-Joe Egnot, R.TCM.P.

As we reach some of our longest, brightest, warmest days of the year, you may already be drawing up your bucket list of beaches and swimming holes and moving your shorts, tanks, and swimwear to a more prominent place in your closet. And while the heat usually doesn’t get blistering in this temperate rainforest we call home, weather anomalies like heat domes are becoming more common and more frequent. Should you find yourself in some truly hot weather over the course of the summer, here are some thoughts from Traditional Chinese Medicine’s centuries-worth of beating the heat.

TCM is all about balance and moderation; extremes are seen as producing dis-harmony and disease. In the West, our instinctive response can be just the opposite. And when it comes to dealing with hot weather, that response is often chugging ice water, eating ice cream, or taking a sudden icy plunge. TCM definitely shivers at these prospects! In the Yin-Yang symbol often accompanying TCM ideas, there’s a little Yin dot inside the Yang, and vice-versa. This represents the two being different degrees on the same scale, with the potential of one to always turn into the other. So if you’re in a state of heat and try to shock the heat away with freezing cold, your body’s reaction to the cold will be so extreme that the response produced could be. . . . more heat! TCM’s way is to gently guide heat out of the body and replenish the fluids that are lost via sweat.

Instead of ice cream, try another summertime favourite: a slice of watermelon. Called Xi Gua in Chinese medicine, watermelon is actually a TCM medicinal “herb” that’s used to clear Heat, especially of the Lung and Stomach, and to generate fluids. Instead of a big glass of ice water, try a refreshing chrysanthemum tea at a cool temperature. Called Ju Hua in Chinese medicine, chrysanthemum treats heatstroke and can clear the toxins from the Blood that Heat can produce. If it turns out you did indulge in too much ice water or ice cream, a cool peppermint tea, known in TCM as Bo He, can help to expel the “unclean” Qi that built up from you shocking your system. 

Another type of heat condition in TCM is known as Summerheat.   This is a type of external extreme heat invasion that only occurs in summertime, that you might experience during a heat dome, and that can cause fever, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, restlessness, profuse sweating and, in extreme cases, delirium and slurred speech. The food and drink mentioned in the last paragraph can all help alleviate Summerheat, and there’s one more helpful food source that might surprise you. . . . .mung beans! Called Lu Dou in Chinese medicine, mung beans treat the irritability, fever, and thirst caused by Summerheat, and can even be made into a tea for it.

Chinese herbal medicine has dedicated formulas for treating Summerheat, like Qing Shu Yi Qi Tang and Liu Yi San. And acupuncture has a specific group of points used to clear heat from the body’s channels. Called Ying-Spring points, they clear heat on the acupuncture channels they represent:  from heat in the Blood or Heart fire (as with Pericardium 8), from the throat (as with Lung 10), from the face/head AND the intestines (as with Stomach 44), to name a few. In an acupuncture treatment, these points would be combined with ones that help generate fluids, reduce irritability, nourish the Blood, and improve the body’s ability to move and use energy and nutritive substances, all depending on which symptoms predominate. 

So Traditional Chinese Medicine has many options for effectively managing the heat that can build up inside you as your world swelters, from foods/drinks you can make and use yourself, to herbs, herbal formulas, and acupuncture. Book an appointment with me in the hot months and I can help you to be cool and stay cool all summer long!