Your Lifestyle is the cumulative product of all the physical activities you do in accordance with your brain. These activities include your habits, behaviour, diet, and all those things that have an impact on your life. But do you know that Vihar (Lifestyle) has a greater significance in Ayurveda? Ayurveda has been with the people for more than 5000 years. Over these years, this ancient knowledge has contributed to the successful treatment of diseases that have no cure in branches of medical science.
Ayurveda uses a holistic approach while dealing with diseases. This is the reason why Ayurveda believes that a person’s Lifestyle contributes both mentally and physically to his health. For all these reasons, Vihar (Lifestyle) is considered the second pillar of Ayurveda. Since a healthy lifestyle promotes physical, mental and social health, it helps a person live a quality life, which helps prevent diseases. Hence, Vihar (Lifestyle) plays a significant role in the Ayurvedic Management of diseases.
The Effects of Negative Lifestyle
Many reports have been conducted in the past years to identify the number of various diseases and their causes. We studied some reports and noted some alarming stats. As per the report, there are over a 56-million global deaths every year. Most of them are due to Non-Communicable Diseases. These include:
- Cancer
- Cardiac Arrests
- Heart Failure
- Lung Diseases
- Strokes
- Diabetes
- Kidney Diseases and many more
Among other causative factors, Vihar (Lifestyle) of these patients was the primary factor. Deaths from Communicable diseases are much less than the number of deaths caused by Non-Communicable Diseases. Thus the severity of Lifestyle disorders can never be ignored. Science has also proved that your poor Lifestyle can lead to health conditions that can become life-threatening in no matter of time.
Lifestyle disorders include poor dietary habits, sedentary Lifestyles (laziness, not exercising enough), stress, hypertension and other things. You might never know when such unhealthy practices would give rise to a medical condition that you would have never thought of. Mainly, if you suffer from kidney disease, your Lifestyle and diet would play a significant role. Hence, when Ayurvedic experts give an Ayurvedic kidney disease treatment, their prime focus is on the Diet and Lifestyle of the kidney patient.
As far as the role of Vihar (Lifestyle) is considered, Ayurveda suggests that people with the following traits are usually on the side of suffering from a disease. These traits are:
1. Shrotiyas (People studying Vedas)
As per Ayurvedic knowledge, all those too engrossed in learning or reading Vedas become ignorant of the real world. They fail to practice all those activities in their life that are a must for a healthy body. Hence, these people are at a greater risk of getting affected by a disease.
2. Raja Sevakas (People who fear a lot)
All those people who live spend their life in catering to others needs; they become ignorant of the real world. They constantly worry and fear to fulfil the needs of their superiors. Hence, they fail to practice the activities that are a must for a healthy body. Hence, these people are at a greater risk of getting affected by a disease.
3. Panya Jivins (People in the selling/buying profession)
All those people who live a sedentary lifestyle and are attached to traits like greediness, laziness, etc., are prone to many diseases. Mostly, people into selling and buying business come into this category. These people fail to practice all those activities that are required for a healthy lifestyle. Hence, they are at a greater risk of getting affected by a disease.
Ayurveda and Lifestyle: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Since Ayurvedic knowledge and Ayurvedic treatment focuses on the Lifestyle of the patients, it won’t be wrong to say that Ayurveda and Lifestyle are two sides of the same coin. Though their name and nature might be different, their positive effects on a patient’s health are the same. Even if we talk about how Ayurveda treated patients back in the ancient period, there were no medicines or advanced equipment that would have treated patients.
Ayurvedic experts only gave plants and rare herbs as Ayurvedic medicines and advised their patients to bring specific changes in their Lifestyles. Though that Lifestyle (Vihar) habits are impossible to follow these days, here are some of the crucial points of a healthy regime that are a must to follow. These activities do not include anything of such kind that is difficult to follow. However, it might take some time for you to adjust to these changes.
Since you might be habitual of following a sedentary or lazy lifestyle, bringing these changes in your daily regime might sound like a challenge. But once you are habitual of these lifestyle changes, you will enjoy much healthier well-being.
Role of Lifestyle in Ayurvedic Management of Diseases
Try Waking up between 4 am to 5 am since the two before sunrise is the purest of the day.
- Eliminating the body’s waste at dawn prevents you from diseases
- Washing face and eyes with water and putting two drops of oil in the nostrils
- Exercising daily for fitness
- Getting oil massage daily
- Having a light dinner between 6 pm and 7 pm
- Trying to sleep before 10 pm to get at least 8 hours of sleep
- Waking up daily at the same time to bring the body in rhythm
- Avoiding stressful activities
- Avoiding cold, dry and packaged foods
- Drinking enough water
- Bringing Yoga into your lives
- Eating light breakfast, etc.
These are only a few of those lifestyle changes that are recommended by Ayurvedic experts. As we mentioned above, the problems related to kidneys are rising rapidly in the entire world. In allopathy, the doctors only have a few medicines that give temporary relief to the patients. Once these medicines start to fail, patients are advised for complicated procedures like Kidney Dialysis and Kidney Transplant. But with Ayurvedic Kidney Disease treatment, patients get a permanent and satisfying solution to their problem. Since kidney diseases result from a poor Lifestyle, taking Ayurvedic kidney disease treatment can be of more significant help.
Your Lifestyle Speaks Of Your Health!
If you have come to this point in the article, you must have understood the role of Vihar (Lifestyle) in Ayurvedic Management of Disease. This is also why many health experts worldwide accept Ayurveda as the best way to cure diseases that were so far considered incurable. Even if we talk about some serious diseases like AIDS, Cancer, etc., with Ayurvedic treatment and specific lifestyle changes, all such diseases can be cured as Ayurvedic methods attack the root cause of the problem, thereby giving a satisfactory and once-in-all relief from the problem.