Stress has become an inevitable and the most unwanted companion of society.
When our lives become full of desires, demands, workloads, deadlines, frustrations, irritations, and squabbles we push ourselves to this stress condition.
There are various types of stress conditions and they can be classified as physical, physiological, or psychological. Out of these, specific concern is required for psychological stress because it can be dangerous to an individual’s mental and physical health, personal well-being, and safety. As far as the mind and the body are able to cope with stress, it acts as a normal stimulus required for our physical and social well-being and is better known as “eustress”. On the other hand, stress becomes “distress” when the individual is unable to cope with it. Eustress helps in improving the performance, whereas distress is known to induce a number of clinical conditions and create negative effects on mood, productivity, relationship, and quality of life.
Ayurveda is a science and art of appropriate living which helps us to achieve longevity with a better quality. Ayurveda has the knowledge of complete balance of body, mind, and spirit including emotions and psychology on all levels and this knowledge and its practices will help maintain stress levels. Ayurveda mentions about stressors (stress inducing factors) in charaka samhita and they are physical factors; excessive physical exercise, vigils, fasting, injury, exhaustion, uneven body postures, or psychological factors; anger, fear, grief, anxiety, and environmental factors; high altitudes and prolonged exposures to intense heat of sun and fire. Unhealthy food, irregular and improper routine, and mental causes like bhaya (fear), krodha (anger), soka (grief), loba (greed), moha (attachment), ayasa (confusion) cause all types of morbidities. The causative factors for stress in the modern era has its own similarities with Ayurveda; lots of desires, shortage of time due to busy life schedules, increase of workloads, unrealistic expectations, and such situations are related to emotions, difficult personal or interpersonal relationships, social events, financial problems, etc.
How can we identify the stress level? What are the common signs and symptoms of stress? When one is feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, they show the following behaviours: inability to concentrate, sleep disturbances, irritability, agitation, feeling loneliness, negative thoughts, hopelessness, unnecessary worrying, poor judgment, impaired memory, change in eating habits, nail biting.
When an individual is having stress for a longer period of time it can lead to more serious conditions such as increase blood pressure, decreased immune system, and can lead to hypertension, coronary artery disease, peptic ulcer, asthma, migraine, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes mellitus, thyrotoxicosis, anxiety, and depression.
Ayurveda ways of managing and treating stress not only maintain the balance in body and mind but also progressively raise the level of inner happiness and satisfaction. Among many treatment types Ayurveda explains lifestyle modifications to help the stressed conditions. Some of these changes are described below. Oil application by applying oil on the head regularly makes the organs become cheerful, gives the face a pleasant glow, provides sound sleep, and also helps develop happiness. Vyayama or physical exercise is an important mode for curing and preventing many diseases. By physical exercise one gets lightness and tolerance of difficulties. Satvavajaya chikitsa (Psychological therapy) is the unique treatment type that has been mentioned in Ayurveda thousands of years ago. It is factual knowledge of psychological self-control that helps to discriminate between thoughts and actions. Other than that, Ayurveda mentions external treatments such as nasya, shiro abhyanga (head massages), shirodhara (oil pouring treatment to the vital point of the head), and shiro vasti (oil pooling in the head). Aroma therapy will help calm both the psychological and physical aspects. Using different types of essential oil, aromatherapy can help improve mood, promote relaxation, and reduce stress. Relaxation therapy is one of the most promising therapies to reduce stress levels. Different oil blends can be used to perform this kind of treatment.
Herbs that are beneficial for the mind are called medhya dravya in Ayurveda. Some of them are mandookparni (gotu kola – centella asiatica), shankhpushpi (convolvulus pluricaulis), aindri( lunuvila – bacopa monnieri), kushmaand (benincasa hispida), jyotismati (celastrus paniculatus). These herbs are used in the production of herbal and herbo-mineral compounds that are used to treat stress and other psychological-related disorders.
(The writer holds a BAMS [Hons] from the University of Colombo and a Diploma in Panchakarma, and is currently reading for an Msc in Food and Nutrition from the University of Peradeniya)