ABSTRACT
HEALTH IS WEALTH”. But, in the modern world, the meaning of this phrase is completely different. Here, a person is too busy & stressed to achieve a luxurious life that he/she has no time to take care of his/her health. As a result, miscarriage, abortions, endometriosis, difficulty in conceiving a child, PCOD, uterine fibroids/tumors or even female infertility and other disorders related to female reproductive system is becoming very common. The increasing rate of junk food such as pizza, burgers, French fries, pasta, macaroni, packed food items & other oil based unhygienic cooked items, and sedentary lifestyle are the major cause of it. Stress is also one of the major causes for it. Thus, let’s discuss the leading causes in modern culture responsible for disturbing the female’s reproductive health & how Ayurveda can play a great role in preventing those & maintaining a healthy life ahead.
INTRODUCTION
Modern world is considered as a world full of luxury. More comfortable the lifestyle, the more the person is considered to be happy. But as the consequences of this lifestyle, lack of exercise & balanced diet, various metabolic & reproductive system related disorders are generally seen in even young aged girls, which are further leading to different menstrual diseases ranging from amenorrhea (absence of menses), and dysmenorrhea (painful menses) up to various uterine cancers. The leading causes are unhealthy food items, mental stress, use of various man made hormonal therapies & lack of physical activity. Let’s discuss these in detail with some Ayurvedic & modern aspect:
UNHEALTHY FOOD ITEMS & THEIR POSSIBLE HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES
1. Fast Foods/Street Foods
Most fast foods that are available in the market are oil based preparations or too spicy. That can cause Agnimandya (reduction in digestive power) which leads to ama (undigested food which leads to toxins) formation which in turn can cause vitiation of tridosha & lead to various reproductive related issues in females. Also, the toxins formed can affect normal metabolism of the body resulting in metabolic disorders such as diabetes, which is one of the leading causes of PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease) & uterine fibroids.
What To Use: Introduction of salad before meals. Salad can be prepared with seasonal vegetables ranging from cucumber, radish, carrot, tomatoes & many other vegetables.
2. Smoking & Drinking
In the race of being socialized & cool, nowadays youths are specially misled towards drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking cigarettes. As, all of us know, alcohol has so many hazardous effects on the whole body including the liver & reproductive system. Also, cigarettes contain numerous carcinogens which can lead to reproductive system related tumors or carcinomas in females. These are very bad practices that must be avoided. Besides that, drinking coffee and milk based tea should also be restricted.
What To Use: Chewing dry fruits, cardamom and drinking freshly prepared fruit juice or herbal smoothie is far much better & nutritious. Use of herbal tea with ingredients including cinnamon, basil leaves, cardamom, fennel seeds, coriander seeds etc. can be used as an alternative to coffee or other drinks.
3. Packed Food Items
Items that are available in food markets or supermarkets are either cool stored or are packed in plastic or polyethylene containers. Cold drinks, chips, packed vegetables, packed grains, packed nuts, dried meat, packed fruit juices and many other items have preservatives added to them. Various preservatives contain numerous amounts of toxins which can cause mutation in genes on regular consumption and hence can cause hormone related disorders in females such as menstrual disturbances, PCOD, or even can lead to infertility.
What To Use: Fruits & nuts can be used as the best alternative.
4. Microwaved Food Items
Microwave oven uses electromagnetic rays (microwaves) for heating or cooking the food items. Any rays other than natural sources such as sunlight might cause alteration in gene pattern which can lead to various reproductive related disorders in females, e.g. repetitive & continuous use of it can cause premature birth of baby in pregnant females.
What To Use: Prefer cooking or heating up in gas or stove that too in stainless steel or earthen pots.
5. Hormonal Drugs
The use of hormonal drugs to treat various systemic as well as menstrual diseases is common these days. Modern Science uses medication such as thyroxine for hypothyroidism, insulin for diabetes & various other corticosteroids for numerous ailments & emergency conditions, also the increasing trend of oral contraceptive pills (hormone based) as birth control method and treating PCOD or post- menopausal syndrome, which all are man made hormone based drugs that disturb the whole hormonal functioning of the body and in turn results in creating more and more reproductive system related ailments and syndromes in females.
What To Use: Ayurveda is an ancient science of living that uses herbal drugs obtained from natural sources and are effectively treating various ailments since ages. So, despite going for various steroid / hormone based treatment on long term basis, one can shift to more effective line of treatment i.e. Ayurveda.
6. Milk & Milk Products
Due to drastic increase in population, the demand of milk & milk products also increased. So, to cope up the increasing demand the use of various hormone based injections are being used on young calves, so that they can grow faster & yield more and more production of milk. Thus, these steroid based altered milk & milk products which are available in the market are too dangerous and can cause disorders ranging from indigestion to hormonal changes.
What To Use: Use vegan curd (made from peanuts & rice). Freshly obtained cow’s milk can be used in small quantities. Buttermilk (freshly prepared) can also be a great choice.
7. Non-Vegetarian Food Articles
Like, milk & milk products the demand & consumption of non-vegetarian food articles is also increased. Again, special steroid based vaccinations are given to hens to increase production of eggs, and also to the broilers (chicken which are bred & raised to obtain meat), pigs, goats, sheep and other meat yielding animals to enhance the quantity of meat which on regular consumption have drastic adverse effects on reproductive health of females.
What To Use: Seasonal fruits & vegetables can be the best choice.
8. Conventionally Used Grains
Wheat & rice (paddy) are the most conventionally used grains which also have suffered from high adulteration for high production. Use of various pesticides and harmful chemicals may have increased the quantity of cultivating these grains but also results in many diseases including female reproductive system related ailments.
What To Use: The use of Millets specifically little millets, kodo millets, barnyard millets, brown top millet and foxtail can be promoted due to their many therapeutic properties instead of congenitally used grains.
9. Use Of Refined Oils For Cooking
Despite using pure extract of vegetable oil such as kachi ghani mustard oil there is an increasing trend of using refined oils. This trend is leading to elevation in cholesterol and triglyceride levels which can result in metabolic syndromes thus indirectly affecting the reproductive systems in females.
What To Use: Prefer oil free cooking or can use Kachi ghani Mustard oil.
10. Use Of Refined Salt & Sugar
The salt that we conventionally use i.e. white salt is also harmful when consumed regularly. Use of white sugar is also not very much advisable.
What To Use: Use of Sindhav lavan (pink salt) must be promoted due to its many medicinal & nutritious properties. In Ayurveda it is considered as the best of all the salts. Also, use of jaggery or honey should be promoted instead of white sugar.
UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLE & ADVISABLE LIFESTYLE MODIFICATIONS
Unhealthy lifestyles include both mental & physical activities that affect the female reproductive health. These include:
1. Sedentary Lifestyle
Due to increase in comfortable lifestyle with rising technology, there is complete lack of physical activities which leads to obesity and ultimately resulting as a major factor responsible for PCOD and infertility like issues.
What To Do:
- Daily walk for 2-3 km is recommended in an open area like a park or garden.
- Sunlight exposure for about an hour per day.
- One can perform regular exercise and Yoga asanas. Some Most Beneficial yoga asanas for better reproductive health of females:
- Bhadrasana
- Kati chakr asana
- Chakrasana
- Setubandh asana
- Paad hast asana
- Gomukh asana
- Pashimotaan asana
- Shsanak asana
- Surya Namshkaar (12 poses)
- Vajr asana & Shavasana
2. Stress
Stress can cause disturbance in mental health which can result in several endocrine changes in the body. Altered hormones levels in turn affect the female reproductive health to a greater extent.
What To Do:
Indulging oneself in tasks and not to overthink is one of the best precautionary methods. Apart from these various Pranayamas (mind-relaxing exercises) that must be done on regular basis for relaxing of mind includes:
- Naadi shodhan pranayama
- Sheetli pranayama
- Kpaal Bhati pranayama
- Ujjayayi pranayama
- Bhramri pranayama
CONCLUSIONS
This article shows how modern cultures are disturbing female reproductive health. Thus Nidana parivarjana is the basic & most useful treatment protocol in Ayurveda which can be implied to any mental or physical disease. Nidana parivarjana simply means the avoidance of causative factors. Thus, by eliminating the causative factors (diet or lifestyle) mentioned in the article & following the recommended diet plan & lifestyle, females can easily lead to a disease free healthy life ahead.
