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The ancient Maya  perceived health as “balance”, whereas illness and disease were “imbalance”. Balance, however, was influenced by season and varied by age, gender, personality and exposure to environmental temperature extremes. A central medical-related theme held that balance was effected favorably or adversely by diet.

(smallpox, measles, malaria, typhus, and influenza)

Mayan Medicine Mayan culture made adept use of the natural environment in Central America to maintain health and treat illnesses.  Traditional Mayan medicine is said to employ native plants to treat malaria and manage diabetes, among many other uses.

r, appears to indicate that the health, nutrition and overall life-style was, in some respects, better than that of the people living there today.

Most recently, scientists have turned their work towards the possibility of disease. The climate was humid and would have supported a host of parasitic activity. As the Mayan civilization grew and spread, disturbances would have occurred which could have placed the people in contact with parasites that would promote disease and death. If this were the case no member of the Mayans would have been spared. As with many diseases that attacked the human body, death can be a slow process dependent upon the strength and health of the individual attacked.

. The Aztec had a well established birth sign structure, much like modern astrology. Babies born during certain days were expected to develop into sickly children and die early of disease.

plants and herbal medicines

that were to be found.

its own special diseases, and syphilis came supposedly from the New World.

Important pre-travel information for Peru includes advice on preventing high-altitude illness, the risk for cutaneous leishmaniasis in certain jungle areas, use of yellow fever vaccine in some areas, and the risk of malaria for travelers visiting popular jungle lodges.