Traditional Indian Methods to Boost Your Immune System during COVID-19

Dr Divya Menon, Ayurvedic practitioner in Dubai, shares simple tips on how to boost your immune system using natural, home-made recipes and treatments passed on for thousands of years in India.

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Dr. Divya Menon

Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM)
Swasthya Ayurveda

Tips from Ayurveda to boost your immune system

The first tip is, "Use only warm water for drinking". Whenever you are in a position to drink water because of thirst, you should use only lukewarm water.

Then comes, "Do respiratory exercises on daily basis". Like Yoga, Pranayama, and Meditation. Keep your lungs and respiratory tract completely healthy.

The third is, "Use of a natural kitchen herbs". Which should be available in all Indian kitchens, some of them are, turmeric, coriander, garlic and cumin seeds. These four ingredients are like the gem of immune boosters. So in each preparation, whatever you cook for food, you can use all these four ingredients.

Now comes to use of an ayurvedic herbal preparation called 'Chyawanprash'. It might be common among Indians but it's a confectionery preparation which you have to take one teaspoon morning and one teaspoon evening and followed by a glass of milk, that is how it works on your body properly. Chyawanprash means medicinal preparation which has got a lot of gooseberry or amla in it, and as you all might be knowing, amla is rich in Vitamin C. So that's very important at this stage to keep up your immune levels high.

Then, if you are a diabetic patient or you are under control for sweet fruits, you can also use sugar free Chyawanprash or you can just remove Chandraprakash from the diet only for the diabetics and you can use all the other tips which I am giving you right now.

The second is drinking out a type of herbal tea or a decoction which you can very easily prepare and on daily basis, two, three times a day. If you drink this tea that will work wonders for your immune system. The ingredients for this herbal tea should be made basically Tulsi leaves (Basil leaves), cinnamon, black pepper, dry ginger, and rasins. So this you can use once, twice, or thrice daily in your diet.

All this you can boil in one cup of water and reduce it to half, strain it, and drink it.

Only thing, you are not supposed to keep it for a while. Once you prepare it, you have to finish it off that time itself and it can be consumed by any age people, like not only children or adults or geriatric people, everybody can use it. And if you are not diabetic or you are not controlling sugar levels, you can add jaggery to it. For those who are controlling sugar levels, they can add lime juice or anything which enhances the flavor to it.

One more preparation, which I would like to tell and very important one, is 'Golden milk'. It has nothing to do with gold. Golden milk is a preparation in which we have to add turmeric and boil it with one cup of milk. So the turmeric when we boil with milk, automatically the colour of milk changes and it becomes a yellowish golden colour. So that preparation is very important to especially children and old aged people. If you drink this golden milk, it will work as gold for your body.

Now comes the nasal application that is sesame oil or coconut oil. If you apply on the nose, there is a procedure called 'Nasya'. That is one Karma among Panchakarmas. One important Shodana [note: cleansing] Karma among 5 Karmas. So if you do normal Nasya with coconut oil or sesame oil on daily basis, it will keep your nasal linings moist. And it will not dry and chip up, so the chance of getting respiratory infections will be reduced.

Next therapy is called 'Oil-pulling therapy' or in Sanskrit we call it as "Kavala". So Kavala therapy means you have to retain sesame oil or coconut oil. Or a special preparation for Kavala and Gandusha is "Iremada thailam". If you use these oils, that is oil pulling, means you have to retain this oil for 30 seconds and the in the mouth and just spit it out, and then gargle your mouth with warm water thereafter, or a little pinch of salt diluted with warm water thereafter you can gargle and clean your mouth. This is also very important to keep your oral lining moist and healthy especially the oil for Iremada thailam works wonders for your teeth as well.

Tips if you have sore throat or flu symptom

By chance you have a sore throat or a flu symptom, in the initial stages if you feel that the situation is not very grave, you can use steam inhalation that can be made a part of your daily regime as well. For steam inhalation, you should use the water boiled with mint leaves and clove. Take a blanket on top of you and just inhale the steam, because these are very good anti inflammatory medicines. When you take the steam in, it will give warmth to your respiratory tract and it removes the clogs from the respiratory tract.

Importance of Tumeric during COVID-19

Out of all these medicines and herbs whichever I told you today, turmeric is the key factor. Everybody should use turmeric, if you don't get turmeric powder, the best one you can get turmeric is the roots of turmeric from grocery shops or department stores. Actually the turmeric is something which is usually present in all Indian kitchens, but those who don't have it let me tell you, it has got a medicinal property which is anti inflammatory not only for respiratory diseases but for the whole body, for joint pain, or any inflammation. It acts as an anti inflammatory medicine because it has got a component called 'Curcumin', which helps to, which acts as an anti oxidant plus anti inflammatory medicine and it also helps to increase your immune power because it's an anti oxidant as well.

So if you are in pain or you have nasal congestion or chest congestion and you are using turmeric properly, proper manner, this will definitely help you to get relieved from those situations.