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Regain & Maintain Your Health
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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.
Staying Healthy in Summer
Seasons change, and your body and mental outlook change with them. And because human beings are a part of nature, our bodies react to the season 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 this season of luxurious growth. Here are some things to consider for staying healthy as you enjoy summertime.
In this episode of ‘Seasonal Health Tips’ Kitty talks about the Fire element of summer, and what to do to stay healthy during this season of ‘luxurious growth.’ (To get the most out of what Kitty has to say, refer to the Five Element Theory Chart while listening.)
Length 04:15, Size 4.9 MB
The Fire Element
Every season is associated with one of the Five Elements, and for summer, the element is ‘Fire.’ Summer weather is typically hot, and relatively damp. For example, the muggy feeling you experience during summer comes from heat causing dampness to condense and rise as it gets hotter. As on the outside, so on your inside: in summertime, there is a tendency for dampness to accumulate within your body.
Summer Health Problems
During summer, some typical heat-related problems are: rashes, headaches and feelings of irritation. For example: Blood pressure may rise from too much heat trapped in the body; damp-induced blister rashes, or boils can erupt on the skin; and if you have eczema, you may experience more occurrences of it 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.
Stay Healthy
So enjoy your summer and help ensure your health by being conscious of a few simple things you can do for yourself and your family:
- Drink enough water.
- Monitor your salt intake.
- Eat cooling foods.
If you experience any heat-related symptoms that don’t clear up quickly, call a qualified Oriental medicine practitioner 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.
Detoxify and Tonify Your Liver
During the Spring season are you, or people you know more irritable than usual? Or surprised by unexpected surges of anger?
If so, then Oriental Medicine can help you become more calm and balanced in your body and mind.
According to the 5 Element Theory, Spring is the season of the ‘Wood” energy, and the energetics of ‘Wood’ directly affect your Liver. Since the Liver affects the nerves, if your Liver isn’t balanced you’ll be more prone to irritability and anger in Spring than during the rest of the year.
Tonify and Detoxify
Because the tendency towards irritability and unexpected anger are directly related to Liver imbalance, if you tonify and balance the Liver, you should feel calmer and less frustrated. ("Anger management” techniques are always useful, but if you detoxify your Liver, you’ll have to rely on them less often.)
When your Liver is out of balance you’re more prone to irritability and anger.
How do you know if your Liver is “toxic” — assume that it is! With the amount of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides all around us — in the air, water, food, and other products we use, you should assume your Liver is somewhat toxic, and start doing some simple things to detoxify it.