The heart plays a vital role in our body system. According to Ayurveda, heart does not just have physical value, but also great mental as well as the spiritual importance too. It is therefore really imperative to take good care of your heart.
As per ancient Indian philosophy and Ayurveda, heart possesses a very high position not due to its physiological and anatomical reasons, but also because of its spiritual and mental value. In Ayurveda, heart is seat of – adhaka pitta, mana, par ojas, vyan vayu and avalambak kaph.
Charak has described heart as the seat of consciousness. Our human body consists of six components (trunk, head, neck and four limbs), the wisdom, the mind, the indriyas (five sensory organs along with their object) and soul. All these components are dependent upon normal and healthy functioning of the heart.
You would be glad to know that ancient Indian physicians have described certain basic principles which helps in leading healthy, positive life and helps in preventing body getting affected by cardiac ailments. They laid stress on the following aspects of daily lifestyle:
- Ahaar– diet
- Yoga-yoga
- Achaar– normal conduct
- Vyayaam– physical exercise
Causes of heart diseases, according to Ayurveda:
- Vayaam tikshna– physical exertion
- Ati virechak vasti– drastic and excessive purgation and enema
- Chinta: anxiety
- Bhay: fear
- Terror
- Injury
- Faulty management of disorder
- Suppression of vomiting and ama
Symptoms of heart disease:
- Tendency of emesis
- Abnormal complexion
- Distaste of mouth due to coronary insufficiency
- Fainting
- Breathlessness
- Fever due to inflammatory heart disease
- Hiccup due to mitral regurgitation or stenosis
- Chest pain
- Anorexia
- Cough
- Thirst
- Giddiness
Prevention of heart disease via healthy diet:
- Protein: To prevent heart disease to affect your body, it’s important that your daily protein intake at 50-60 GM.
- Fat: Keeping cholesterol levels low in the body helps in reducing the risk of heart disease in the body. For this purpose, limit the consumption of meat, fats, animal fat, pork and dairy products like ghee, cream butter etc.
- Calories: Avoid intake of high calorie food items as it causes obesity in the body which burdens your heart. Reduce your caloric intake as it aids in weight loss and helps you to lead a healthy life free from ailments.
- Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates lead to the endogenous synthesis of cholesterol and triglycerides therefore excessive intake of carbohydrate rich food items should be avoided at all cost to reduce the cardiac ailments risk.
- Less amount of salt should be consumed per day i.e. just 2-3 gms as high salt intake can lead to high BP, which ultimately causes heart ailments in the body.
- Eat your meals at least three hours before you go to sleep as sleeping lowers down the digestion process of body and your food get stored in form of fat which results into cardiac ailments in body.
- Include high roughage diet and fibrous food items like salads. Also consume garlic and ginger in your regular diet as it lowers cholesterol level and ginger reduces blood clot.
- Avoid hostile and sedentary lifestyle.
- Walking helps in maintaining body weight, so include morning walk of 2-3 km in your regular routine.
- Always keep in mind that ‘sawashan’ is very helpful in treating heart diseases.
Treating heart disease with various Ayurvedic herbs:
The basic approach of Ayurveda in treating heart diseases is by using various herbal medicines instead of relying on drugs. Names of some useful Ayurvedic herbs are written below which are widely used in curing heart ailments!
- Jatamansi (nordosatchys jatamansi)
- Yestimadhu (glycyrrhiza glabra)
- Guduchi (tinospora cardifolia)
- Kutki (picrorhiza kurroa)
- Punarnava (boerhavia diffusa)
- Arjun (terminalia arjuna)
- Bramhi (bacopa monnieri)