Days of heavy rainfall and storms in Australia make it more humid. A lot of people feel fatigue, body heaviness and poor appetite. You may ask what is the reason for it?
A real case came from my friend’s son who was reluctant to use an umbrella and exposed his body to the rain causing dampness to build up in his body. He has a heavy body, no energy and appetite.
Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) believed that the combined action of external and internal factors caused the formation of dampness in the body.
What is Six evis in TCM?
In TCM, there are six evils including wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness and fire which have a strong influence on the physical systems of bodies and a side effect on the balance of the human body. Today, we will take damp evil as an example and talk about its effects on the human body.
Dampness in TCM and its etiology
Dampness can come from external and internal pathogens such as the humid weather in Australia recently, the improper food we ate, individual constitution or our unhealthy lifestyle.
External dampness is caused by the intrusion of external water and dampness into the human body due to humid climate, exposing the skin in the rain, or living in a damp environment.
Internal dampness is a pathological product, often related to digestive function. TCM believes that the spleen has the function of “transporting and transforming dampness “. Qi deficient , indigestion , overeating , and eating too much greasy and sweet food can cause water and dampness retention in the body. People with spleen deficiency are also prone to attract external dampness which leads to obstruction of spleen and stomach, causing dampness generation in the body.
How to judge dampness in the body
Common signs and symptoms of dampness you could find, including: Headache, chest tightness, joints and muscles soreness, body and limb heaviness, unformed and sticky stool, swollen tongue, thick tongue coating. Fluid retention in the body leads to weight gain. dampness generates heat causing itchy skin such as eczema in western medicine.
Recommendation for removing dampness
– General recommendation
Regular and enough sleep time. Avoid eating ice, sweet, spicy and greasy food. You can identify that the food is damp by its texture. soft and sticky like cheese, bananas.
– Diet recommendation
Good food for eliminating dampness: Mung bean, red bean, coix seed, watermelon, green tea.
– Moxa treatment on acupoints
The heat from moxibustion can also help to dry dampness.
1. DU-14 Da Zhui
2. CV-8 Shen Que
3. CV-4 Guan Yuan
4. CV-12 Zhong Wan
– BMT Treatment
BMT treatment can help us eliminate the dampness in the body as well by promoting circulation of qi and blood as well as invigorating the function of spleen and stomach. In BMT treatment, we can focus on the Governing channel, spleen and stomach channel to help the flow of qi and blood, expel the wind and dampness out from the body. Some important acupoints including:DU-14 Da Zhui, SP-6 San Yin Jiao, SP-9 Yin Ling Quan, ST-36 Zu San Li and ST-40 Feng Long along these channels could be chosen for deeper stimulation to eliminate the dampness.
Article author – Ling Ping
