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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.

he Inca were very skillful people in medicine. The Incas believed that being sick was either a punishment from the gods or evil magic. The only way to cure the sickness was to go to a doctor or by magic. Every year disease and evil would be banished from Cuzco during the Situa Festival. The Situa Festival consisted of several day

The Inca medicine was amazing. The Inca doctors were consistently finding new herbs, minerals and trying new remedies and improving the old ones. The Inca doctors were in search for many new answers for great medical development and the healing power of the Inca medicine was extraordinary. As well as the religion and magical spells had a great part of treatment, which helped the patient believe he/she was cured. The fact that the person believed that they were cured freed endorphins in the blood stream, helping the body heal. 

plants and herbal medicines

that were to be found.

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

The causes for the Maya's decline are numerous, but one of the central causes is that the demands they placed upon their environment grew beyond the capacity of the land. At it's peak, there were about 15 million people occupying the Mayan world. Over-population of Mayan metropolises are suspected to have gone beyond levels that the Mayan political and social networks were able to support, resulting in social unrest and revolution. Frequent skirmishes by warring clans, such as the Toltec invasion of Chichen Itza, are suspected to have forced the Mayan populace to flee their cities. Recent studies have discovered evidenc

of severe droughts, deforestation, and a decline in large game animals that began around 800 A.D., coinciding with a sharp drop in new construction. Human bones found from this time show signs of severe malnutrition, which would have been a driving factor behind raids. While Maya civilization did go through a brief renaissance after this period, ongoing environmental constraints played a large role in their eventual decline.

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.

guinea pig which were often cooked by stuffing hot stones inside them

. The entrails would often be used as an ingredient in soups along with potatoes, or made into a sauce.