According to American Psychological Association statistics, about 77% of people experience physical signs of stress and 73% experience psychological symptoms. And it comes mostly from worries about work and money (76%). 33% of people experience stress that they perceive as extreme, and 48% can’t sleep due to stress. These people may develop health conditions that could cause serious problems in the future, or they may already have them.

Addiction to smoking is a leading problem. 30% of the population continues to smoke despite a government-supported campaign against it. Other addictions related to stress also create severe damage to people’s health.
Very often, it is the result of anxiety, which affects 18% of the population. A panic attack is an advanced stage of anxiety, and it affects 3% of the population. Insomnia is a chronic condition affecting 33% of the population and impacts productivity and the economy in general. Depression has become a serious concern regarding health and safety in our society, as it can cause violence in some cases.
Blood sugar problems, according to some experts, are skyrocketing, and not only high blood sugar but low levels of sugar in the body are another reason for violence and crime.

Anxiety, insomnia, and chronic fatigue have become very common and are even considered a normal part of life for working men and women, but not everybody realizes the connection of these mental issues with the gut. Stress damages the gut lining and alters the microbiome by increasing cortisol, a stress hormone. This affects other systems, including immune, nervous, and endocrine health.
According to Ayurveda, stress affects the nervous system on many levels, and the first is the reproductive system, colon, and other pelvic organs and functions. This imbalance is the first to manifest itself in the pulse of every individual and later spreads all over other parts of physiology. If one would be able to address this imbalance in this part of the body he or she may be able to prevent many conditions and diseases that are connected to it: gynecological, sexual, urinary, prenatal, and even pregnancy problems. In our experience, everybody has an imbalance in this area to different degrees, including children.
Do they need to start prevention of future problems in this and other areas of physiology? The answer is yes. The earlier, the better, so they can start before it is too difficult to balance physiology, as it is already burdened by many health conditions that may not be even diagnosed by doctor. In this case Ayurveda can work as complimentary modality and it is already recognized as such by NIH. There are multiple scientific research that confirmed benefits of Ayurveda for reduction of stress response and improvement of health.

The common reason for stress is improper lifestyle which include the time when we rise from night time rest and when we go to sleep and time when we eat and exercise. The time for work, food intake and rest should be tuned to rhythms of nature and gradually incorporated in our daily routine. Recently three American scientists received Nobel Prize for discovery that those people healthier who have lifestyle that is matching natural biorhythms in the environment. It was known in Ayurveda long ago, as this science has existed for at least 5000 years.
The new science of epigenetics says that genes are switched on when an environmental condition within the body sends signals to the cell. This information reaches the nucleus, the storehouse of our genetic material. The vast majority of DNA within the human genome is inactive. But if certain conditions arise, for example, stress or poor diet, they can be activated, affecting our health as a result.
Ayurveda offers even more to this because it recommends individualized lifestyle and food choices for each type of physiology. Each person has a specific physiology type from birth, but that type can change and become imbalanced. Ayurveda experts can identify it through pulse reading, questionnaires, and observation. Based on all of these tools Ayurveda specialist can recommend preferable list of food but it is not mean that person will be dieting. Even small change can help to reduce imbalance and improve general wellbeing but over time one can feel increased energy, stamina, better sleep, reduced fatigue, anxiety, low mood, and addiction to wrong behavior.
There is a growing number of studies about how yoga and meditation help with digestion and mood. The major benefit is that these techniques reduce the stress hormone cortisol and therefore the risk of developing both mind and body problems. They also help integrate mind, body, and spirit, which was one of the goals of the ancient science of Ayurveda too.
Meditation is mostly affects mood and yoga postures are mostly for body. Each posture of yoga promote better digestion, elimination and function of all organs in the physiology. Yoga can help support many diseases, and it is available for almost everybody, though some conditions can prevent a person from doing it. You should always ask a doctor if you can do yoga if you have back and joint pain, arthritis, sciatica, pregnancy, etc. Never do yoga if you have a cold or flu or after surgery.
There are 15 million people doing yoga postures in the US, though they are not aware of Ayurveda as a science that recommends yoga postures not only for the body but for the mind. And exercising yoga is not complete without implementing Ayurveda recommendations for lifestyle and food choices. It is not necessarily a vegetarian diet for everybody but individualized food choices according to specific type of physiology. If somebody would like to be vegetarian he or she should start it slowly and follow his own pace that is suitable for him.
Meditation became very attractive and popular too due to the intuitive desire to have some quiet time away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Relaxation and stress reduction is not possible without some kind of mental rest, and meditation is the best rest for the mind.
Meditation is proven to reduce addiction through relief of mental stress, and Ayurveda assessment and balancing will harmonize the whole physiology. Recent research about the benefits of yoga showed that it can reduce depression by naturally increasing the GABA and dopamine neurotransmitters.

In conclusion, we can say that we can improve our general well-being and reduce the stress response by balancing our mind and body with pure herbs and food-based supplements, daily yoga postures, and meditation that have their own benefits for each part of physiology including our gut and mind.