Diet plays a vital role in the maintenance of good health and in the prevention and cure of diseases. In the words of Sir Robert McCarrison, one of the best known nutritionists, “The right kind of food is the most important single factor in the promotion of health; and the wrong kind of food is the most important single factor in the promotion of disease.”
The human body builds up and maintains healthy cells, tissues, glands and organs only with the help of various nutrients. The body cannot perform any of its functions, be they metabolic, harmonal, mental, physical or chemical without specific nutrients. The food which provides these nutrients is thus one of the most essential factors in building and maintaining health.
Nutrition, which depends on food, is also of utmost importance in the cure of diseases. The primary cause of disease is a weakened or lowered resistance in the body, arising from the adoption of a faulty nutritional pattern. There is an elaborate healing mechanism within the body but it can perform its function only if it is abundantly supplied with all the essential nutritional factors.
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Sleep is one of the nature’s greatest inventions and blessings of life. It is a periodic rest of the body which is absolutely essential for its efficient functioning. It has been called “most cheering restorative of tired bodies.”
Sleep is the indispensable condition to the recuperation of energy. We go to bed fatigued and get up refreshed. Sleep repairs the wear and tear of the body and mind incurred during waking hours. Nothing is so restorative to the nerves as sound and uninterrupted sleep. Sleep is thus a vital element in a total way of life. It is a basic need in man’s mental as well as physical life.
During sleep, most of the functions of the body are carried on at the lowest level possible in health. Heat production is from 10 to 15 per cent below the base level. The mechanism regulating the body temperature are less sensitive than in the waking state and are depressed by 0.5 to 1.0 degree Fahrenheit The rate of the heart is reduced by 10 to 30 beats per minute and a decline in blood pressure of about 20 mm occurs in quiet restful sleep. The urine volume is considerably reduced, but its concentration in solids is increased. The tone of all the skeletal muscles is lessened. The eyes are usually rolled upward and the pupils constricted.
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Chromotherapy is a method of treatment of diseases by colour. It is best used as a supportive therapy along with other natural methods of preventing health such as correct diet, adequate rest and relaxation, exercise, yogic asanas and so on.
According to practitioners of chromotherapy, the cause of any disease can be traced to the lack of a particular colour in the human system. Colour therapy is a technique of restoring imbalance by means of applying coloured light to the body. It was a popular method of cure even in ancient times. Some 2,500 years ago, Pythagoras applied colour light therapeutically and “colour halls” were used for healing in ancient Egypt, China and India.
The pioneer of modern colour therapy was Neils Finsen of Denmark. Following the discovery, in 1877, of the bactericidal action of solar ultra-violet energy, Finsen studied the possibility of assisting the healing of wounds with visible light. He subsequently used red light to inhibit the formation of smallpox scars and in 1896, founded a Light Institute( now the Finsen Institute of Copenhagen ) for the photo treatment of tuberculosis.
Also in1932, Gerrard and Hessay, two Californian psychologists, scientifically established that blue light had a calming effect and red a stimulating power on human beings.
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The yoga therapy refers to the treatment of diseases by means of yogic exercises which may be physical or mental or both. It is a specialized form of yogic culture. This mode of treatment has been practiced in India from very ancient times. Many references to yoga have been made in the Upanishads. It was, however, Maharishi Patanjali who in about the first century B.C. gave a systematic account of the traditional yogic teaching.
The term “Yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit root “yug” which means to “join”. It signifies union between the individual soul and the universal soul. It aims at obtaining relief from pain and suffering. Basically, human evolution takes place on three different planes, namely physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga is a means of attaining perfect health by maintaining harmony and achieving optimum functioning on all three levels through complete self-control.
Yogic kriyas, asanas and pranayamas constitute the physical basics of yoga. The pracrtice of kriyas and asanas leads to excellent circulation. It also energises and stimulates major endocrine glands of the body. Yogic exercises promote inner health and harmony, and their regular practice helps prevent and cure many common ailments. They also help eliminate tensions, be they physical, mental or emotional.
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Massage is an excellent form of passive exercise. The word is derived from the Greek word “massier” which means to knead. It involves the scientific manipulation of the soft tissues of the body. If correctly done on a bare body, it can be a highly stimulating and invigorating.
As far back as 400 B.C. , the great Hippocrates, the father of medicine, employed massage and manipulation in healing his patients. Since then it has been used as a mode of treatment for many ailments and it has restored many a sufferer to health and vigour.
The general massage, dealing with all parts of the body, is highly beneficial in many ways. It tones up the nervous system, influences respiration and quickens the elimination of poisons and waste material from the body through the various eliminative organs such as lungs, skin, kidneys and bowels. It also boosts blood circulation and metabolic processes. A massage removes facial wrinkles, helps to fill out hollow cheeks and neck and eases stiffness, sore muscles and numbness.
There are five fundamental modes of manipulation in massage and these are : effleurage, friction, petrissage, tapotement and vibration.
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A world famous physical educationist, Eugene Sandow, has very aptly said, “Life is movement, stagnation is death.”
Physical exercise is essential for the maintenance of normal condition of life. Lack of natural exercise is one of the chief causes of weakness and ill-health.
In recent years, the need for exercise has been recognised even in sickness. Physio and o occupational therapy are now standard procedures in medicine to restore the use of muscles and nerves that have been injured by disease or by accident. Patients with organic ailments are now advised to stay in bed for the minimum period considered necessary.
For correct living, it is essential to differentiate between exercise and activity. While both are important as they are involved in vital physical movement, they vary in degree and benefits. Both employ the body in voluntary movement. Activity uses the body to a limited degree and generally to achieve a specific purpose. Exercise employs the body over the widest possible range of movement for the particular purpose of maintaining or accquiring muscle tone and control with maximum joint flexibility.
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Earth was used extensively for remedial purposes in ancient times as well as the middle ages. In modern times, it came into prominence as a valuable therapeutic agent in the last century through the indefatigable efforts of Emanuel Falke, a German-born Lutheran minister who was nicknamed the “Clay Pastor”.
Felke found that the forces of earth have remarkable effects upon the human body, especially during the night. These effects are described as refreshing, invigorating and vitalising. Felke believed that for wounds and skin diseases, application of clay or moistened earth was the only true natural bandage. The body is thus repaired with the element from which it is assumed to be made.
The American Indians lay great stress on the Earth treatment. They believe that healing power is so strong in leaves and herbs, powerful in the air, but very popular indeed in the earth. They have a custom to bury sufferers from all kinds of diseases in the earth upto their necks, leave them there for some hours and then remove them. They believe that many of them are cured. Presumably, the body draws un to itself the healing minerals and some of the earth’s magnetism.
Health
Water has been used as a valuable therapeutic agent since time immemorial. In all major ancient civilizations, bathing was considered an important measure for the maintainence of health and prevention of disease. It was also valued for its remedial properties. The ancient Vedic literature in India contains numerous references to the efficacy of water in the treatment of disease.
In modern times, the therapeutic value of water was popularized by Vincent Priessnitz, Father Sebastian Kneipp, Louis Kuhne and other European water-cure pioneers. They raised water cure to an institutional level and employed it successfully for the treatment of almost every known disease. There are numerous spas and “Bads” in most European countries where therapeutic baths are used as a major healing agent.
Water exerts beneficial effects on the human system. It equalises circulation, boosts muscular tone and aids digestion and nutrition. It also tones up the activity of perspiratory gland and in the process eliminates the damaged cells and toxic matter from the system.
The common water temperature chart is cold( 10 degree celsius to 18 degree celsius ), neutral( 32 degree celsius to 36 degree celsius ) and hot( 40 degree celsius to 45 degree celsius ). Above 45 degree celsius, water loses its therapeutic value and is destructive.
Health
Fasting refers to complete abstinence from food for a short or long period for a specific purpose. The word is derived from the old English “feastan” which mans to fast, observe, be strict.
Fasting is nature’s oldest and most effective method of treating disease. It is recognised as the cornerstone of natural healing. Fasting in disease was advocated by the school of natural philosopher, Asclepiades, more than two thousand years ago. Throughout medical history, it has been regarded as one of the most dependable curative methods.
The common cause of all the diseases is the accumulation of waste and poisonous matter in the body which results from overeating. The majority of persons eat too much and follow sedentary occupations which do not permit sufficient and proper exercise for utilisation of this large quantity of food. This surplus overburdens the digestive and assimilative organs and clogs up the system with impurities or poisons. Digestion and elimination become slow and the functional activity of the whole system gets deranged.
Duration of fasting - The duration of the fast depends upon the age of the patient, the nature of the disease and the amount and type of drugs previously used. The duration is important, because long periods of fasting can be dangerous if undertaken without competent professional guidance. It is therefore, advisable to undertake a series of short fasts of two to three days and gradually increase the duration of each succeeding fast by a day or so. This will enable the chronically sick body to gradually and slowly eliminate toxic waste matter without seriously affecting the natural functioning of the body.
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Nature cure is a constructive method of treatment which aims at removing the basic cause of diseases through the rational use of the elements freely available in nature. It is not only a system of healing, but also a way of life, in tune with the internal vital forces of natural elements comprising the human body. It is a complete revolution in the art and science of living.
Although the term “naturopathy” is of relatively recent origin, the philosophical basis and several of the methods of nature cure treatments are ancient. It was practiced in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Hippocrates, the father of medicine( 460-357 B.C. ) strongly advocated it.
India, it appears, was much further advanced in olden days in natural healing system than other countries of the world. There are references in India’s ancient sacred books about the extensive use of nature’s excellent healing agents such as air, earth, water and sun. The Great Baths of the Indus Valley Civilization as discovered at Mohenjodaro in old Sind testifies to the use of water for curative purposes in ancient India.
So, in the coming days, let us take a look at the various diseases that human beings face and let us also know the various natural remedies that can be used to cure the diseases.
Remember, HEALTH IS WEALTH.
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