COVID-19: Boosting immunity through Ayurveda

By Bhuvaneswari Ravindran

COVID-19: Of late, Ayurveda has been getting importance and publicity at national level, in the context of solutions it offers to boost immunity in our fight against COVID 19. Our mailboxes are agog with messages recommending use of different combinations, to save us from the onslaught of Coronavirus, most of which are based on medicinal herbs. Many such messages emanate from highly qualified Allopathic doctors.

My own personal experience has been that Ayurveda and Yoga give better relief and comfort for certain ailments. I had to fly down from Delhi seated on a wheel chair for treatment for acute Sciatica in Kottakkal Aryavaidyasala some years back. I could sit up with a couple of week’s treatments and later in a month’s time I was better and back in office. Since then, an annual Ayurvedic treatment and regular yoga has been keeping me in better condition.

This I am writing also in the context of an online WEBINAR that I, as Secretary of the Kozhikode Branch of All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), organised recently. We organise activities for empowering and benefitting women and this was the first activity that our Branch could organise since March 2020. Dr. K.S. Vimal Kumar, Senior Physician of the Vaidyaratnam Treatment Centre, Kozhikode, made an absorbing and informative presentation on “Immunity through Ayurveda”.

We all are familiar with COVID 19, including its symptoms and the need to consult a Doctor as soon as the symptoms like fever, dry cough, fatigue, pain, sore throat, breathing problem and diarrhoea manifest. These aspects were reinforced by the Resource Person painstakingly, in a simple, engaging manner, devoid of jargons.

It is a known fact that the Virus is transmitted through mouth, nose and eye and that oral gargling with warm water with a pinch of salt and steam inhalation a couple of times a day, will help reduce the risk of transmission of the virus considerably.

Ayurveda recommends following this as a daily routine. A study conducted in Brazil supports this.

The crux of the matter is that prevention is better than cure. Immunity levels vary from person to person and are not something we can buy across the counter – it has to be developed!! Inculcating good food habits and adopting better and healthy lifestyles has a good role to play in boosting immunity.

More about that with some home solutions, in my next.

The author is Director (Retd), Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, Delhi. Views expressed are the author’s own.