Circulatory problems and chilblains
Poor heart function can contribute to numerous circulation problems which may include severe pain in the legs while walking (intermittent claudication) and Buerger’s disease (common among heavy smokers); this can eventually lead to gangrene and necessitate amputation.
Among more minor circulation problems are chilblains, which are generally associated not with failing hearts but with cold, as the body responds to falling temperatures by constricting blood supply to the peripheries in order to keep vital organs and deep tissues warm.
Wearing adequate clothing on cold days is the easiest way to avoid occasional chilblains, while habitual sufferers can improve their circulation with stimulating herbs like ginger, cinnamon, horseradish and chili.
Recent research suggests that ginkgo can improve the peripheral blood circulation, although it is more traditionally regarded as stimulating the blood supply to the brain. (more…)
Today, thanks to modern science, we generally regard the heart simply as a powerful muscle to pump blood around the body. Traditional medicine has a rather different view: to the Chinese the heart controls the life process, co-ordinates the activities of all the other organs and manages mental activities and consciousness. It stores Shen — a sense of appropriateness and right behaviour — so that what we term mental illness is often seen in Chinese medicine as due to disharmonies in the heart upsetting Shen.
Ayurvedic medicine puts the heart in a similar central role: it is the dwelling place of the atman — the divine self or spirit of immortal life — controlling consciousness and affected by spiritual weakness. Western Ayurvedic experts like David Frawley argue that the high level of heart disease in Western society is due to our over-preoccupation with personal achievement and material wealth — we die of “spiritual starvation”, causing a broken heart. (more…)
In Chinese theory the mouth is associated with the spleen — an organ traditionally linked with digestion, so red, lustrous lips suggest that food is being well digested and assimilated, while pale lips indicate poor spleen energy with a weak appetite and abnormal digestion. The condition of the gums, too, is indicative of the state of the digestion: red, swelling and bleeding gums indicate excess stomach heat, as do mouth ulcers around the lips. Mouth problems are thus often related to other bodily ills and should rarely be considered in isolation. (more…)
