Radiance is having its public launch over the next month, and we wanted to host something particularly timely for the challenges many of us are about to face.

Over the next month or so, many of us will start to experience the (somewhat dreaded) signs of spring:

• Allergies
• Fevers
• Skin conditions
• Headaches

Ayurveda differs from the conventional perspective. It views these as symptoms of deeper underlying causes. As a result, it views allergies, spring fevers, and skin conditions as solvable. When addressed at their root, they go away.

Our first launch event was meant to enable you to start seeing these conditions' root causes and addressing them.

Feel free to watch the recording below, or keep reading to learn more about Ayurveda's viewpoint on the root causes of spring sickness.

So many issues pop up in spring, from allergies to skin conditions to fevers. Why do these occur? And what can we do about them?

The conventional perspective is that the external environment causes these symptoms. There's little that we can do in response except use OTC drugs for the symptoms.

Ayurveda has a different perspective - one that looks at root causes and addresses them.

Spring health issues are caused by a build-up of waste inside the body

Ayurveda's perspective is that spring issues come from an accumulation of metabolic waste inside the body. Spring is only a trigger. It causes the internal conditions to erupt into sickness and allergies.

You can see this for yourself. Certain foods make you feel 'phlegm-y', often thick, heavy foods like dairy. This phlegm is the metabolic waste produced as a result of eating those foods.

If unaddressed, this accumulation grows, year-after-year. It eventually manifests as full-blown disease. It's important to address it early to stop this from happening. 

Antihistamines can delay and worsen symptoms

The most common conventional suggestion is to use antihistamines to block symptoms, year after year. Unfortunately, this likely causes severe long term side effects.

There are studies linking long term antihistamine usage (e.g. Benadryl) to:

• increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia
• a 2.5x increase in brain cancer incidence
• weight gain / metabolic dysfunction.

This makes sense. Spring health issues are the body's natural response to underlying conditions. Suppressing them pushes the issue down the road.

This built-up waste can be cleared, addressing the root cause of spring sickness

Instead of treating symptoms, Ayurvedic approaches address root causes. They focus on reducing the amount of built-up waste in the body, and stopping more waste from building up. 

Over time, allergies and spring sicknesses reduce, and then are eliminated entirely.  

We see this in our clients. As they get healthier, their spring health issues go away. There's also emerging scientific evidence to support the Ayurvedic approach to allergies.

Specific Ayurvedic protocols are used to address the root causes

The main theme in Ayurvedic protocols for accumulated waste is heat. Heat increases metabolism and burns off metabolic waste. Heat can be applied, internally and externally, by:

• Using a sauna or heated blankets (sweating is the goal to create detoxification)
• Drinking hot water instead of room temperature or cold water
• Drinking teas with metabolically stimulating properties, e.g. ginger tea (see scientific evidence for ginger’s metabolic effects)
• Eating hot, cooked food instead of raw or uncooked food
• Using heating spices, such as ginger, black pepper, or cayenne pepper

Sleep is also very important in this process. It's the key regulator of metabolism. Aligning sleep with circadian rhythms maximizes metabolic strength to create detoxification.

There are also many highly effective Ayurvedic formulations that can be used. These require supervision by an Ayurvedic doctor.

There’s much more complexity and personalization to these methods than we can cover here. Our launch event, recorded above, went into detail on:

• Step-by-step protocols to use when spring sickness strikes
• Personalized recommendations for specific symptoms and conditions
• Detailed food and fluid guides to digest metabolic waste
• High-level principles for managing the spring transition without sickness striking

Feel free to watch the recording to learn more about these approaches.

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