Repell migrains, diabetes and other chronic ailments with magnetotherapy, says Kavita Kanan Chandra

LONG worn as charms by Egyptians and Greeks who believed in the magical powers of magnets to relieve pains and aches, its healing powers were used unwittingly. Plato talked of magnetic rings worn by Dactyls, a roving tribe of ironsmiths. The Egyptians used them to preserve mummies, while Cleopatra wore a small magnet on her forehead to preserve her splendid charms.

Though the earliest mention of the magnet as a healing agent is found in ‘Atharvaveda’, which speaks of the magnet being used to stop bleeding and to treat health disorders among women, its modern use as a healing agent is attributed to P A Paracelsus, a Swiss alchemist and physician.

He made the revolutionary observation that magnets can cure inflammations and ulcers. He opined that any diseased part of the body when exposed to the magnetic force gets cured better and faster than with any medicine.

Homoeopath Dr Samuel Hahneman, also encouraged the use of magnet therapy.

We know already that the Earth’s magnetic field has an impact on the human body. In fact, according to Vastu, we must sleep with our head to the south and fast on full moon days.

Science supports this by the fact that sleeping this way facilitates the easy flow of the earth’s magnetic lines through our body and induces sound sleep as our brain creates the strongest magnetic field while we sleep. Similarly, body fluids flow with ease on full moon days, so fasting helps maintain fluid equilibrium in the body.