Navigating spring’s hidden health challenges

SPRING is truly the time of revival — everything comes alive as the sun gains strength with its northward movement. But it brings its own set of health challenges that many of us are not prepared for.

- ASHWINI GURU JI

According to Ayurveda, this season of renewal requires careful attention to our body’s shifting needs. The interplay of rising temperatures, changing atmospheric conditions, and our internal rhythms can create imbalances that manifest as fatigue, allergies, headaches and joint pain.

The Ayurvedic texts explain this beautifully: accumulated kapha, when melted, overloads the system, resulting in tiredness. Hence, ancient traditions emphasised dietary changes in spring.

Hot, dry and light foods are beneficial in drying kapha, while day-sleep, which aggravates kapha, is strictly discouraged. Diet and physical activities should be kept light, and the emphasis should be on cleansing the body internally as well as externally. These small seasonal adjustments help restore energy and vitality.

When weather changes trigger pain Spring’s fluctuating temperatures, barometric pressure and humidity often lead to headaches, migraines or joint pain. From an Ayurvedic lens, such disturbances are linked to vata dosha, which governs the nervous system and circulation.

Joint pain during this season is common, not simply because of “age”, but because of swelling in soft tissues due to falling air pressure and reduced internal lubrication.

Ayurveda attributes this to a disruption in the flow of prana due to blockages and the drying up of sukra, which normally cushions and lubricates joints. Yogic practices, especially six joint rotations: neck, shoulder, wrist, hip, knee and ankle, which, when performed with internal awareness of the joints, keeping the eyes closed and synchronising with the Ujjai breath, help in strengthening the joints.