SCOPE OF RASAYANA THERAPY IN GERIATRIC HEALTH CARE – A REVIEW ARTICLE

Abstract

According to World Health Statistics 2011, 83 million persons in India are 60 years of age and older, representing over 7% of the nation's total population. Geriatrics is relatively new in India but Ayurveda in its eight branches dedicated one separate branch for geriatric care in the name of Jara or Rasayana which mainly deals with enhancing one's immunity and curing the general debility and diseases. Elderly person have various health and socio-economic challenges which ultimately affect their psychological health and even needs emergency care at times. Hence to struggle with these issues the need for geriatric care has become important. In recent years Rasayana therapy has been proved as a remarkable milestone in geriatric care. The present study aimed to explore the concept of geriatric healthcare through Rasayana principle described in Ayurveda. The above need-based information is collected from various Ayurvedic literatures (Laghutrayee, Bruhatryayi) along with numerous research articles from databases, such as PubMed, Google Scholar and also electronic searching of conference proceedings, brochures, government policy documents, press releases etc. All collected data were depicted in narrative form and tabular manner under different heads. Considering the above aspect regarding geriatric healthcare, the role of Rasayana may be proved benecial in Geriatric health care. Further, adoption of code of conduct may efciently overcome the early ageing conditions by maintaining good immunity for improving disease resistance.