Dear readers,
Hurry in life leads to worry, and worry leads to stress. Ultimately by worrying, we are inviting lots of health troubles and anxiety for ourselves.
Anxiety is nothing but our body’s natural response to stress. So being anxious once in a while is okay. But what if you carry this anxiety for a long time or on regular basis? Then it transforms into a disorder & may need treatment or counselling. Anxiety disturbs the digestion process in your body.
Usually we,doctors, see patient coming to us with lots of investigations done for gastric problems like heartburn, stomach ache etc. Acid reflux is a common complaint in today’s lifestyle.
The Acid reflux,which recurs at least two times a week, is then considered as GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). Here acid in the stomach reverts in the esophagus and causes symptoms,
We wonder what is the root cause? Is anxiety causing GERD or GERD is causing anxiety? It’s a vicious cycle.
Anxiety and depression increase the risk of GERD.
The lifestyle disturbances created by GERD increase the stress and anxiety.
Research shows that reflux increases because of:
- poor eating habits like eating large meals at a time or overeating fatty, fried and spicy food or lying down /sleeping immediately after meals.
- Obesity
- Hiatal hernia
- Stress
Anxiety increases GERD symptoms and they impact esophageal motility and lower esophageal sphincter.
Now let’s understand what ayurveda says about GERD & Anxiety
Ayurveda has described a strong relation between anxiety and GERD.
GERD is not mentioned as one disease like amlapitta. Ayurveda considers all these symptoms under Annavaha And Rasavaha strotasa dushti lakshanas.
There’s remarkable resemblance in the causative factors described by Ayurveda and modern medicine.
Annavaha strotas dushti karana-
(Factors responsible for GI tract disturbances)
अतिमात्रस्य च अकाले अहितस्य च भोजनात् l
अन्नवाहिनी दुष्यन्ति वैगुण्यात् पावकस्य च ll
Cha. Vi. 5/20
Atimatra and akal bhojan–
irregularities in food intake timing and eating in excess quantities.
Ahit bhojan–
Atisingdha (fatty,oily food)- it is heavy to digest and leads to blockage i.e. avarodh of strotasa.
Atidrava (excess intake of liquids)-Over distension leads to restlessness and vomiting.
Ahridya (unpleasant food)- such food irritates mucosal layer of stomach and also produces nausea or vomiting.
Asatyma(food you are not habitual to or poisonous food)-Such food disturbs the digestion and can affect vital organs.
Agni(the fire element) gets weakened
Whenever we do following mistakes, we end up with agnimandya i.e. weakened digestive energy that leads to annavaha stroto dushti.
· Eating hurriedly
· Eating when you are not hungry
· Eating when you are stressed out or very anxious
· Eating when you are angry or hurt
All the above points tell us how we allow our digestion to get hampered by such small day-to-day mistakes we do knowingly or unknowingly.
Second part is Rasavaha strotas.
Dushtikarana–
गुरुशीतम् अतिस्निग्धम् अतिमात्रम् समश्नताम् l
रसवाहिनी दुष्यन्ति चिन्त्यानाम् च अतिचिन्तनात् ll
Cha. Vi. 5/21
Here again
Guru i.e. heavy to digest food
Sheet i.e. cold food items
Atisingdha i.e. fatty food
Atimatra i.e. in excess quantity
Atichinta i.e. excessive worries, stress, anxiety, pressure etc.
We will think of last factor as other factors are already discussed under annavaha strotas.
Atichinta:
It reduces digestive secretions and hampers digestion. It shows as a variety of symptoms like, nervousness, hating food, less amount food also creates bloating, burping etc.
One more, most neglected but very important, reason for digestive disorders is Vega vidharana (Controlling natural urges)-
Controlling apana vayu(farting) leads to pain in abdomen and weak digestive energy.
controlling defecation urge results into burping, feeling of chest tightening.
Controlling burps leads to anorexia, loss of taste, hiccups or gaseous distension of abdomen.
Controlling hunger results in body ache, weakness & loss of taste.
One more important point not to be missed is:
Water intake–
Water is not to be consumed in excess immediately after meals. It weakens jatharagni (fire element in stomach). One should drink water after 1 and1/2 to 2 hours after meals. You can have a glass of water sip by sip during meals.
After reading this article, half of the digestive complaints like GERD will go away. Do add meditation, prayer and gratitude practice to overcome anxiety.
To assist you,medicines like Mauktik Kamdudha vati, Praval panchamrut, Hingwashtak choorna, Bhaskarlavan choorna, dadimavaleha, dadimadi ghrita, sukumar ghrita, pippalyasava, bramhi vati, jatamansi ghan vati, Amruta satva etc. can be taken with proper guidance of an Ayurvedic physician. Please do not consume any medicine mentioned above without recommendation by doctor.
Let me know your experiences after following these simple tips and steps.
