Abstract

AN AYURVEDIC REVIEW OF HYPERTENSION

Dr. Jyoti Gangwal* and Dr. Sanjay Kholiya

Abstract

A scientific and technological revolution has occurred over the last three decades. Due to the rapid modernization, people are leading more stressful lives. There is various type of lifestyle disorders, hypertension is one of them. The hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the widespread disorders which came across in practice. India is labelled as global capital of hypertension. Nowadays, not only lifestyle disorders are becoming more common, but they are also affecting younger generation. Hypertension results from a variety of reasons like stress, obesity, genetic factors, over use of the salts in the diet and ageing. The population at risk shifts from 40+ to may be 30+ or even younger. Hypertension is called a silent killer because it rarely shows symptoms before it damages the heart, brain or kidney. Still a lot of potent antihypertensive drugs are available today in modern medicine, but none of them is free from untoward effects. The principal focus of Ayurveda is on maintaining good health and adopting a healthy way of life. As per Ayurvedic principles, in case of unknown disease, the physician should try to understand the nature of the disease through Dosha, Dushya and Samprapti; then should initiate the treatment. So it becomes our prime concern to understand hypertension (raktachapa) thoroughly with Ayurvedic perspective.

Keywords: hypertension, Lifestyle disorders, Raktachapa, Silent Killer.