We are in the depths of the winter once again and some people, like myself, associate winter with skiing - Hooray! But for many it is associated with the ‘winter blues’. Some people are much more affected than others, going into apathy and depression. Chinese medicine gives us a unique perspective into the effects of the winter on people:
In winter KIDNEY YANG energy is overused. Kidney Yang is the warm energy as well as the ZEST for life. The ‘Let’s do' principle. So of course if Kidney Yang is depleted people can be plunged into the grey areas of life.
The "Four cold extremities syndrome” is prevalent with some people which leads to bad circulation and bad overall Qi nourishment.
“Heart Fire” can be over exhausted by the cold weather which can make people sad and feel under the weather.
The cold can constrict the tissue which can lead to Qi deficiency and energetic malnourishment which can lead to not the best psycho-emotional states.
So feeling blue can be a physiological anomaly i.e. a pattern of disharmony, which can be attended to by acupuncture and Chinese herbs. The key is to keep warm, work less and eat hearty foods. If the ‘blues’ start to appear please see us in the clinic, so we can check if some of the patterns of disharmony have been activated, and we can alleviate them ASAP.