By Dr Bhaswati Bhattacharya
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Ayurveda prescribes prehab for prevention during pandemic
Ayurveda offers remedies for 4 phases of care of infectious microbes: preventive, cautionary, mildly symptomatic, and moderately symptomatic. The first phase is prevention, when a person is not infected and does not want to become infected. Understanding the current pandemic, we must keep our immunity up, our lungs healthy and clean, and our gut’s agni (digestive fire) clean.
For thousands of years, Ayurveda has provided clear guidelines for epidemics, known as janapada-uddhvansa. A timeless chapter details the need to understand land, water, air, and time as factors for mitigating these cycles of disease caused by invisible agents. Many guidelines are normal Indian day-to-day practices in rules of juhtta जूठा or ettho. We should find our elders and listen to their stories to follow those rules now.
Microbes are known as krimi or bhuta in Sanskrit. Ayurveda understood microbes comprehensively by focusing on their impact in humans, rather than focusing on microbiology, as these krimi change with temperature, season and environment. Mistranslated as parasites and ghost by European translators in the last century, the terms krimi and bhuta actually refer to living beings that interact with the human body but are not easily visible to the normal human eye, ie microbes. It is unfortunate that modern researchers have lost access to some of the human race’s oldest preserved clinical wisdom.
Ancient Ayurvedic wisdom advises us to prehabilitate the land, water, and air immediately around our homes and bodies, when these bhutas (microbes) appear. Just as rehabilitation is treatment to restore the body-mind after illness, PREhabilitation is treatment strategy to prevent injury before it can occur. Nightly fumigation with dhoopana using traditional ingredients such as coconut husk, neem and karpura, morning and night lighting of flames in diya, and daily sweeping of walls, windows and floors are part of prehabilitation.
Ayurveda offers remedies for 4 phases of care of infectious microbes: preventive, cautionary, mildly symptomatic, and moderately symptomatic. The first phase is prevention, when a person is not infected and does not want to become infected. Understanding the current pandemic, we must keep our immunity up, our lungs healthy and clean, and our gut’s agni (digestive fire) clean.
For prevention, Ayurveda offers us many plant-based formulations that do not have the side effect profiles that all pharmaceutical medicines have. Plants make the most powerful anti-virals on the planet.
- The best medicine for boosting a healthy immune system is guduchi, giloy or gilroy (Tinospora cordifolia). Samshamani vati is the formulation recommended by AYUSH. Amrita arishtam can also be used. Scientific studies show guduchi helps allergies and URIs. It is also effective for improving immunity of the gut. Guduchi is timely now, knowing its success over millenia boosting immunity and vyadhi-ksamatva (staving off viral infections) especially at rtusandhi (the change of seasons).
- For mild symptoms of dry throat, post-nasal drip and dry cough with no fever, sip on 4-6 oz of kwatha twice daily. Boil herbs in water until the water boils away to ¼ of its original quantity. Herbs for prana-vaha-srotas (ENT+respiratory channel) have resolved patients’ self-reported post-nasal drip and respiratory discomforts for millenia. You may use fresh ginger, yastimadhu, black pepper, guduchi and tulsi leaves. Also popular are vasa, pippali, lemon, kantakari, cinnamon, and cardamom. Different locations use different combinations that your local vaidya can advise.
- Keep skin moist. Try to sweat daily for 10-15 minutes before showering by doing housework, climbing stairs, or floor workouts. Check for fever in all household members if anyone has symptoms of weakness, cough, or can’t smell or taste usual strong smells.
- The importance of ruchi, the sense of hunger and appetite, is associated with a proper function of smell and taste.When loss of these perceptions occurs, known in medicine as anosmia and ageusia, caution must be taken as this is reported as one of the early signs of COVID infection.
- Keep the nose moist in the morning, so that microbes cannot penetrate dry parched membranes. Nasya oil such as Anu Thailam is like protective gloves for the nasal cavity! It is also an excellent pillar of self-care and contains the bitter herbs we need now to keeps microbes from penetrating the mucous linings of the nose and sinus.
- Bitter herbs interact with taste receptors in the nose and mouth, setting off production of mucous to protect cells and prevent invasion, and activate cell hairs to sweep particles out. Neem leaves, bitter melon/karela, or methi saag are rituals in Indian meals because they stimulate our immune system! Ayurvedic prescriptions include starting each lunch and dinner meal with a bitter dish.
Herbs work in the gut to keep digestion clean, gut microbiome happy, and prevent the immune system from being preoccupied with indigestible antigens in the gut. Science now also validates connection between gut and lung illnesses.For serious illness, rasa-aushadhies are among the most effective, but only under supervision of a vaidya.
Until science can validate what ancient Indian wisdom already knows, many will continue cultural traditional methods because modern medicine and side-effect laden pharmaceuticals do not have it figured out.
Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya MPH MD(Family Medicine) PhD(Ayurveda-BHU) is Clinical Asst Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York and Fulbright Specialist in Public Health/Integrative Medicine 2018-2022
