Mayan HealthHealthcare was a complex and important part of Mayan life. It involved care of a persons Mind, Body, and Spirit. Medicine was practiced by few healers who inherited their skills and received extra education from other healers. Mayans considered sickness as an imbalance between the soul, spirit and body. For this reason sick people had to undergo complex rituals, mind cleansing and often herbal remedy. Mayans even had dental care and more surprisingly, many had dental implants. The concept of holistic health promoted today as the future of medicine, was an integral part of Mayan healthcare almost 4000 years ago.
|
Nutrition |
The ancient Mayan diet was varied and extensive. Mayans consumed many types of foods including flora, faunal material, and food obtained or produced through hunting, foraging, or farming. A staple of the Mayan diet was maize, and many of their fields were dedicated to its production. In addition to maize, Mayans grew several types of beans including pinto, red and black beans. They also relied on tree cropping to include foods in their diet such as tomato, chili, avocado, guava, apple, papaya, pineapple, pumpkin, and sweet potato. While Mayan diets changed through time, they were successful throughout their history in providing a healthy supply of nutritious foods.
|
Sanitation |
Mayans developed advanced ways of maintaining the cleanliness of their environment and especially of their water supplies. Mayans at Palenque had developed underground aqueducts and flushing toilets; they even used household water filters using limestone in a very similar way to modern ceramic water filters. They were also one of the earliest civilisation to use indoor plumbing.
|
Health Issues |
Many of the health issue we face today were the same issues faced by the ancient Mayans. These included: child birth complications; bites and stings of animals and insects, abdominal pains, chills and fevers; loss of sleep, nightmares, insomnia, dislocations of bones; earaches; eye complaints, headaches, poisoning; skin diseases, cancer and tumours, sunstroke, sweating, wounds, cuts, and bruises.
Despite these, Mayans were a relatively healthy people. Life expectancy in ancient Maya was between 50-55 for men, and 55-60 for women. |
Healers |
Medicine men in ancient Maya were known as ah-men. They were considered to hold special abilities to determine causes for illness or even misfortune. Ah-men provided many services to their communities, and were highly respected for their extensive knowledge and spirituality. They were sought for their healing techniques such as bone-setting and childbirth. Similar to modern doctors, Ah-men had extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and how they should be used. After studying the symptoms of a sickness, they would prescribe a herbal remedy and the number of times or days that the remedy should be ingested.
|
Medicines |
Plants and herbal remedies were often used by ah-men with other techniques to cure ailments. Ah-men were known to prescribe antidotes to each particular ailment. They frequently relied on the colour of a plant to prescribe it to a disease. For example, yellow plants and fruits were used in curing jaundice, and red for problems of the blood. For skin irritations and wounds, fresh vegetation was used as plasters applied to the skin. The most common plants Ah-men used for medicine included chilli peppers, cacao, and even tobacco. They also used animal parts, such as those from the crocodile, insects, fish and birds.
|
Dentistry |
Archeologists uncovered evidence in Mayan ruins that show that Mayans, regardless of their social status, visits the equivalent of modern dentists to get gems implanted in their teeth. They had to manually carve very precise holes in the front teeth of their patients and use resins as glue to place the gems in place. This shows an attention to the dental health of people and an interest in maintaining their teeth in good condition.
|