The Unity Between the Human Body and Nature

As the weather shifts within the four seasons, a person’s pulse conditions (including pulse rate, rhythm, volume, tension, etc.) also undergo corresponding shifts.

Humans live in nature and nature in turn provides the vital conditions for our survival.  As a result, we are profoundly influenced by nature’s movements and changes due to our corresponding physiological and pathological responses.

For example, as the weather shifts within the four seasons, a person’s pulse conditions (including pulse rate, rhythm, volume, tension, etc.) also undergo corresponding shifts.  In spring, the pulse becomes string-like; in summer the pulse becomes more full; in autumn the pulse tends to float; and in winter the pulse goes deeper.  This provides a basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctors to distinguish abnormal pulse conditions from normal ones during clinical diagnosis.

The occurrence and development of many diseases is seasonal.  For example, in spring we see more epidemic febrile diseases; in summer there are more heat-related strokes; in autumn there are more cases with symptoms of dryness; and in winter more cold-related stroke syndromes.  Of course, people can certainly reduce or eliminate some seasonal diseases by doing physical exercises and taking active measures of prevention.

Recommended Strategies to Prevent Illness

1) EAT FOODS IN SEASON. For example, autumn is apple season so it’s a good time to eat lots of these local fruits – baked, raw, or in soups. Also other fall crops such as corn and root vegetables are good to eat at this time of year.

2) WALK FOR YOUR HEALTH. Walking can relieve the stress from your work or illness. Some studies found that taking a 45-minute walk (about 3 miles) increased the activity of certain immune cells by 75 percent.  Walking reduces blood sugar levels and increases insulin receptivity. A saying in the Traditional Chinese Medical field is: “If you walk for a few hundred steps after your meal then you may reach the age of 99 years”.

Walking can strengthen your heart, it keeps your weight in check, and also lowers your risk of disease. If you walk outside in daylight it will boost your vitamin D level and strengthen bones; it can increase bone density.

Walking can also make you happy and give you energy. In TCM the type of walking suggested is translated as “Ease walk”; simply meaning, you do not need to walk very fast. Relax your neck and shoulders and do not talk on your cell phone.

3) EAT GARLIC DAILY TO STRENGTHEN DISEASE RESISTANCE – Garlic has many healing benefits and has been used for centuries across cultures for the treatment and prevention of ailments.  It is easy to access the antimicrobial and antiviral benefits of garlic for yourself.  The following method can be followed once a day as a preventative:

Take a single clove of organic raw garlic.  Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic in its skin, making a pulp out of it, then let it sit exposed to the air for a minimum of 15 – and no more than 30 – minutes.  This allows the compounds to be fully activated.  When this is done, place the pulped garlic into a mug or a cup, and fill it with cool water.  Give it a stir, then drink the water and with it the fresh garlic juice with all its healthful benefits.  Water may be added to the cup a second time to collect the leftover juices.

This should be done once daily when you’re healthy to increase immunity and build resiliency.  If you’re sick, repeat the procedure three times daily until feeling better.

How the Body’s Vital Energy Fluctuates

TCM physicians have also observed that along with the alternation of early morning, late afternoon, daytime and night, a disease may become more severe or milder.  For instance, the monograph entitled “Regarding a Day as a Year Consisting of the Four Seasons”, a chapter of Miraculous Pivot says, “There are various diseases, most of which become milder in the morning, better during the daytime, worse again in the late afternoon, and even severer at night.”  This is because:

• “In the morning the vital energy of the human body begins to grow stronger, while the pathogenic factors weaken;
• At midday the vital energy of the human body is predominant and lords it over the pathogenic factors;
• In the late afternoon the vital energy of the human body starts to become weaker, while the pathogenic factors strengthen;
• At midnight, the vital energy of the human body returns to the internal organs, while the pathogenic factors come into leading place.”

As well, human pulse conditions, temperature, the amount of oxygen consumed, carbon dioxide released, and hormones secreted have biorhythms during the 24 hours of a day.  This finding may promote the round-the-clock exploration of the physiological and pathological changes of the human body.

Effects of Sunspots and Altitude on the Human Body

Based on the theory of the circulation of qi characteristics of TCM, the pathogenesis of the human body is often influenced by the periodic changes of the climate, which take place every 12 years or every sixty years.

In recent years, scientists have realized that the law of these periodic changes has something to do with the cycle of sunspots, which is formed every 11 to 12 years.  Their movements bring about periodic changes in the radiation of sunlight, interfere with the magnetic field of the earth, and change the climate around the earth, thus exerting impact upon the physiology and pathology of the human body.

TCM believes that different geographical surroundings produce different effects on the physiology and pathology of the human body.  The effects are so great as to even extend or shorten the human lifespan.

For instance, in “On Conventions of the Five Circuit Phases”, a chapter of Plain Questions states that: “People who live in the high areas have a long life, while those who live in the low ones die young.  Living areas differ in altitude.  A little difference in height causes a little difference in life, while a great difference in height results in a great difference in life.  Therefore, physicians have to know the law of nature and geographical conditions”.

Modern researchers have shown that the mountain area between 1,500 and 2,000 metres above sea level is the ideal geographical surroundings for a long life, because it is a place where hydrogen anions are concentrated.

Matching Treatment with the Body’s Fluctuating Rhythms

The concept of the organism as a whole not only embodies Traditional Chinese Medicine’s understanding of the human body and the relationship between it and nature, but also provides the medical workers with a necessary philosophy for treating diseases.  Such a concept penetrates through the entire theory concerning the physiology and pathology of TCM and is of great significance in guiding diagnosis and treatment.

For example, TCM believes that “the heart has its specific opening in the tongue proper”, so that the physiological functions and pathological changes of the heart can be known by observing the tongue.  A pale tongue indicates the blood deficiency of the heart; a purple tongue with petechiae indicates the blood stagnation of the heart.  To cure these diseases, the first most important thing of all is to find out where the key pathogenesis is, according to the relationship between the heart and the tongue, by taking into consideration of the concept of the organism as a whole and by making a comprehensive analysis of the case.

Further examples include acupuncture therapies of TCM, Zi Wu Liu Zhu (select the acupoint on the basis of “five shu points” (five transport) of the twelve channels matching the “heavenly stems and earthly branches” and intellectual turtle 8 methods Ling Gui Ba Fa (select the acupoint according to the eight points in the eight extra-channels matching the “heavenly stems and earthly branches”). These have obvious curative effects because the acupoints and acutime are determined according to the relationship between the working of the channels, pulse, vital energy and blood of the human body on the one hand and time on the other.

The most appropriate time should also be chosen for taking herbal medicines.  For instance:

- Ten Jujube Decoction, (Shi Zao Tang) in the Treatise on Febrile Diseases six channel diagnosis by Zhang Zhongjing in 219 A.D., is taken on an empty stomach in the early morning;

- Cock Crowing Powder, (Fi Ming San), which is recorded in the Standards for Diagnosis and Treatment by Wang Kentang in 1,602 A.D., should be taken at daybreak when cocks begin to crow.

- Modern medicine has also noticed that the effect of digitalis if taken by the patient with heart failure, at about 4 o’clock in the early morning, is 40 times greater than if taken at any other time.

- And insulin, if taken at the time mentioned above, is most effective for the patients with diabetes, too.

In recent years, some scholars have pointed out that the synergy between the human body and nature results from the adaptation of all living things to their physical surroundings such as the earth’s revolution, rotation, and from the domination of some structures within the body.  Now it has been proven that within the nucleus suprachiasmaticus (SCH) which regulates the circadian rhythm, as well as the epiphysis (pineal gland), pituitary bodies and adrenal gland, there exist such structures as to control the time rhythm and regularity.

From the foregoing it is easy to see that the concept of “Tian Ren Xiang Ying” (relevant adaptation of the human body to natural environment in TCM) has its material base and a scientific basis as well.