Hyperacidity
and Ayurveda: Causes
To understand
the disease amla pitta, one has to understand the concept of 'agni'. Ayurveda
has described this agni as fire of life. It has been given a pivotal place in
the delicate balance between health and disease. In other words, 'agni' is the
fire that cooks or digests the food.
A normal 'agni' means a healthy
person and conversely, an abnormal agni is a sure pointer to disease.
At times, this 'agni' may be
impaired due to intellectual blasphemy (prajnaaparaadha), unwholesome
conjunction of sense organs with their objects (asaatmyendriyaartha samyoga)
and vagaries of weather and time (kaala or parinaama). This impaired 'agni'
shows effect on 'pitta', the fiery energy of the body responsible for transformation.
'Amla pitta' is the by-product of this defective process.
“It is difficult to produce fire
either without fire logs or with too many fire logs occupying the whole
furnace.”
The same is the case with
digestive fire. This will be hampered either with low amounts (mandaagni) or
with high amounts (teekshnaagni). Amla pitta is the resultant of teekshnaagni,
says Ayurveda.
Causative factors for Teekshanaagni:
- Stressful
daily routine.
- Insufficient
sleep at night.
- Irregular
meal times or skipping meals.
- Eating
too late at night.
- Spicy
food habits like pizza, burger, chinese food.
- Oily
foods, pickles.
- Salty
and sour foods like chips .
- Over
eating of stale, fermented foods(bakery foods, idli, dosa, etc).
- Sleeping
immediately after meals.
- Lack of
rest , fast moving lifestyle.
- Suppression of urges
- Too
much of worries.
- Walking
for long hours in hot sun very often, or working near hot areas .
All these above factors result in excessive
increase of ‘Pitta dosha’ which tries to find its way out of the body either
through oral or rectal pathway and along with it exhibits symptoms of Amlapitta.
Next: Hyperacidity and Ayurveda: Symptoms
Next article: Hyperacidity and Ayurveda: Preventive measures and remedies
