subject: Seasonal influences on health acc to usm [print this page] Seasonal influences on health acc to usm Seasonal influences on health acc to usm
The physiology and functioning of the human organism cannot remain constant, but must adapt to seasonal changes and variations in the weather. An important part of being healthy is having the necessaryflexibility and adaptability to adjust to seasonal changes in the weather.
The response of the orgasnism to seasonal weather changes is coordinated by the Vital Faculty through the respiratory, circulatory and immune systems. However, the humors and the Natural Faculty, as well as the other faculties and systems of the organism, are also affected.
In winter, the cold, wet weather aggravates phlegm, and makes us vulnerable to coughs, colds and lung congestion. Since our bodies consume more energy to keep us warm, our caloric needs are higher in winter. And so, we must eat a heavier, richer, heartier diet. The cold weather also shunts the majority of the blood circulation into the interior to warm the vital organs of the body's core. Similarly, humoral superfluities and imbalances are driven deep into the body's interior, and remain latent during the winter. The colder winter temperatures make the maturation and ripening of the humors slower, and humoral disorders take longer to manifest.
In spring, the warmer weather brings the formerly latent or dormant humoral excesses of winter up to the surface. The excessive phlegm accumulated during the winter months starts to decongeal and resurface to be passed off. This surfacing of phlegm can aggravate or manifest spring pollen allergies and hay fever. Because all the accumulated excesses and superfluities of winter are being passed off, spring is a good season for fasting and cleansing regimes, which shouldn't be undertaken until the last cold snaps of winter are over. Blood also gets more exuberant and rises to the surface, making bleeding disorders like nosebleeds a problem in the spring. Wind is also strong and abundant in the spring, so one must take care to protect oneself against drafts and chills.
In summer, the hot weather shunts blood out to the exterior of the organism and the superficial capillaries in order to disperse excess heat from the body's interior. If more cooling and heat dispersal are needed, the body breaks asweat. The hot, dry summer weather provokes aggravations of heat and choler, or yellow bile. These may produce giddiness, vomiting or nausea, as well as fevers, infections, putrefactions, heat rashes and inflammatory conditions. Because more blood is shunted out towards the exterior of the organism, the digestive organs in the body's core don't receive as much blood. This, plus the lower caloric needs of summer, often tend to depress the appetite; in summer, we should eat light, easy to digest foods. Also, since the intense summer heat leads to a lot of fluid loss through sweating, we must drink a lot of fluids tokeep ourselves well-hydrated. Since the humors ripen more quickly in hot weather, humoral diseases are more active in summer, and run their course in a shorter period of time.
As summer moves into fall, the days remain hot, but the nights grow colder. These widening temperature fluctuations put a strain on the organism to adapt. The pores may open and sweat during the heat of the day, and allow evening chills to enter. Excess cold foods and drinks consumed in summer may have generated superfluous cold, damp Phlegmatic humors that may increase one's vulnerability to chills when the weather starts changing in the fall. One should take care not to drink too many cold drinks nor eat too many cooling foods when the weather starts changing. The cold, dry weather of mid-fall can produce dry, chapped skin, coryza and sore throats, coughs and hoarseness, and can aggravateMelancholic complaints. Wetter autumns are better than dryer ones, because the moisture in the air will help to liquefy the excess phlegm accumulated through dietary indiscretions in the summer, whereas dryness will only dry up and thicken this excess phlegm, making it more difficult to expel.
As the weather becomes colder again towards winter, the caloric needs of the organism increase, and the diet becomes heavier and heartier. Cold, wet winter weather produces coughs, colds and lung congestion, and the blood circulation starts to interiorize to warm the body's core. The wheel of the seasons has again come full circle.
