Common cold is an infectious disease caused by virus, affecting respiratory system. Nasal congestion, running nose due to mucus, sneezing, coughing, headaches, tiredness, etc are the symptoms of common cold.

There is a common joke about common cold that ‘it is a disease that will be cured in seven days with treatment and in one week without treatment. That is not normally the case.

Almost everyone experience common cold at least once a year.

Here are some Ayurvedic home remedies for common cold. Try it when you feel it is about time your nose open mucus pipes.

First tip straight from Indian granny – boil a few Tulsi (holy basil) leaves in a glass or two of water. Take the pan from the stove and take a facial steam bath with the steam emanating from the vessel. Cover your head with a cloth to ensure steam is not lost out.

There are boilers and inhalers available in the market that lets you direct the steam straight to your nose.

Ginger is another effective remedy to common cold. Boil half a tsp of ginger powder in a glass of water for five minutes. Strain it and drink when lightly warm.

You can elaborate the above mixture to a herbal tea by adding fennel seeds, a pinch of clove powder and a little of cinnamon powder. Drink it one or two times a day.

Cardamom, cinnamon, licorice and cloves also can be singly boiled for a few minutes and taken warm.

More ginger – take two inches of fresh ginger. Crush it and get the juice. Add half a teaspoon honey. Take this mixture two or three times a day.

Squeeze half a lemon to a glass of warm water. Add a tsp of honey. Drink it two times a day.

Care to try some Nasya? Try this if you have a stuffy nose. Add a little sea salt to a tsp of water. Slightly warm the water if it is too cold. Use this as nasal drops.

Additional Tips

Wear a cap and a muffler when stepping out to a cold winter day or night.

Take only warm food. Completely avoid cold drinks, food items. Avoid sour items too.

Constipation is the condition when a person has difficult bowel movement. In cases you feel like bowel movement is not over. The main reason for this state can be attributed to lesser daily intake of water and fruits.

Other reasons for constipation can be suppressing the urge of bowel movement. Constipation can also be the side effect of certain drugs you take. Excess use of laxatives can also cause constipation.

The main symptoms are harder stools, infrequent or decreased passage and the feeling that you need bowel movement immediately after you have had one.

Herbal Remedies for Constipation
Triphala is the most effective cure for constipation. Triphala is a mild laxative. It strengthens digestive tract. It acts as a laxative without causing any irritation or pains. Triphala is a combination of three fruits. The three fruits are amalaki or amla (Indian gooseberry, Emblica officinalis), vibhitaki (Belleric Myrobalan, terminalia belerica) and haritaki (chebulic myrobalan, Terminanlia chebula). {read more about triphala- link}

Triphala offers most natural constipation relief. Triphala acts as a mild laxative and colon tonic. It strengthens colon walls and removes unwanted materials accumulated in the walls of digestive tract.

Preventing Constipation
If you experience chronic constipation problems, it can primarily be of your wrong diet habits. Include more fibrous and fruit items in your diet. Drink minimum of 8-15 glass of water daily. Soft drinks, cola, coffee and tea donÂ’t count to daily water intake.

When necessary use mild laxatives like triphala. DonÂ’t depend on harsh laxatives. It can make the condition worse. Triphala is safe.

Other thing is to maintain daily physical activity. Moderate levels of physical activities and aerobics strengthen colon and facilitates free bowel movement.

Prevention for constipation can be concluded in three points

1. Drink lot of water daily
2. Eat fruits
3. Follow daily exercise regime

This will help you manage constipation.

Back pain is so common a problem. Only at an advanced stage do people seek medical attention for back pain. Back pain occurs when the flexibility of spine is affected.

 

Back ache or back pain can be of short term (lasts for only a few weeks), recurrent or chronic.

 

Poor posture and resultant muscular tension and stress on disc are the main result of back pain, especially lower back pain. Nutrition deficiency, lack of exercise etc are other reasons for back pain.

 

In some cases, back pain can be symptoms of serious arthritis problems, infections, or ovarian cysts.

 

Back ache, according to Ayurveda is primarily a vata related disorder. Therefore the first step in treating back pain is to avoid vata aggravating food items like chilled items.

 

Don’t physically exert too much.

 

Sexual activity is better minimized. Take the passive position when having sex.

 

Practice yoga, meditation, stretching and mild exercises.

 

Massage – there are several Ayurvedic massage oils for rheumatic pains and general body pains. Your physician prescribes a medicinal oil to massage your lower back with. It relives pain.

 

Posture – don’t lean forward when standing or sitting. Take an upright position or comfortably press against the chair you sit. The angle between your legs and torso should be more than 90 degree but less than 135 degree. Practice sitting like this earlier in your life.

 

Don’t lift very heavy objects. Never lean to your side when lifting heavy objects on one hand. Try stay erect when lifting heavy objects.

Feeling not in control, feeling worn out, feeling short tempered – if you are showing these signs you are under attack of stress.

Stress is a serious mental condition that has the potential to affect your performance at work and diminish the quality of your private life.

Present lifestyle and professional requirements take its toil on individuals and people find it hard to cope with daily dose of stress.

Stressful life is not Ayurvedic style of life. To cope with stress, one can have a look at Ayurvedic principles and follow the daily routines set by ancient Ayurveda practitioners.

Here are a few simple guidelines to manage stress

Get six to eight hours of sleep at night.

Wake up early before sunrise and practice yoga and meditation.

Listen to soothing music. Fast beats increase your heartbeat and puts you on stress. Hindustani and Carnatic tunes on pleasant notes (morning raga) are best.

Enjoy smelling rose flowers in your garden. Try gardening if you already hadn’t and ensure at least a few flowers daily morning.

Gardening is a must have hobby – optional hobbies include taking long walks beside a riverside or a lakeside, writing and venting out your thoughts on paper, learning to play a musical instrument, taking a class on pencil drawing, water color painting or oil painting, collecting stamps or anything you like, etc.

You must take at least seven hours a week to develop your hobby. Don’t allow worrying thoughts come to your mind while engaged in your hobby.

Develop a habit of talking and listening to everyone that comes across your life.

Join a laughter club. Unbelievable but true, half an hour of laugh a day can destroy stress causing hormones. If can’t find a laughter club, laugh for 10-20 minutes in a private location (where no one else know what you are doing).

These are natural methods of relieving stress. It is better you never depend on any drugs or medicines to control stress.
Ayurvedic Herbs Helpful in Relieving Stress

Aswagandha (Withania somnifera) is best known tranquilizer with little known side effects. It is known as an adaptogen and is used in the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, general weakness, sexual impotence, etc. Take 250 mg of Aswagandha tablets or powder on a daily basis to improve physical strength, mental ability and problem solving capacities.

Acidity is a digestive system disorder condition characterized by excess production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and making the person feel heartburn or dyspepsia. Leaving acidity untreated can lead to ulcers in digestive system.

Causes of Acidity

Excess hot and spicy food; fats, sweets, excess chocolate, alcohol, smoking, exposure to very hot conditions; and negative emotions like anger and tension can cause acidity.

Symptoms of Acidity

Burning sensation in the chest or abdomen, vomiting, belching and lack of appetite are the main symptoms of acidity.

Ayurvedic Remedies for Acidity

Chew a small piece of jaggery three or four times a day. Jaggery is prepared from sugarcane molasses.

Chew the seeds of a cardamom and a clove together after taking meals. This not only cures acidity, but also freshen breath.

Take a glass of milk, with a little ghee added to it at night. Take milk two or three times daily if you already have developed ulcer in the digestive tract.

You can also mix some castor oil in lukewarm milk and drink it. Make sure the castor oil is odorless.

Take a glass of hot water and put a tsp of aniseed in it. Leave it overnight. Add a tsp honey to the water and drink it. Repeat it two or three times a day for a week.

Drink a tender coconut’s water and eat the fruity pulp. This soothes acidity.

Take 300mg or 500mg of shilajit a day for a month. This strengthens digestive tract and brings in additional benefits.

Though people with an overdose of philosophy say it not what is outside, but inside the skull that counts, people suffering from hair loss wish it is the other way round. People of ‘almost’ all cultures are obsessed with thickly growing hair.

Ayurveda has identified this obsession a few centuries ago and has given the directions to minimize hair loss and better hair growth in its scheme of beauty care, which is commonly called lavanya sutra or the sutra for lavanyam or beauty.

Though lavanyam is referred to feminine beauty, hair loss tips are beneficial for the tougher sex too.

Here are top ten tips to prevent hair loss and ensure healthy hair growth.

1. Gently massage your scalpel with fingertips after applying a hair oil like coconut oil or sesame oil.

2. Eat Indian gooseberry in any form early in the day. Don’t take gooseberry based products later in the night as it can affect your beautiful dental line.

3. Boil fresh or dried and powdered Indian gooseberry (also called amla) in coconut oil. Apply this for nourishing hair growth.

4. Eat all types of vegetables and fruits. This will ensure supply of vitamins and minerals essential for the healthy growth of hair. Vitamins and minerals are good for your health too.

5. Also eat protein rich food items – tuna, lean meat, whole milk are beneficial.

6. While bathing, wash your head with cold water only. It is winter and water is ice-cold, you can make it luke-warm. It is ok to wash your body with cold water.

7. Apply brahmi oil on your scalpel before going to bed. Good for hair growth and brain.

8. Dandruff is a cause of hair loss. Squeeze half a lemon to half a liter of water and rinse your hair and scalpel with this water as a cure to dandruff. Do this no more than three times a week and for up to a month.

9. Rosemary oil is an aromatherapy oil, which can be applied to your hair once in a week to reduce hair fall.

10. Crush a few leaves and flowers of hibiscus (shoe flower) with two or three glasses of water. The water becomes thick with the juice and use this water to wash your hair. Thoroughly cleanses your hair and gives dark bright color to your hair.

Never apply soap or high power shampoo on your head, as it can affect healthy growth of hair.

Dandruff is a skin disorder characterized by scaly flaking of scalp skin. The flakes in turn get caught among the skin.

Causes of Dandruff

Ayurveda attributes this condition to improper diet habits, constipation, infections and other imbalances like mental tension, exhaustion etc.

Some Home Remedies for Dandruff

Make a paste of neem leaves (3-4 leaves is enough) and mix it in water. Wash the hair with this water. Continue this for a week. 

Fenugreek offers remedy for dandruff. Soak some fenugreek seeds in water for a few hours (overnight). Make it into a paste and apply on scalp. Wash it away after half an hour.

Leave olive oil on your hair for a few hours everyday.

Apply coconut oil daily before bathing.

Rinse hair with lime juice. A tsp lemon-squeeze in half a liter water. If the condition is severe use lemon juice without diluting and wash away after 15 minutes.

Add a few drops of honey to a 2 tsp of curd. Rub this mixture onto the scalp. Wash away after half an hour.

Rub aloe vera gel on to your scalp. Leave it for up to half an hour. Use a mild shampoo to wash it away.

Boil half a liter of water with some neem leaves. Rinse hair when cold. Effective remedy for dandruff.

Crush about 50 grams of snake gourd and make it into a paste. Apply this on your scalp and leave it for 30 minutes.

DonÂ’t apply harsh shampoo on your head and make sure you apply some coconut oil or sesame oil everyday on your head five to 30 minutes before taking bath.

Diet

To effectively control include food items that contain vitamin A, B1, B2, Zinc and omega fatty acids. You get Vitamin A from dark green and colored vegetables (carrot, broccoli etc)
Vitamin B1 from whole grains, legumes (peas), nuts etc
Vitamin B2 from dairy products, lean meat, fish, broccoli etc
Omega fatty acids (3 and 6) from egg, fish (mackerel and salmon), whole wheat breads, nuts (walnut, hazelnut), sesame seeds etc

Include all different kinds of food items that are not overly cooked, canned, processed or preserved in your diet.

Also drink lot of water daily for the health of your skin.

The risk of diabetic persons developing high blood pressure is two times higher. Left untreated, diabetes increases the right of heart diseases and stroke. When a person has diabetes and high blood pressure, the chances of heart failure increase by four times. It is therefore essential for diabetic patients find ways to control hypertension or high blood pressure.

Lowering blood pressure can be attained by opting a vegetarian diet, daily physical exercise, losing weight if over weight, quitting smoking and alcohol and practicing of yoga and meditation can help lower blood pressure.

When to take meditation for high blood pressure –
If you are diabetic and your blood pressure reaches 140/90 Hg, you will need to take active measures to lower blood pressure. Remember this is only for diabetic patients and people without diabetes are not generally advised to take medicines if their BP is below 160/100.

Being diabetic increases the risk of heart failure, nervous system damages, kidney failure, liver damages and several other complications including lack of nutrient supply to arms and legs.

Ayurvedic control methods to lower blood pressure levels are mainly centered around dietary controls. Lower intake of sea salt, inclusion of bitter melon in diet, controlling intake of sugar and fat, taking herbal tea, etc are the prime directions. Lifestyle adjustments like taking 7-8 hours of daily sleep, practicing yoga and meditation, leading an active life, dealing only with people you like, etc keep you control blood pressure.

Bitter gourd (bitter melon) juice is beneficial in managing diabetes. Take more than half a glass of bitter gourd juice two times a day.

Salacia oblonga is an Ayurvedic herb useful in lowering blood sugar levels, blood insulin levels and normalizing blood pressure levels. Salacia oblonga thus is beneficial in treating both diabetes and high blood pressure.

Sarpagandhi (Rowolfia serpentina), is another Ayurvedic herb effective in bringing down blood pressure levels.

Shilajith, though usually termed as an aphrodisiac, is beneficial in lowering blood sugar levels. Pure shilajit can be taken as a preventive and curative Ayurvedic medicine against diabetes.

Specific Ayurvedic therapies like dhara, kizhi, nasyam, etc are treatments for diabetes. The treatments are equally beneficial in normalizing blood pressure too.

Diabetic patients who also have high blood pressure must regularly check their blood pressure levels. They also must take directed hours of daily rest and do moderate exercises on a regular basis.

Acne is a skin problem that leaves majority teenagers and a lot of adults embarrassed. The skin condition called acne occurs due to accumulation of an oily matter called sebum secreted by sebaceous glands of the skin.

Acne can affect face (nose, forehead, cheeks and chin), upper back, neck, shoulders, and chest area.  The condition is more severe in males, but lasts longer in females. Though it is generally considered an adolescent beauty problem, number of persons aged 40 years and above are on the rise. At least in rare cases it is found in infants too.

There is a variety of conditions generally classified into the scope of acne. Pimples, blackheads, whiteheads also are classified acne. There are also boil like lumps called nodules that affect skin.

Pimples appear as small and reddish pus filled protrusions on face.

The severe case is cystic acne. Characterized by the eruption of pus and infected cells to below the skin than outside.

Ayurveda cure for Acne

Ayurvedic acne cure makes use of natural blood purifiers and detoxifiers. The main skin purifier is neem. It also strengthens immune system and prevents infection. Used in ointments and internal medicine.

Guggulu (Comiphora mukul) can cure different skin diseases.

Lifestyle Adjustments to Prevent or Control Acne

Though there is no single reason pointed out, acne can be brought under control.

Diet
Include carrots, pumpkin, vegetables, orange, and other fruits in your daily diet.

Drink lots of water. It helps in flushing out cellular wastes and gives skin a healthy glow.

Avoiding food items like ice cream and fatty substances can help.

Hygiene
Acne is not a hygiene related issue. It is a good practice to wash your face and infected areas with mildly warm water and a soft soap two-three times a day.
 
Dry the skin gently with a cotton towel.

Never attempt squeezing or rupturing pimples in any way. If done, it can cause infection.

Avoid oily makeup materials. You can use water based makeup materials.

For back and shoulder acne
Never allow sweat to moisten the affected area. Use cotton under clothing that quickly absorbs sweat.