We are in the season of Late Summer or Big Heat Season. Late July and August, it is time where, if not careful, respectful of right relationship between Nature and our Human condition we can experience in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) what’s called “Summer Heat.”
Do you feel…
- More tired than usual lately? Have a hard time getting going in the morning?
- Feel like you want to sit or lie down?
- Muscles aches, dull sore, stiffness or heavy?
- Moving body is like moving through resistance, as if moving through water or mud?
- Brain fog? Memory loss? Insomnia?
- Belly ache, cramps or bloating? Other GI complaints?
- Swelling face, hands, feet or whole body?
Through spring and in early summer, the heat/sun feels good to us as it gently warms our bones and bodies back to fluid-like movements and expressions, akin to warming frozen lake waters of winter back into vernal pools of life.
As we get into mid-late summer, the heat accumulates. If you live in a climate that has humidity, then the environment is heat + damp which can consume resources. Simply reflect on the difference between being warmed by a wood burning fire vs a projecting wave of steam out of a pot on the stove when you lift the lid. The steam heat is more penetrating.
In the late summer, during the Big Heat season, the days are persistently hot without cooling off much at night. It gets hotter and more humid day by day. In TCM, illness and imbalance can arise in different ways, one of them being disharmony of hot and cold in the body. During the warmer summer months, we are more prone to heat and dampness/humidity in our environment. This is referred to as Summer Heat toxicity or fatigue syndrome.
Finding Balance
If you are healthy and have a balance of yin and yang, then your body can easily shift. If you eat a healthy diet, drink water, and manage your time and exertion outdoors, summer heat can be a welcomed, mild purge. For some people summer heat feels good, creates sweat, and their body cycles anew.
If your health is not optimal, you been affected by sickness, stress, trauma, or constitutional weakness, then shift into summer heat can feel like a scramble to manage resources and adjust. Summer heat can penetrate the body causing imbalance which complicates your existing pattern or constitution.
If this resonates with you, the key can be counterintuitive as it resides in your digestion or Earth element in TCM. First, we have to clear summer heat toxicity with cooling food energetics (see below). These should be taken in moderation so as not to worsen symptoms. A little bit of watermelon can go a long way to clear heat and restore body fluids.
Then the key, where it gets counterintuitive, you need to eat more cooked, hydrated foods… a basic middle burner diet – think hot soup in summer! The basic premise is that in order for the body to do anything with food or drink taken in, it has to first warm it to about 95 degrees. In summer, if we try to cool off by eating an abundance of cold, raw foods and icy drinks, then it dampens our middle burner fire responsible for cooking and serving up our nutritional qi.
If you are feeling the effects of Summer Heat, the remedy is to take the strain off your digestive system (Earth element) and eat plenty of cooked vegetables, grains, proteins and warm fluids, then your body will not waste energy trying to warm cold food eaten and will have more in your energy banks to manage fluid metabolism against summer heat.
What You Can Do
Seek Treatment: Acupuncture can help the body beat summer heat by boosting the Earth element, tonifying the Middle Burner, Releasing Heat to the Exterior, and Draining Damp. Different patterns/constitutions need different things to thrive. Acupuncture is not a one size fits all, instead it’s a way to treat the whole person.
Awareness is Key: It is easy to forget the influence of natural environment in everyday life. Be aware of temperatures and humidity conditions. Monitor exposure to outdoor environments.
Lazy Days of Summer: Do less, move slower, plan breaks, drink water, rest in shade
Plan Projects: Don’t take on large outdoor projects, use early morning times as heat accumulates throughout the day from lunchtime on.
Hydrate: Drink/Sip water a little bit throughout the day. Drinking large amounts of water at once doesn’t give your body a chance to utilize it and it often passes through.
Nourishment: In TCM the Earth element, aka stomach/digestive system, are at the center of health and play a part in regulating and harmonizing the effects of seasonal extremes. Foods that support the Earth element are often mildly sweet, yellow or golden, and round shaped. Millet, corn, white and sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, rice, ginger, fish with omega 3 fatty acids, and small amounts of beef are excellent seasonal choices. Limit excessive raw vegetables and fruits (especially citrus) and dairy products (except goat milk) at this time of year.
**Warning**
It’s important to note that Summer Heat is NOT the same as heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Even if you’re not prone to Summer Heat, you can still suffer from heat exhaustion or heat stroke when you’re out in the hot weather and not keeping sufficiently hydrated. Heat stroke is a medical emergency, and you should seek immediate treatment.