to correct that imbalance. The amount of negative side effects that are experienced by people that have problems in their gut is huge. Obviously they experience digestive or other stomach issues, but they can also have problems maintaining a healthy weight, having enough energy, acne, brain fog and even problems sleeping. The amount of problems that can be caused by a relatively small issue is frustrating when it’s something that is hard to fix, but I believe that as research continues many people will be able to find relief by modifying their gut microbiomes. 

Taking the time to understand any problems that you have with your health is so important. So many times we focus on simply treating a symptom we have at the moment and don’t take the time to find out why we are experiencing that symptom. I truly believe that if we take advantage of the modern medicine and technology that we have at our disposal and use it hand in hand with the principle of ayurveda we will be much healthier. Maintaining a balance within our minds and bodies is essential to living a healthy life, and if we take advantage of the resources that we have, maintaining that balance is more possible than ever before.