Body Constitution, Temperament and Health: What About the Mind?

BODY 

 CONSTITUTION, TEMPERAMENT 

and 

 HEALTH

What about the Mind?

Shahid Akbar, M.D., Ph.D.

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© Copyright 2012 Shahid Akbar, M.D., Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-2883-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-2882-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-2884-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012906495

Trafford rev. 04/12/2012

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Contents

1.   Foreword

2.   Preface

3.   Introduction

4.   Body Constitution

5.   Temperament

6.   Preservation of Health

7.   Role of Herbs in Health

8.   Lessons Learnt

9.   Bibliography

"Every time I close the door on Reality,

it comes through the window"

(Ashleigh Brilliant)

Foreword

I, being a physician myself and a believer that healthcare should be affordable, patient friendly, less intimidating and holistic, can agree no less with my physician friend, former colleague and the author of this book Dr. Shahid Akbar, that it is time we take proactive measures in preserving our health especially at the time when odds are stacked against us. Dr. Akbar is an astute physician, an avid researcher and an expert on therapeutics. His passion for medical education has taken him to many countries giving him a chance to critically observe and analyze practices of alternative medicines. This book takes its origin from his strong belief that knowledge and critical observation should be solely for the benefit of common man and for the promotion of ‘health for all through simple means’. The narration of the book is simple and honest, thought provoking and gripping, practical and more importantly applicable to our lives.

The author dwells on how our basic right and desire to live a healthy, happy life is more under threat currently than it was at any time in the past. If you are looking at the prevailing healthcare system to bail you out, think again. The author entertains you with an insider’s perspective on this debate. So it is important and imperative to maintain our health, the time is right and ripe.

The author takes you through an enlightening and enriching journey into the past, exploring the rationale behind practices of medicine in the ancient era and by different civilization. Role of mind along with the intellect and the body constitution in shaping ones temperament, which formed the basis for designing personalized healthcare by the physicians practicing traditional medicine, is systematically, scientifically and lucidly explained.

The author gives simple and practical tips that could be easily followed by us for promoting, preserving and maintaining a good health without paying a hefty premium. This book is an honest, soul searching and a refreshing effort by a caring human being who believes in ‘Walk the talk’.

Srinivasan Rangarajan, M.B.B.S, M.D. (Pathology)

Professor of Pathology

Medical University of the Americas Nevis, West Indies

Preface

Science is literally defined as the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world, acquired through observations and experimentations. Therefore, conclusions drawn from our observations or experimentations at a given time are called scientific or evidence-based. However, when these conclusions are challenged by new observations, discoveries or findings we change our views based on new ‘realities.’ These dogmas remain scientific until something new appears on the horizon and force a change to a new designation, scientific or unscientific. Sometimes, we jump to conclusions based only on limited data and declare it a ‘breakthrough.’ It mostly happens when success story of a study is blown out of proportion by the media. It is much more common in observations related to human health and behavior than other fields of science. So, science is dynamic especially the medical sciences; what is scientific today may become unscientific or at least not regarded valid, based on the prevailing evidence. In an evaluation of clinical studies published from 1990 through 2003, it was found that almost one-third, 14 out of the 45 studies were either refuted or were found to have much less effect than was originally claimed. All these studies were published in reputed scientific journals and some were hailed as groundbreaking at the time of their publication. Another analysis found that approximately 80% of poorly designed studies reported positive findings, whereas only 25% adequately designed studies yielded positive results. Design and appropriate statistical analyses are important factors, in addition to the conduct of a study to render the conclusions drawn from the study to be reasonably acceptable. The above reports do not support the premise that results from all published studies could be described as evidence-based or each reported study results can or should be accepted uncritically.

All material things around us are governed by some physical or chemical laws of nature, including our body. Most of the characteristics of inanimate and animate things can be explained based upon these established laws. However, there are certain aspects of our lives that defy explanation; human behavior is one such enigmatic entity. Every civilization, for which written records are available, has tried to define human behavior and find answers to the many of the still unanswered questions in its own way. One of the basic instincts of human behavior has been the survival, and almost all civilizations have tried in their own way to live a long, healthy and productive life, and to find the proverbial elixir of life.

Some authors may make you believe that one can live forever if one does develop control over one’s mind and could control life processes at the subatomic level. However, that has never happened in the history of mankind and is not likely to happen in future either. There are some sages in India and Tibetan Monks who do develop mind boggling control over their bodies’ functions and some can control their respiration and heartbeats at will for an extended period of time. Well, that’s also not going to happen either in the general population, and even those who could develop such miraculous abilities could be counted on fingers in a population of more than 6 billion. Lately, the media reported about an Indian Sadhu who has not eaten or drank anything in the past 30 or 40 years and still surviving and is healthy. His story was validated when Indian physicians and the scientists put him under surveillance and monitored his physiological parameters for a considerable length of time. It is but one of the rarest examples of humans’ physical and mental abilities. Even, those Indian Sages or Tibetan Monks who achieve such feats ultimately die and they are not reported to have died as the oldest persons in the world. It is because the nature created everything in this world to have a cycle of decay, degeneration, death and regeneration; that is the beauty of life and the Universe, even the stars do die.

We live in an age of numbers, studies, statistics and the conclusions drawn from them. Every aspect of our modern lives, be it politics, our driving habits or accidents associated with them, state of our health and the factors affecting it, or schools’ funding, etc. are all based on numbers and their statistical analyses. While statistical analyses are modern tools to gauge or determine patterns and trends of a population based on sets of samples, there is also something sinister said about statistics; there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Therefore, it is not uncommon that numbers and conclusions drawn from these studies and their statistical analyses sometimes are modified within a very short period of time and a new set of rules or conclusions are imposed and promoted based upon the ‘new studies and analyses.’

We witnessed in the past few decades so many studies about foods showing good and bad effects on health, soon to be discredited or quietly forgotten. We were told about a number of diets being good for us, based again on studies, and these diets were promoted aggressively in the media for a period, such as high-protein diets, no-fat or low-fat diets, high carbohydrates diets, low-carbohydrates diets, low salt; ‘coffee is good for you,’ ‘coffee is bad for you,’ ‘red-wine is good,’ ‘red wine is not so good,’ ‘chocolate confers longevity,’ ‘drink ten glasses of water a day’ etc. etc. Every time there was supposedly a study or studies to support these claims based upon the statistical analyses of data. However, all of them lasted as fads and disappeared over time from the front pages of newspapers and magazines and moved to after midnight spots as TV infomercials. A similar story plagues approaches to prevent and treat most common modern day diseases.

It is the desire and right of every human being to live a life that is healthy, happy, enjoyable, and should last as long as it could be sufficiently productive. Our DNA is coded for such an eventuality in most cases, provided we do not tinker with it with our lifestyle indiscretions and cause mutations to affect the nature’s outcome. There is no doubt that personal habits, living and working conditions and other factors do change over generations. Yet, certain aspects of life remain fairly unchanged; such as the desire to be healthy and happy. Unlike our modern day studies that are many a times influenced by vested interests, our ancestors laid down rules for life and health that were formulated hundreds of years ago based on intense and critical observations, utilizing the optimum power of senses and no use of statistical analyses. Many of these observations and postulates have been validated by our modern ‘scientific’ means and are still as true as when they were formulated. Mark Twain had rightly said "Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable."

This book is simply an attempt to make readers aware of what they probably already know and observe in their daily lives but do not consciously register them. It is also indirectly an exercise in history of medicine and the journey begins with the period of the Father of Medicine, the Hippocrates and passes through the periods of Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Avicenna, Rhazes and more. At the same time what the Chinese and Indians, in the other two tracks of medicine, did and what impact, if any, they had on medicine originating with Hippocrates is briefly discussed. By going through these periods we learn about the stages of development and transformations of medicine over centuries that allow us to evaluate and appreciate our current status. The language and narrative of the book are simple, meant to be understood by majority of average readers and without any esoteric pretensions. Your comments and suggestions for future improvements of the text will be highly appreciated.

S. A.

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Modern Times

The advent of twentieth century heralded the explosion of scientific discoveries, innovations and inventions never witnessed before by mankind in its history. The progress has been mind-boggling and all encompassing, in every sphere of human activity, be it space exploration, communications, travel, household electronic gadgets or treatment of diseases. Even, what was introduced as a science fiction on TV only less than half a century ago, such as Star Trek, is now almost a reality? The discovery of x-rays at the end of nineteenth century and their application in medicine starting in the early part of twentieth century heralded a new chapter in medical diagnoses and treatment. Similarly, the introduction of anesthesia in the middle of nineteenth century changed the approach and dimensions of surgical procedures. Infectious diseases that caused havoc in human history have been eradicated, and many others that were untreatable and were literally a death sentence for patients, slow and painful, such as type 1 diabetes mellitus, became treatable in the early part of twentieth century after the discovery of insulin. In the twenty first century, new electronic medical gadgets allow scientists and physicians to peep into almost any part of the body without opening it to find abnormalities and sometimes even fix them. Surgeons working thousands of miles apart can assess and coordinate life-altering and life-saving surgical procedures, something that was a mere medical fantasy only a few decades ago is now a common practice.

The list of medical miracles is endless and as a result practice of medicine has drastically changed even over the last few decades. We are likely to survive the worst kind of accidents and the high-tech medicine can provide best medical care for diseases that were impossible to treat or to manage in the past, provided you can afford it. Notwithstanding, we are unable to ‘cure’ the most common diseases of our time, despite treating them for life. This book is not about rare diseases that constitute less than two percent of all diseases, it is about those that we all encounter sometimes in life and seek medical help for. Incidences for such diseases are increasing and our efforts to prevent them have been half-hearted and insufficient.

Despite the fact that so much emphasis on mind over body phenomenon has been placed in the past three decades, we still do not sufficiently appreciate the self-healing powers of our body, and how we negatively influence it by our conscious and subconscious actions. Scientific community denied the validity of this force or did not fully endorse it nor utilized it for a long time because it did not fit into the mould long cherished and propagated by them. A number of scientific individuals, though publicly maintaining their opposition to ‘untested’ complementary and alternative theories and approaches, resort themselves to them or advise their patients to