New health resolutions for 2025
Ayurveda defines the term Aayu not as lifespan but instead as a state of full awareness of one’s healthy existence. Ayurvedists, through centuries of dedicated hard work, had identified a range of factors that are essential for a healthy existence. As are ready to welcome 2025, we are also going through seasonal changes.
The winter season gives way for dryness and cold to overpower us. Ayurveda says that the changes in the attributes in the external environment are sure to create similar changes in the internal milieu.
Ayurveda advocates using oil and keeping the body warm, which may counteract the ill effects of dryness and cold. There are also descriptions of underground chambers and rooms with hearths where one can sleep peacefully well covered with appropriate thick woollen blankets.
Winter is the time when one can savour sweet, sour, and salty dishes as the capacity of one’s digestion and metabolism is well augmented due to seasonal effects. One can have more oily foods, milk products, and meat soups. Ayurveda advocates warm body wash and sauna baths. Along with this, both isometric and aerobic exercises are well recommended for this season.
Many a time, health is wrongly perceived as a state without disease. But, Ayurveda reminds us that health is not the absence of disease but a state of true positive existence, where one can experience a state of complete expression of the inner potential. Also. this state is defined as without any upper limits. To capture and experience that state of existence, one may try to follow the below-mentioned points.
1. Rising before sunrise will surely give you more calm, peaceful, and productive mornings. In addition, positive thoughts in the early morning set a rhythm that carries forward the day more effortlessly.
2. Create a routine where one can include diverse forms like long walks, playing in the court, gym visits, and zumba.
3. Be more authentic in handling stress. Enrol with a yoga master and learn the ancient practices of praanayam.
4. Bless your body with an adequate amount of sleep. Also, practice sleep hygiene, like keeping away the electronic gadgets two hours before sleep and also taking a shower before going to bed.
5. Try to finish your last meal of the day by 7pm. Also, eat only when you feel you've got a good appetite. Never eat looking at the clock. Eating before the digestion of the previous meal will surely overload the system.
6. Maintain a routine oil application protocol in consultation with your ayurvedist. Apply it to the scalp and body at least three times a week.
7. Keep your body well nourished by adding an adequate quantity of good-quality ghee to your diet.
8. Make sure that you get at least one satisfactory bowel movement a day. If not, consult an ayurvedist for an expert opinion. Ensure that you never delay a defecation and urination reflex.
This new year, promise yourself that you will listen more to your inner voice than the external noise. Tune to your body and mind’s musings. Take the royal road to health.
The author is a Professor at the Department of Panchakarma,
Ashtamgam Ayurveda Medical College, Kerala