Ayurveda is amazing and why

As a practitioner who has been immersed in the field of Ayurveda for almost 6 years, I have to be honest first. It is not at all the "magic technique" that can cure all diseases as spread on the Internet. However, if you say that it is completely ineffective, you really underestimate this set of life wisdom that has been passed down for five thousand years.

I once treated a girl who worked as an Internet operator. She suffered from insomnia for more than half a year. Even taking melatonin didn't help. She was in a very bad mood. Western medicine checked and found no organic problems. According to Ayurveda, it was a long-term overload of pitta constitution. I didn't give her any complicated medicine. For therapy, she asked her to change her dinner from heavy oily and spicy takeout to soft millet porridge with a small amount of stir-fried vegetables. She stopped touching her mobile phone one hour before going to bed and massaged the soles of her feet with warm coconut oil for five minutes. After ten days of persistence, she sent a message saying that she could finally sleep for six hours without melatonin. Would you say this is "magical"? In fact, it's not magic at all, it's just finding the root cause of her physical imbalance and making slight adjustments in her lifestyle.

However, I have seen a lot of outrageous propaganda over the years, such as claims that Ayurvedic detoxification can cure cancer and 7-day fasting can cure diabetes. It makes my head spin. A patient came to me before with a so-called "Ayurvedic detox pill" he bought online. He said he felt dizzy and nauseated after taking it for half a month. Only when he sent it for testing was he found that the lead content exceeded the legal limit by more than ten times. This kind of non-compliant product and false propaganda are also the core reasons why many people question Ayurveda now.

In fact, many people think it is "magical". The essence is that its logic is different from the modern clinical medicine we are familiar with. It does not focus on a single lesion and prescribe strong medicine, but looks at a person's diet, work and rest, emotions and even the environment as a whole. People with Vata constitution may also suffer from constipation. It's a lack of water and oil, so you need to drink more warm flaxseed oil mixed with honey. Those with Pitta constitution may have internal heat, so they should eat more cool berries. Those with Kapha constitution are most likely to have slow metabolism, so they need to exercise more and avoid sticky sweets.

There is now a lot of research on Ayurveda internationally. Commonly used herbs such as turmeric and Trichosanthes have clear clinical data proving their anti-inflammatory and intestinal regulating effects. Ayurvedic methods such as meditation and whole-body oil therapy have also been confirmed by many psychosomatic medicine studies to relieve anxiety and improve chronic pain. However, we must also admit that there are still many traditional therapies whose effectiveness lacks large-scale double-blind experimental verification. The side effects and incompatibility of many traditional herbal medicines have not been fully studied. Calling them "very magical" is indeed overrated. It is more like a supplement to modern medical treatment and is suitable for regulating sub-health problems caused by lifestyle. If you really encounter acute illness or serious illness, you must still find a clinician from a regular hospital.

What I usually tell people around me the most is, don’t treat Ayurveda as a sacred offering, and don’t treat it as a liar. Just treat it as a set of health care guidelines that adapt to Asian living habits. If you use it right, you will feel comfortable. If you use it wrong, don’t blame others for it’s useless, right?