As the monsoon season wanes, it leaves behind multifarious bacteria, fungi and viruses to breed and multiply, leading to diseases like viral fever, malaria, dengue, jaundice (liver infection), chikungunya, infections of the intestines, and diarrhoea.
Ayurveda has several tips for coping with this season. Here are four.
Purify the air
Slowly burn camphor in a container heated by tea lights. Camphor has several germicidal and antiviral properties, and is often used as an ingredient in anti-infective creams.
Also fumigate the rooms of your home with vapours of neem oil or slowly burning neem leaves.
Keep your surroundings clean
Footwear, in this season, is loaded with disease-causing germs. So ensure that all shoes are left at the entrance of your home, and keep your floors clean with a few drops of antibacterial liquid in your mopping water.
Avoid water pooling in the garden or around plants on your window sill to ensure that mosquitoes don’t breed.
Build immunity
{{/usCountry}}Build immunity
{{/usCountry}}Many ayurvedic powders or churnas are excellent for digestion. Sprinkle some lavan bhaskar churna on a fruit salad to prevent gas build-up. Or try trikatu churna, good for people with a sluggish metabolism and low immunity. This is a combination of black pepper, long pepper and dry ginger. Mix with honey, add to hot water, and sip slowly. Triphala churna, made with amla, bibhitaki, and haritaki, detoxifies the body and improves metabolism. Take half a teaspoon daily in warm water.
Protect yourself
To save yourself from fungal infections and mosquito bites, apply til oil mixed with a few drops of neem oil on your skin before you bathe. If you are diabetic, keep your feet clean and, most importantly, dry. Use citronella oil to repel mosquitoes. It is chemical-free and safe for all age groups.
From HT Brunch, September 24, 2017
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