Immune System
Climate Control for Couples
As a Chinese medicine clinician and a married man, it is always fascinating to me how often opposites attract, not just in terms of psyche or personality, but also physiological proclivities, “constitutions,” as we say.
Besides being the more extroverted or chaotic of the couple, my systemic pathologies tend more to heat patterns—that is excitatory and inflamed, while my wife’s tends more cold—inhibitory, lethargic, or vasoconstrictive. On our good days, as is the case with most couples, this nicely balances the division of labor in their complementing one another. On our bad days, as is the case with most couples… well, they’re bad days.
I half-joke that my wife really should live somewhere in southern California, as she tends to have a very slim sweet spot of tolerance for climactic fluctuations. Too hot or too cold and she’s aggravated, which in turn may or may not inevitably aggravate all present parties. I regularly and fully joke to her that never before I met her had I heard so many reports or internal debate around what to set the temperature at.
Based on dialogue with friends and patients, this is a common problem. One partner is forced to layer up in response to the other’s intolerance for heat or humidity—conversely one is forced to walk around naked with a fan on them in response to the other’s intolerance for cold.
From a Chinese medical perspective—you guessed it—the latter is preferable. Cold is organic, sure, the change of seasons is logical with the laws of nature, however it slows (blood) and contracts (tendons and muscles). Air conditioning should be kept to a moderate level, and the partner less tolerant of heat should limit their clothing, have a fan blowing (indirectly) around them, and sip cool peppermint, watermelon, or chrysanthemum tea to mitigate the climate.
Theoretically, in the long run, this will benefit them, as some mild perspiration may rid some of the fluids trapped at their muscle layer perpetuating their intolerance to humidity. Indoor temperatures can be lowered in the evening when it is organic for our internal temperature to come down.
This doesn’t mean to blast the heat with reckless abandon throughout winter, which would make all of us homeowners completely incapable of affording acupuncture or herbs. While we should protect ourselves from the external conditions, it should be to a moderate degree—one that protects, but doesn’t shelter us, so to speak, so our immunological substances remain primed and prepared to encounter whatever they should during our time outdoors.
As a friendly and annoying reminder, please do not use ice on your aches, pains, and injuries beyond the initially inflammatory 24-hour period. Dr. Gabe Mirkin, the doctor who wrote the R.I.C.E. protocol in 1978, has since written a public article rescinding his previous advice, inadvertently but not explicitly in accord with Chinese medical thought.
Boosting Immunity for This Covid Wave
It’s that time again, everyone: Covid Wave! In fact, I believe I’m late to the party, as this seems to have been going around for the past month now, thereby underscoring once again one of the many differences between Covid and the flu, as I have no recollection of any flu waves between July and August.
From a CM perspective, I suspect the incredible heat and humidity of July likely played a part in this, as coronavirus thrives in damper environments—recall in 2020 overweight men with pre-existing pulmonary issues were some of the most vulnerable candidates.
In light of the recent wave, I’ve had many people ask me what they can do to boost or juice their immune system, to which my first and foremost answer is one people don’t want to hear: Eat and sleep healthy.
“No, you idiot! I’m looking for a supplement. What can I take?”
Fair enough, but truthfully, I don’t believe there is anything better for immune support than regular moderate exercise, early bedtimes, adequate sleep, and three cooked meals a day with plenty of vegetables and some animal protein. Not to mention that from our perspective, the best thing you can take to boost immune function, or any bodily function, is an individualized, holistic formula, tailor-written to your pattern. Anything less will be precisely that, and if carelessly prescribed or taken in excess, can potentially cause subtle harm. With that said, there are empirical things we can do or take heading into cold and flu season seemingly a bit early this year.
- Regular acupuncture, or moxibustion treatments on the upper back, over the lungs, has been extensively studied and proven to boost immune function: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/integrative-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnint.2019.00048/full
- A good multi-vitamin I think is advisable for all of us.
- Zinc is fine to take in intermittent cycles, but too much of it can cause stomach upset, as zinc has cold properties, which is why it can be useful for heat in the throat and lungs.
- Vitamin D can also be beneficial, but I recommend getting your levels tested before mindlessly supplementing.
- Mushrooms are also fine in intermittent cycles, however mushrooms are inherently damp, so should be taken cautiously by people with weight problems, over-sized tongues, or thick coatings on their tongues. For these I recommend Paul Stamets brand: https://fungi.com/collections/host-defense. For all other supplements I recommend Pure Encapsulations or Thorne.
As always, if you get Covid please call for a virtual herbal consultation, as I have no idea how anyone gets a full resolution from this pathogen without Chinese herbs. In my observation there have been many people who think they got a full resolution, but quite apparently did not based on their symptoms. Chinese medicine is the only medicine with the concept and diagnosis of “unresolved exterior pathogen,” and subsequently with the treatment principle of “releasing the exterior,” in reference to venting a virus to actual completion. If you choose not to take Chinese herbs, at least rest and recover, eat well, and do not exercise while sick.
How to Design Meals like Medicinal Formulas
If food is medicine then creating each meal should be a bit like writing your own herbal formula. Whenever possible, it should be as agreeable as possible with our unique physiology, though this is admittedly challenging when cooking for a family where everyone has different body types. Nevertheless, one part of each meal should complement the other parts, either through synergistic benefit or offsetting its potentially detrimental qualities.
As a longstanding, traditional example, any time we get Thai or Mexican food, it is served with cucumber or radishes, respectively, which are there to mitigate the side effects of the spice.
Most foods are good, but almost all of them have “side effects.” Red meat nourishes the body’s blood, yin, and qi, but if it were an herb it would be a bit warm and damp. Too much red meat and/or red meat that is not harmonized by the remainder of the meal can create damp heat, or inflammation in the stomach and intestines. Then again too little red meat can cause a deficiency of blood, yin, and qi. Ideally red meat (and pork) would be consumed alongside steamed vegetables, then followed by hot green tea, either after the meal or the following morning (green tea at other times and/or for vegetarians is thought to have a bit too cooling, or vasoconstrictive effect on the microbiome—for them black teas are preferable).
Carbohydrates are settling for both the stomach and the mind—probably why they give us such immediately pleasure—but they are obviously stickier foods, “damper” foods, which are more difficult to digest. For this reason whenever possible, it is best to eat them warm and cooked, and alongside more acrid spices in the meal, such as basil, rosemary, ginger, garlic, or onion. While I am Jewish and from New York, and love a great tuna on a bagel, there is a remarkable difference in the physiological response to cold tuna on bread versus cooked pasta with garlic and oil, maybe vegetables and cannelini beans. Yum!
Salads. Oh boy, do westerners love salad. Frankly, if you tend to any digestive problems whatsoever, raw foods should be avoided as much as possible, but if you must:
Consume salad more in summer—less in winter—and always alongside some cooked protein and/or ginger tea. The acridity of the ginger should help to warm the stomach to digest the raw foods. The protein should provide warmth, plus some much needed calories, or “qi and yin.”
Cooked vegetables, allergies notwithstanding, are probably the only perfect food that wholly lack side effects, which is probably why they are also the one food that nearly every paradigm of medicine agrees upon. If you don’t consume cooked vegetables daily you are on a dangerous path, in my opinion. They are nearly always harmless and beneficial… yet still ultimately inadequate, as we can only imagine the metabolic fatigue and inevitable illnesses to come were someone to consume exclusively vegetables.
Food is a gentle medicinal. It will neither heal nor destroy us quickly on its own, however it will always do one or the other over time. I’ve seen firsthand, in myself, loved ones, and patients eradicate chronic symptoms by pursuing a more Eastern diet, though it took many months—in my case years! People should not get discouraged by eating well for a particular interim and not feeling dramatically better. Instead, pay attention to whether you feel worse (always a possibility), meanwhile recognizing that without internal medicine, diet alone may take a long time to cure disease. It is up to us to continue to better understand the nature of each food, so that we can wisely design the perfect “herbal formula” three times a day until the end of time.
Pictured above is an imperfect, but still great meal: Breaded chicken cutlet, sauteed spinach, and roasted acorn squash with roasted apples, cinnamon, and maple syrup. What is “imperfect” about it? First, fruit should be consumed at least 15 minutes apart from other foods so as to avoid creating its notoriously mucus-like congestion in the microbiome. Also, “natural” or not, let’s be honest: maple syrup is sugar; and chicken is healthier without breadcrumbs. On the other hand, breadcrumbs make up a very small amount of the meal, the apples are at least cooked, hence easier to digest, and the leafy greens with garlic should help to optimally process the meat and sugars.
Thirst, Sweat, & Urine: What is Normal?
In contrast to the requisite ruling out of red flags by most nurses in conventional medical settings, the reason Chinese Medical practitioners ask about almost every system in your body is because we are diagnosing based on complete patterns—not just symptoms.
For example, if someone comes in for acid reflux, we cannot know their prescriptions until we know how often they urinate or poop, what each one is like, whether they experience headaches or dizziness, which part of the head they get their headaches in, how is their appetite, how thirsty they are during the day versus in the evening, etc. etc. This is because we are one of the only true forms of holistic medicine.
So, what is normal?
A normal amount of urination is approximately 6 times a day (yes, this includes waking at night). Much less than that and you are likely either retaining, or not drinking enough water in the first place. More than 6 indicates either a weakness in the urogenital microbiome, or excessive inflammation in the urogenital microbiome, which over time can lead to local weakness by putting strain on it. The remainder of the intake questions will determine which of the two is the case.
People should sweat, but not excessively so. Chinese Medicine is critical of HIIT or marathon training, hot yoga, and sauna therapy in most cases. While these might all feel great in the short-term and/or be proven to offer certain isolated benefits in the short-term, we believe they ultimately deplete the body’s healthy metabolic fluids. On the other hand, never sweating (exercising) at all is obviously just as harmful.
While some people barely break a sweat even when they exercise, others are drenched by the time they finish their morning commute, especially triggered by certain climates or seasons. The former can either indicate body fluid depletion or a malfunction of the immunological “qi.” The latter can either indicate inflammation, fluid retention, or also a malfunction of the immunological “qi.” This is where diagnoses and prescriptions get tricky.
Many western doctors have now begun to recognize the health benefits of the Chinese herb, astragalus, which on one hand is great. On the other hand, their recognition by way of empirical studies poses the challenge of having no comprehension of Chinese Medicine. If you give astragalus to the former example of a “cold-body person” with a simple immunological malfunction they will feel amazing and sing your praises. If you give it to someone with both immunological malfunction AND fluid deficiency it will do almost nothing. Worse, if you give it to a “hot-body person” with inflammation and fluid retention they will feel much worse.
Finally, it is normal to be thirsty, for 6-9 cups of water per day. A lack of thirst tells us there is fluid retention in the microbiome, signaling to the brain that it’s got plenty of liquid down here—no need to hydrate! This is dangerous, and better to fake it ‘til you make it in acquiring thirst. On the other pole are those who are ravenously or insatiably thirsty, which informs us of inflammatory heat in either their respiratory microbiome, gastrointestinal microbiome, or both, drying out their fluids. As always, the most complicated patterns are those who are generally unthirsty followed by sudden bouts of desperate thirst. This is a combination pattern that requires more thought, trial, and error.
I hope this was interesting and informative. One of western medicine’s shortcomings is its reliance on tests and labs to determine whether we are healthy or normal. While these are undeniably valuable, they tell only part of the story, which is why so many diseases get caught too late. Chinese Medicine is more brilliant in its neurotic recognition of pathologies in any abnormality, any imbalance, as something to rectify before it spirals into disease.
Refuting the “Man Cold” Cliche
Well, if Covid and seasonal allergies had a lovechild its name would apparently be the upper respiratory pathogens of Winter, 2023. I experienced both personally and professionally, not only the severity of these viruses’ symptoms, but maybe even more troubling was how stubborn they were to resolve. Coughs that would linger for weeks on end, allergies turned to sinus infections, and one friend had the shingles virus transform into a vicious cough, which in my humble opinion occurred because he didn’t properly treat the former with Chinese Medicine.
I am grateful we seem to be passing simultaneously, likely not coincidentally, out of this post-pandemic ripple effect along with the cold weather. Besides dilating the blood vessels of our respiratory microbiomes, thereby giving pathogens wider exit pathways, the warm air should eventually aid in transforming latent mucus and boosting our metabolic energies enough to in turn boost our immunological energies, or “wei qi.”
I plead ignorance, in the past few years more than ever, to most current events, trends on social media, philosophical platitudes, and pop culture; and I often question whether that makes me an “ignorant person”—especially since we will all eventually die still relatively ignorant about most things and peoples. Besides my family, I devote most of my time and mental energy to Chinese Medicine. Whatever is left over at the end of each day are mere scraps, an hour or two at most, and I choose to shut my mind off with friends and/or sports. Maybe in another chapter of my life I’ll read more articles and keep up with external themes and events.
Before blowing my own nose about 50 times a day one week back in January, my lungs exacerbated by the need to rid themselves of phlegm, I had never heard of “the man cold.” Apparently, amongst the infinite social media cliches is one that guys are overly dramatic or whiney about their common colds, obviously underscoring “girl power,” which is a great thing, but also the idea that men are weak(er), which might not be great, or accurate.
Recall the first wave of Covid, we were quickly informed that men, along with the elderly and obese, were most susceptible to severe infections. Why? Well, from a Chinese Medical perspective men have more heat and/or yang qi in the body’s upper region. On one hand it is why we are fortunate enough to have generally more energy. It is consistent with our generally superior upper body strength; though it is also why the inflammatory cytokine response is more intense in the context of upper respiratory viruses.
If you require this be translated in conventional medical terms—and most westerners do—as a result of our increased testosterone and androgens, men possess higher numbers of T cells and Natural Killer cells than women, whereas women have greater B cells, neutrophils and phagocytic activity, which makes them more adept at clearing viruses, as well as the toxins from vaccines. Women also have a greater susceptibility to dysregulation of innate lymphoid cells, which makes them generally more prone to autoimmune disease. (source: https://www.nature.com/articles/nri.2016.90.pdf)
Returning to the brilliant simplicity of Chinese Medical jargon: It is the heat from our body’s (masculine) yang qi that provides ample metabolic strength to regulate our lymphoid cells and avoid autoimmune disease. It is that same heat, left uncontrolled, that creates a more inflammatory cytokine storm in the lungs and makes clearing external pathogens more stubborn. It’s not because your husband is being a little bitch.
