Our Planet, Our Health

For World Health Day 2022, the WHO has selected the theme, "Our Planet, Our Health", with the aim of creating a healthier world. WHO's statement reads,  "In the midst of a pandemic, a polluted planet, increasing diseases like cancer, asthma, heart disease, on World Health Day 2022, WHO will focus global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being." 

In the spirit of World Health Day, I wanted to explore the idea of health in ancient medicine. This is a topic that I have written on before but I thought it would be interesting to compare the ideology of good health in different societies of the ancient world.

Ancient Medicine

Across all ancient civilizations, before scientific thought became common, the prevailing idea was that 

good health was a divine gift, while poor health was attributed to divine punishment.

Theory of Spirits

Even though the ancient Egyptians were one of the first to impart medical treatment, the prevalent theory on health was that it was controlled by gods, demons, and spirits. It was believed that spirits blocked channels in the body which in turn affected the functioning of the organs.

Theory of Humors

In ancient Greek medicine, which was built on Hippocrates' teachings, good health was attributed to the balance of the four humors in the body:  blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. 

Theory of Consciousness and Doshas

According to Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicine, disease is caused by an imbalance or stress in a person's consciousness; good health is achieved by a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment. Health can also be impacted by an imbalance in the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha.

Theory of Qi and Life Forces

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that good health is the result of a balance between the vital forces of life called Qi, which is made up of opposing forces yin and yang. Good health is maintained by achieving a balance between the internal body organs and five external elements: earth, fire, water, wood, and metal.

Despite the seemingly diverse theories, a common concept of health in ancient medical science (apart from the divine beliefs) is that a balance between various elements is necessary for good health. If you think about it carefully, that is not far from what we know today, and what the WHO has clearly stated as its mission for achieving global health: a synergistic balance between humans and the environment. It is very clear that the health of humans is dependent on the health of the planet. So in order to achieve good health, we need to learn to live harmoniously with nature. That's really akin to achieving a good balance in life.