Significance of Natural Urges in Health

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

There are two types of natural urges:

• Non suppressible urges (Adharaneeya Vegas)
• Suppressible urges (Dharaneeya Vegas)

According to Ayurveda, there are thirteen types of natural urges in the body which should not be suppressed. 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.

The thirteen non-suppressible natural urges are:

• Urge to pass urine
• Urge to eliminate feces
• Urge to eliminate semen
• Urge to pass out flatus
• Urge to vomit
• Urge to sneeze
• Urge for eructation
• Urge to yawn
• Urge to eat (hunger)
• Urge to drink water (thirst)
• Urge to shed tears or cry
• Urge to sleep and
• Urge for heavy or fast breathing caused by over exertion.

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. These suppressed natural urges could be the cause of sickness.