dr. Physiological study of doshas in dincharya and ritucharya w.s.r biological clock

Abstract

According to ayurveda biological clock organizes your entire day as per the Ayurvedic clock. Every day, human body cycles through three doshas-Vata, Pitta and Kapha. One dosha is dominant at one particular time. Thus, tuning the body as per the qualities and timings of doshas can ensure harmony in life. According to Ayurvedic concepts, body is made up of three types of Doshas, viz. Vata, Pitta, Kapha. Balancing between Doshas leads to health whereas the imbalance leads to disease condition. At specific time in each day, or seasons or at given age the balance between Tridosha is in constant flux. Balancing of Doshas is possible with ‘Dinacharya’ and ‘Rutucharya’, which will lead to syncing of the inner biological clock. Thus, the lifestyle disorders could be managed with changes in the lifestyle with least medical intervention. Rhythmicity is a ubiquitous phenomenon. Rhythmic temporal patterns are considered and important factor in therapeutics as effective treatments should work in conjunction with body’s clocks. Te concept of chronobiology is well evidenced by the cyclic alterations of dosas in the body. The Ayurvedic way of living as well as healing has been developed keeping in mind these biological clocks so as to maintain a balanced state of dosas in the present paper an attempt is made to review the ayurvedic concept of chronobiology and chronotherapy. Circadian rhythm is the cyclical 24-hour period of human biological activity. Within the circadian (24-hour) cycle, a person usually sleeps approximately 8 hours and stays awake for 16 hours. During the wakeful hours, mental and physical functions are most active and tissue cell growth increases. During sleep, voluntary muscle activities nearly disappear and there is a decrease in metabolic rate, respiration, heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure. In Ayurveda, this concept is based on three Doshas- Vata, Pitta, Kapha - which predominantly govern our daily routine life. These Doshas maintain the integrity of our body by creating, assimilating & diffusing strength. In this article, efforts will be made to correlate the Doshic influence which affects the human body.