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Eye Health and Ayurveda

By Dr Sony Joseph

Eyes are the most important and beautiful among five sensory organs. Even though eyes are one of the most important organs in a human body, people yet neglect to care about them and rarely pay attention until there is some serious problem.

General Causes of Eye Diseases

According to Ayurveda, Vatha, Pitha and Kapha (the three doshas) are responsible for normal functioning of the body, but when vitiated lead to diseases. The functions of Doshas are different from organ to organ. There is a specific group of factors, which are responsible for vitiation of doshas in the eye. Due to sudden changes in temperature the eyes would be subjected to a lot of strain that can be a cause for eye disorders like a cold-water bath when body is hot.

Alteration of sleep pattern due to shift duties etc disturb the biorhythm which can lead to strain on the eyes leading to ocular disorders. Worrying too much over tensions or crying for a long period or getting angry quite frequently may lead to increase in vitiated Vatha dosha and hence lead to ocular disorders.

Some traumatic injuries are also making eye disorders, like indulging into excessive sexual intercourse, excessive consumption of sour food items, suppression of natural urges like urine, faeces, tears, appetite, thirst, sleep etc., too much sauna or steam bath, excessive smoking, alcohol, people working in the field of microscopy, diamond cutting, x-ray welding etc, people working in front of computers, televisions, films etc, reading in wrong position, reading in vehicles or using too big and too small pillows can cause eye disorders.

According to Ayurveda due to various above mentioned causes, doshas (vatha, pitha and Kapha) get vitiated and increased, leading its way up ward towards eye and gets entered in different channels/vessels of eye, creating vitiation of different organelles of an eye.

Preventive Aspects

Carrot, milk, Wheat, unpolished rice, green gram, grapes, asparagus, pomegranate, green leafy vegetables, sugar cane, ghee, honey, gooseberry, rock salt, sesame oil, moringa leaves etc are good for the eyes. Consume less salty, savour and spicy food, avoid insufficient and excessive sleep. Constipation weakens the eyesight, hence try to maintain regular and clean bowel movements.

One simple method of exercise is moving of eyeball - right and left, upwards and downwards and rotating it in the clockwise and anti clockwise direction. Daily self-massage by rubbing the palms of both hands for about 30seconds on closed the eyes is good for eyes. Some Yogic exercises like Thratakam and Nethi are very good for eye health. These exercises will increase strength of muscles of eye and will increase the blood circulation. Take a rest once in every 1.5 to 2hrs during computer works.

Ayurvedic preparation Saptamruthalauha vati, Jeevanthyadi gritham, thriphala gritham, etc are good for maintaining good ocular health. Place cold-water pack or rose water pack on closed eyes especially in summer. Putting one drop of honey in each eye once a week is also beneficial to the eyes, it cleans the eyes. In Ayurveda different treatments like Netra dhara, Sekam, Aschyothanam, Anjanam, Tharpanam, Putapakam, Rakthamoksha etc are used for treating various eye disorders. If there is blurring of vision one must not waste time and seek help of an eye consultant.

(The author is the Managing Director of Dr Franklin's Panchakarma Institute and Research Centre, Kovalam and can be contacted on franklin@dr-franlin.com)