Restraining the natural urge is hazardous !

Ayurveda is the holistic ancient science which primarily

focuses on preventive aspect of ailments. Ayurvedic texts
attributes the cause of various disorders to the suppression
of natural urges in our body. This is due to the fact that
suppression of natural urges causes vitiation of the
humors (doshas) of the body mainly vata(humor) and
further cause accumulation of toxins (ama) in the body.
Human existence is essentially attributed to constant,
continuous oneness of body, mind and soul. We are alive
when these constituents are together. When soul and mind
departs from body, we call it death. In order to maintain
healthy operations of these constituents some urges are
created naturally. These urges are known in ayurveda as '
Vega'.
For urges to be in action various nerves, muscles,
sphincters take part. The urges can be suppressed for some
period by the power of mind. We can also create some
urges by stimulating mind. But, ayurveda does not

recommend this forceful suppression and initiation of

urges. It is regarded as one of the major factor to
commence disease process.Quite unknowingly, or
sometimes simply for the sake of public mannerism, the
body urges are withheld. Yet, this practice does more harm
than good.
Suppression of urges (Vegadharan)

The word vegadharan is derived from two

words.Vega (natural urge) + Dharan (suppression)
The human body is a wonderful complex system
which has a number of ways to balance or eliminate
the materials which could be harmful to the body. In
order to facilitate the elimination of these substances,
the body is equipped with urges that appear naturally.
These are the natural calls from body which a person
must attend to, as and when they appear in order to
maintain the balance in the body, and to eliminate an
element that might cause imbalance.
Most of us suppress these urges (or) on a regular
basis. We wait until a convenient break to eat during
our workday regardless of hunger, or we stifle a
sneeze so as not to be rude. We learn our cultures
prohibitions around certain urges at a young age, like
those around flatulence, belching, or tears. By the
time were adults, we often dont register that were
suppressing urges; we may not even notice an urge at
all, so trained are we to schedule the activities they are
calling for. I know a few people who wont feel the

need to defecate unless they are near a familiar

bathroom (even if several days pass). Hunger is
another common victim here. Many of us never feel
hunger, since we eat according to the clock, and meal
time may come well before or after the urge to eat
arises.

Point to be noted..

This process is timely carried out by body at regular

intervals & controlled by nervous system, suppression
of which not only stops the elimination of waste
products but also brings strain and disorders of
nervous system causing many diseases.
This develops in those who have regular habit of
suppressing urges over long period and not instantly.

Which are they?

According to Ayurveda, there are thirteen types of

natural urges in the body which should not be
suppressed. Holding these urges back can cause
discomfort to body.
Vega can roughly be classified according to their
functions such as
Excretion (feces, urine, fart, vomit, sneeze, belch,
cough etc.)
Reproduction (semen)

Intake of food and liquid (hunger and thirst)

Expressing emotions (tears)
Refreshing mind n brain (sleep, yawn)

Vegan na dharayet vata vin mutra kshavathu truta

kshudham
nidra Kasa shramashwas jrumbha ashru chardi
retasam
(Ashtang hriday.su.5/2)
13 Non-suppressible natural urges

Ashtang hriday and Charak describes 13 non

suppressible urges but there is a slight difference
that Acharya Charak has explained Udgara
vega(urge to belch) instead of kasa vega(urge to
cough).
Urge to pass urine (Mutra vega)

This is one of the most commonly withheld urges,

especially with women and children. It needs to be
kept in mind that when you repeatedly hold on to this
bodys urgency, you might initially be simply a
receptor of occasional malaise and discomfort.
But be cautious, because you are unknowingly nearing
more threatening afflictions such as: recurrent

urinary infections, pain in the lower abdomen and

genitals, and renal stones.

Urge to eliminate feces (Purish Vega)

If you ignore the call of the nature, then be ready to
face ailments like cramps in the calf muscles, chronic
headaches, chronic colds, excessive wind formation,
pain in abdomen, and even the emergency condition
of heart block may crop up.
The school going children ignore it and they do not go
to toilet early in the morning because they are in a
rush to go to school. Housewives also hold the urge to
defecate because they are too busy to serve the joint
families and handling their children.
Men are also busy in travel, business meetings, jobs
and achieving the targets so that they do not give
attention to the urge.
Sometimes the urge comes for a few seconds and then
goes away. This is the time when one should go to
toilet without bothering for anything else. This helps
to keep the weight also under control
Repeatedly Ignoring this leads to constipation.
Constipation is considered to be root cause of most of
the ailments.

Urge to eliminate semen (Shukra Vega)

Although Ayurveda promotes preservation of semen

as it is considered as shukra dhatu, its forceful

suppression is not advised. Sex is an act which gives

pleasure to all living beings on the earth.
Suppression of urge to void semen can cause issues
such as genital pain and dwelling, pain in the heart,
impotency, scrotal enlargement and also urinary
problems.
Urge to pass out flatus (Vata Vega)
Repressing the urge to pass wind is unhealthy
although it looks embarrassing .This is another
common self-restraint that has its own tale of health
adversities.
Some routine discomforts caused by suppression are
easy fatigue, urinary retention, pain in the abdomen,
improper evacuation of body wastes, and chronic
indigestion.
Urge to vomit ( Chardi Vega)

We often tend to eat in a hurry which results in

improper digestion of food. This often shows up as
nausea which we invariably suppress. The defense
mechanism of the body always tries to expel the toxins
or harmful substances from the nearest orifice in the
form of vomit.
The urge to vomit when forcibly suppressed retains
the toxins in the body causing various allergic skin
disorders, eye disorders, anemia, fever, cough,
breathlessness, dark pigmentation & swelling over the
face or eyes and itching all over the body.

Urge to sneeze (Kshavathu Vega)

A simple sneeze once in a while wont affect your

personality. On the contrary, hold on the same and be
accessible for maladies like: occasional headaches,
stiffness of the neck, vertigo, and blurred vision. This
small ignorance may in the long run rob you of the
perfect sense of harmony or more dangerously, it may
one day turn into disease like facial paralysis.
Urge for eructation/belching (Udgara Vega)

Ever gave a thought to controlling your burps so

often? Better do it now. Let me caution you that in the
long run, this seemingly harmless practice might be
reason enough for tremors, gripping pain in the chest,
anorexia, and excessive production of flatus.
Urge to yawn (Jrumbha Vega)

Human brain requires sufficient quantity of oxygen

for normal functioning. When brain is deprived of
oxygen the normal urge is to yawn so that one gulps
sufficient quantity of air. Problems caused by
controlling yawning are similar to that of suppressing
sneezing.

Urge to eat (Kshudha Vega)

Hunger is mostly suppressed for want of time to

attend to other works which we feel are more
important.Never try to starve your body by ignoring
its demand for food.
Controlling and suppressing natural hunger is
believed to be harmful for health and fitness. This
may cause maladies like anorexia, emaciation, vertigo,
giddiness, body aches, depression, and decline in the
brainpower.
Urge to drink (Trushna Vega)

Extreme thirst is a common urge for want of clean

drinking water. Regular controlling thirst or delaying
drinking of water causes emaciation, generalized
debility, deafening, delusion, giddiness and heart
diseases.

Urge to shed tears or cry (Ashru Vega)

We all control weeping although they threaten to roll

down. Yet we tend to brave out the situation hiding
our emotional face.
Repeatedly holding on to tears may lead to health
problems as grave as: torticollis, eye ailments, chronic
headache, chronic nasal congestion, vertigo, and
anorexia.
Cry is a gift of nature to ease the tension from human
mind. Often we feel shy to cry before others and
suppress this urge.

Urge to sleep (Nidra Vega)

The sleep is an indicator of good health as it brings

the normalcy in body tissue and relaxes the
person.The properly taken sleep brings happiness,
nourishment, strength,Virility, knowledge and life to
the individual.
Do you occasionally deprive yourself of a good night
sleep? Yes, this is part of our lifestyle today. Blame it
on overwork or nightlife. But let me tell you this is

again one of the most deleterious practices that you

are unknowingly inuring yourself with. Problems like:
general malaise, lethargy, indecisiveness, heaviness
and pain in the eyes and head, lack of enthusiasm,
habitual insomnia, and digestive maladies might be
just round the corner.
Early to bed; early to rise makes man healthy, wealthy
and wise is a forgotten truth. The gift of globalization
has forced man to be awake all night in order to earn
his livelihood.

Urge for fast breathing by

overexertion.(Shrama Shwas Vega)

Suppression of this urge may lead to heart diseases,

respiratory tract disorders, and fainting.
Urge to cough (Kaas Vega)

Suppression of cough causes more coughing and

further leads to dyspnoea, anorexia, heart disease,
emaciation, and hiccups.
New Urges developed in todays era

Apart from these urges, there are some urges like

menstrual cycle in females; the trend is on rise to take
tablets and injections for forceful suppression and
initiation of menstrual cycle. It is not advisable to
interrupt our natural hormonal cycle again and again.

Crime against wisdom (prajnaparadh)

Theres another larger message for us to take away

here. Suppressing one of these bodily urges is
considered a crime against wisdom, a vital concept
in Ayurveda called prajnaparadha.
Crimes against wisdom refers to the unhealthy
things we do knowingly and deny our inner wisdom
for e.g. accepting the invitation for lunch when you
know you really need to rest at home, or eating the
heavy burger when you know it will give you
indigestion for sure.
While the plaintive plea of a bodily urge can be lost in
the cacophony of a busy day, it is comparatively loud
next to the quieter voices of inner wisdom that speak
of quieter needs. If we want to hear these voices, we
have to encourage them. We can start by recognizing

our bodily urges as wisdom, and doing what they ask.

Healthy body demands never deceive.

Initiating an urge is also harmful

Prematurely initiating these vegas is equally

dangerous The best way is not to suppress or
artificially initiate any natural body process.
Forcibly initiate an urge, as it can create an imbalance
in functioning of vata dosha (body humor) causing
related diseases.

Line of treatment for such diseases..

According to Ayurveda, the first line of treatment in

all diseases is "avoid the cause". Therefore, all
diseases that can be caused by the suppression of the
various natural urges can be prevented simply by not
suppressing any of them.
Remedial measures for the above mentioned
conditions can be done by Ayurveda physician based
on patients findings and history taking.

Conclusion

In our modern lifestyle, we find ourselves actually

suppressing some or most of the natural urges of the

body - we forcefully suppress the urge to sneeze when

sitting in a meeting, the urge to eat when busy with
work, the urge to pass urine while watching a favorite
show on television, or the urge to eliminate flatus
(fart) or yawn while in public.
God created animals as well as humans, humans are
presented with intelligence and brain power which is
very advance, resulting in extraordinary discoveries to
assist in its functions in many ways, but in this
process we went far away from nature. We are in
hurry all the time and we dont have time even to
respond to natures call.
In todays cultured & civilized world sneezing,
coughing, yawning, passing flatulence, crying etc. are
considered as uncultured and non civilized manners.
But these urges when constantly and repeatedly
suppressed lead to serious disorders. So it is very
important to respond to these urges in time, do not
ignore when the next nature call comes, and attend to
it on priority.
This health promoting and sickness preventing
guidance is emphasized only in Ayurveda. It is such a
rich piece of health advice, recorded
several millennium ago and still relevant in todays
modern world.