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Staying Healthy In Autumn
Seasons change, and your body and mental outlook change with them in predictable ways. Oriental medicine combines knowledge of seasonal characteristics with your unique health situation to balance your energy (chi) to help you adapt and thrive during the cool, crisp months of autumn.
In this episode of Seasonal Health Tips, Kitty talks about how the Metal element of Autumn affects your health, and how to stay healthy during this season of cooler days and longer nights. (To get the most out of what Kitty has to say, open the 5 Element Theory chart in a new window while listening.)
(Length 07:39, Size 8.8 MB)
The Metal Element
Every season is associated with one of the Five Elements, and for autumn, the element is Metal—the energetic force that governs the health and functionality of your Lungs and Large Intestine.
According to Taoist 5 Element Theory, the Lungs are the primary influence affecting the immune system. So during autumn, it’s important to eat food that builds the overall health of the Lungs to strengthen your immune system now, and in preparation for winter.
Autumn Health Problems
Because the Lungs are most sensitive during autumn, this is a time to focus on preventing or responding to colds, coughs, sore throat, and the like. And for people already predisposed to lung problems, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and emphysema, autumn is the time to take precautions to minimize your vulnerability as we advance towards winter.
Avoid Drafts and Breezes. Temperatures are dropping, evenings are getting cooler, and in some places breezes are picking up as seasonal winds begin to blow. During this time, you need to be mindful of breezes that make you feel chilly. To avoid getting sick, keep your neck, wrists, and ankles from being exposed to wind and drafts. This is a likely way for an illness to start.
Be Aware of Dryness. During autumn, slowly increasing wind and cold begins to create dryness in the air, which affects your skin and Lungs. The effects of the natural tendency toward dryness in autumn are magnified as you begin to turn on the heat—at home, at work, and in the car—to take the chill out of the air.
Your skin and Lungs don’t like dryness, so it’s important to drink enough fluids to make sure they don’t get dried out.
Eat Less Spicy Food. Because the Lungs are especially sensitive during the autumn months, it’s a good idea to minimize the amount of spicy food you eat, to avoid irritating them. As a result, your Lungs will be less vulnerable to pathogens.
Autumn Health Tips
It’s important to pay attention to how you feel. As soon as you feel a “cold” coming on, it’s time to take preventive action by enjoying one of these nourishing, natural home brews.
Scallion Broth
This simple broth will help you sweat lightly, and is an excellent remedy for preventing and getting rid of colds:
- Take one scallion, and chop it up.
- Boil in water for 5 to 10 minutes. (Keep the lid on the pot to prevent vapor from escaping.)
- Flavor with tamari.
- Sip it slowly, bundle up, then lie down, or go to sleep.
Ginger Tea
If scallion broth doesn’t suit your culinary fancy, try ginger tea:
- Put a couple of slices of fresh ginger in one and one-half cups of water.
- Boil for 5 to 10 minutes. (Time it based on how strong you like your ginger tea.)
- Keep the lid on the pot to prevent vapor from escaping.
- Add a little honey and lemon.
- Sip it slowly, bundle up, then lie down, or go to sleep.
Scallion broth is the more effective of the two remedies, but if for some reason it doesn’t appeal to you, ginger tea is a good alternative
Balance is Key
Strive to balance your diet so that it includes some vegetables, some fruit, some grain, and a handful of moderately spicy foods.
Get Help If You Need It
If you experience any lung-related, or other symptoms that don’t clear up quickly, call BIOM for an appointment to get a prescribed formula of medical herbs to help alleviate your symptoms and address the problem—before it becomes more advanced.
Fire Is Waning
It’s late summer, with hints of Autumn in the air. In 5 Element terms: Fire is waning, Earth is ascending for a brief period, before we head into Metal season of Autumn. This means we still need to be conscientious about heat-related vulnerabilities in the Heart and Kidneys, and start rebuilding them—especially the Kidneys since their main season is coming up in Winter.
Hopefully you’ve spent the summer strengthening your Lungs so that they’re ready to channel the energy Autumn brings to them. If you have Lung-related weakness, it’s a good idea to use acupuncture & acupressure, specific Chinese medical herbs, and Lung-focused Chi Kung to avoid Lung-related illnesses this Autumn.
Also, every time we move to a new season, there is a short period where the digestive system will be energized, which, at this time of year, may make you vulnerable to heat-related problems that specifically affect the digestive system:
A few examples include:
What You Can Do
Just start noticing what’s happening with you. Obviously, take note of any acute, or chronic symptoms you’re experiencing, and also look for relationships and patterns related to the things you do—like diet, exercise, work—and how you feel as a result.
Pay attention to your health. For example, during late-August through September, some questions to ask yourself are:
These types of problems are more likely to happen now, in late-Summer, early-Fall—especially if you have weak digestive organs.
Watch what you eat. What you eat plays a major role in how you feel. Some dietary considerations to be aware of include:
If you need help with any of the symptoms listed above, or want to know more: email Kitty.
Mid-Summer Checkup: Heat-Related Health Problems
It’s the middle of summer, a time Oriental medicine describes as the ‘Fire’ season. The heart is your body’s primary focus during summer; it’s the internal organ where the heat of ‘Fire’ concentrates. In addition to heat-related problems that can directly affect the heart during summer, you have other internal organs that are also heat sensitive, like the liver, which has a tendency to become overheated during this time of year, making you more vulnerable to feeling irritated.
In this episode of ‘Seasonal Health Tips’, Kitty talks about how your heart (Fire), liver (Wood), and kidneys (Water) interact to affect your health in the middle of summer. (To get the most out of what Kitty has to say, open the 5 Element Theory chart in a new window while listening.)
Length 03:44, Size 4.3 MB
Water Cools Fire: Summer’s Impact on Your Kidneys and Bladder
If your liver has a tendency to get unbalanced, it can release quite a bit of heat during the summer, which in turn causes all sorts of heat-related problems, like high blood pressure, rashes and hives. In nature, when fire becomes excessive it also becomes dangerous, and water is needed to control it, it’s the same way with your body in summer. Considering this, as your body draws on its ‘water’ resources to cool itself down, your ‘Water’ element organs, which are the kidneys and the urinary bladder, tend to get overworked, and if they are weak or unbalanced to begin with, you can experience discomforts, and potentially a crisis, related to those organs.
The ‘Water’ energy of kidneys cools down other organs that get overheated in summer.
Maintaining Your Engine Avoids Problems
It’s a lot like the radiator in a car, the water in the radiator provides the cooling mechanism for the engine, which keeps the whole thing from overheating. When the water is low, or the radiator runs dry, which is equivalent to the kidneys being weak and unbalanced, the engine is at risk; so too your body is at some risk when your kidneys are taxed by heat during the summer. This is an Oriental medicine example of why many people experience problems like high blood pressure in the summer.
Summer Health Tips
It’s important to drink enough water and eat the right foods to ensure you’re meeting your body’s summertime needs.
- Drink more water. Because it’s hot and you perspire a lot during the summer, the average amount of water you should drink in a 24-hour period is 48 ounces — this includes all fluids, such as, juice, soda, and other beverages. (Note: 48 ounces is the equivalent of 6 eight ounce glasses.) When you are sweating more than usual — as on some days in the summer — drinking more is advisable. It’s important to pay attention to how you feel, and drink more when you’re thirsty.
- Monitor your intake of salt. An imbalance of salt in your body — too much, or too little — can readily occur when temperatures are hot. You will know you’re getting too much salt if you find that rings you wear get tighter, and socks or shoes that fit you comfortably during cooler weather, leave lines or wrinkles on your feet or ankles because of too much fluid in those areas.
- Eat cooling foods. Cucumbers, mung beans, and watermelon are particularly good foods to eat in the summer. They help to keep your body cool, and because of their diuretic properties, they also help to offset excess salt intake.