Recently I planted out some flower seedlings in the front garden. I waited until 4pm when I thought it would be cool enough to work. But as I sweated away in oppressive heat for 45 minutes, I realised I’d been mistaken. Back in the house, I felt dizzy, head throbbing and slightly disoriented. It took time, cool drinks and splashing with cold water to come back to equilibrium. Such is the power of the climatic factor of heat. As our climate heats up, we need to be even more careful to protect ourselves from this pathogenic factor.
The Chinese character for this kind of summer heat is re. The three radicals comprising the character represent hand, ball and fire. It can combine with other characters to create meanings that are all resonances of the Fire Element:
Reqing enthusiastic, passionate
Renao: lively
Reai: to adore
Qinre: intimate, warm-hearted
The height of summer, which is where we in the southern hemisphere now find ourselves, is a season of extreme heat. The days are at their longest, giving the sun more hours to heat the atmosphere. This provides the final burst of sunlight to bring summer plants and crops to their fullness and maturity. It is a time for summer holidays when many people take their ease on beaches. ‘Sun worshippers’ are to be found packed onto strips of sand all along our coastlines. The great Aussie holiday at the beach is testament to many people’s love of the summer heat.
A particular craving for summer heat can be diagnostic of an imbalance in the Fire Element of a person. So too can a particular aversion to this climatic factor. Extremes of preference for any of the resonances of an Element can signal that the Element is wobbling and needs support. In this case, craving for or aversion to a hot climate can be a call for the Fire Element to be addressed.
Danger to health arises when the external pathogenic factor of heat enters the body, producing a rise in the body’s temperature, often mimicking symptoms of fever. There can be reddening in the face, hot skin, great thirst and profuse sweating which depletes the fluids of the body. Other symptoms can include a rapid pulse, dizziness, confusion, mental restlessness and fatigue. This is a yang condition which affects the upper body, especially the head, and diminishes yin.
Some are more prone to this exogenous pathogen than others. Older people are more prone as the fluids of an older body tend to be diminished. This is an expression of the Water Element failing to control the Fire Element across the ke or controlling cycle.
While this condition is more prevalent in summer, it is not confined to that season. It can occur whenever there is a heatwave, or even indoors in highly heated, poorly ventilated rooms.
The invasion of summer heat is similar to the condition of heatstroke or sunstroke in western medicine, and the treatment is the same:
Lie down in a cool, shaded place; slowly sip plenty of water (drinking too much too quickly can overwhelm the body); cool down with splashed water on the head, neck and wrists, or shower or bathe in cool water. If severe symptoms don’t ease within an hour, call the emergency number.
Chinese medicine also recognises that heat invasion penetrates to the organs. In particular, the heart, yin organ of the Five Element is most affected, which explains the mental confusion, disorientation and delirium that can result. (All mental disorders are considered disorders of the heart.) But the heat can invade other organs also. Heat can combine with damp which together transform to phlegm and may manifest as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, poor appetite, fatigue and tightness in the chest. Heat can also combine with wind. Wind-heat can affect the lungs and produce symptoms of the common cold: runny nose, sore throat, fever and joint pain
Ways to avoid the effects of the summer heat pathogen are to avoid the sun, seek shade, wear light, loose clothing and a hat, and drink plenty of water over time, sipping rather than gulping. Do not exercise in the heat. (I cringe when I see people jogging in the middle of a hot day.) Keep the house cool by closing blinds early in the day.
Acupressure Points can help rebalance
Large Intestine 11 is a classic point for clearing heat from the body. Located in a hollow at the end of the lateral elbow crease.
Heart Protector 6 is a calming and regulating point for the Fire Element. Located 2 cun above the inner wrist crease.
Triple Heater 5 regulates the body thermostat. Located 2 cun above the outer wrist crease.
Governor Vessel 14 treats excess yang, which is a characteristic of heat invasion. Located on the spine at the base of the neck, between vertebrae C7 and T1.
Other known points include Heart 7, 8; Heart Protector 3, 7, 8; Triple Heater 6; Stomach 36, Spleen 6.
I’ll be back soon in the Late Summer for a look at the humid or damp climate. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Stay cool!
NOTE: I have been discussing summer heat as an external pathogen. Chinese medicine also recognises heat conditions that are internal and which are created primarily by inappropriate diet and emotional disturbances. TCM recognises a plethora of such heat and fire patterns that are beyond this discussion from the Five Element perspective, but which can be studied in Giovani Maciocia’s ‘The Foundations of Chinese Medicine”.
