There are many factors for feeling feverish or ‘heaty’ (发热/上火) during the Spring Festival. They can be divided into external and internal factors.
Getting ‘heaty’ is the layman’s understanding for having ‘excessive internal heat’ symptoms in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
External (Environmental) causes of Heatiness
1. Spring is the season of Bloom and awakening
It is Chinese belief that Spring is the season where plants bloom and, unfortunately, diseases also strike (“百草回芽，百病发作”). It is said that old underlying ailments mostly tend to return during the Spring season as well.
Why is it that diseases recur in the Spring?
In the Spring, everything awakens from its slumber, and this includes our bodies, which will encourage Yang and Qi energy to grow. When Yang energy is sufficient, it will flush out the impurities in the body and drive the pathogens out of the body, which causes it to manifest as diseases.
When Yang and Qi energy grows in excess, it may also cause disturbance to the liver, gallbladder and stomach (肝，胆，胃), causing them to gather ‘internal heat’ (内热). This results in excessive ‘heatiness’ as well (发热）. The liver and gallbladder organs in TCM theory are associated with the Wood elements, while the stomach is associated with the Earth elements.
Furthermore, the countries on the equator, Singapore being one of them, has a relatively hot climate during the Spring festival, and will also have fickle weather. When the human body is poor and not optimal at adapting to these fickle climate changes, it is difficult for the body to maintain balance and stability, and getting ‘heaty’ is the resulting symptom that occurs when the human body has imbalanced Yin and Yang energies.
2. Consuming excessive “Heaty” Foods resulting in Excess Yang Energy
Many “health advocates” frequently consume Yang-type or Yang boosting foods during this spring season. Yang boosting foods may include tonic, antlers, red ginseng, longan, ginseng, and red meat such as pork or beef.
This may promote the body’s excess yang to manifest as anger or heatiness.
Internal (Intrinsic) Causes of Heatiness
1. Excessive Suppressed Negative Emotions:
Negative emotions refer to feelings of anger, depression, worry, tension, desire, etc. If these emotions are kept inside for too long, without a proper, it can lead to heatiness as well. As our society’s rapid pace causes people to study and work under increasing pressure, more and more people are feeling emotions of anxiety and stress. Feelings of stress is further exacerbated especially during the pandemic period, causing even greater pressure, due to environmental factors such as inflation, unemployment, feeling of being quarantined, etc.
2. Increased consumption of ‘heaty’ foods:
During the Spring Festival, we often serve and consume fish and meat, snacks, sweets, bakkwa, etc. Due to the season’s festivities, we tend to feast together and celebrate. Fast food, high-carb foods are common, such as burgers, roast beef, fried chicken, desserts, pizza, spicy mala hot pot etc. However, the more unbalanced the diet, the easier it is to get “heaty”.
Above are some of the few common reasons we get ‘heaty’ symptoms. During the Spring Festival, we also notice that there will be more than the usual number of patients coming to us with fever symptoms. With the addition of Omicron this year, we fear that even more people will get ‘heaty’.
This post is a part of a three-part series, you can read the other parts here:
We hope the tips shared in this series help to explain how to diagnose and treat ‘Heatiness’ from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. If you notice these small methods above do not improve your condition, it may be due to more complex factors not addressed in these articles. You may need to consult a TCM physician so that you can properly diagnose the root cause.
Kuna mambo mengi ya kuhisi homa au <unk>heaty<unk> (发热/上火) wakati wa Sherehe ya Majira ya Mapambazuko. Zinaweza kugawanywa katika mambo ya nje na ya ndani. Kupata "joto" ni uelewa wa layman kwa kuwa na "joto la ndani la kupita kiasi" dalili katika Tiba ya jadi ya Kichina (TCM). Sababu za nje (ma mazingira) za Heatiness 1. "Mwaka wa majani ni msimu wa maua na kuamka, na ni imani ya Kichina kwamba majira ya kuchipua ni msimu ambapo mimea huchanua maua na, kwa bahati mbaya, magonjwa pia huanguka. """ Inasemekana kwamba magonjwa ya zamani ya msingi mara nyingi hurudi wakati wa msimu wa majira ya kuchipua pia. Kwa nini magonjwa hurudi tena wakati wa majira ya kuchipua? Katika majira ya kuchipua, kila kitu huamka kutoka kwa usingizi wake, na hii inajumuisha miili yetu, ambayo itahimiza nishati ya Yang na Qi kukua. Wakati nishati ya Yang inapatikana, itatoa uchafu katika mwili na kuondoa vimelea vya magonjwa, na hivyo kuifanya iwe na dalili za magonjwa. Wakati Yang na Qi nishati inakua kwa ziada, inaweza pia kusababisha usumbufu kwa ini, gallbladder na tumbo (肝,胆,胃), kusababisha yao kukusanya <unk> joto la ndani <unk> (内热). Hii husababisha "heatiness" kupita kiasi pia (发热). Katika TCM, ini na gallbladder zinahusianishwa na vitu vya mbao, wakati tumbo linahusianishwa na vitu vya ardhi. Kwa kuongezea, nchi zilizo kwenye ikweta, Singapore ikiwa moja yao, zina hali ya hewa ya joto wakati wa sherehe ya Spring, na pia zitakuwa na hali ya hewa isiyo ya kawaida. Wakati mwili wa binadamu ni duni na si bora katika kukabiliana na mabadiliko haya ya hali ya hewa, ni vigumu kwa mwili kudumisha usawa na utulivu, na kupata "moto" ni dalili inayotokana na ambayo hutokea wakati mwili wa binadamu ina nishati ya Yin na Yang imebadilika. 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Kutumia kupita kiasi "Heaty" Chakula kusababisha Excess Yang Energy Wengi "watetezi wa afya" mara nyingi kula Yang-aina au Yang kuongeza chakula wakati wa msimu huu wa spring. Vyakula vinavyoongeza nguvu ya Yang vinaweza kutia ndani tonic, pembe, ginseng nyekundu, longan, ginseng, na nyama nyekundu kama vile nguruwe au ng'ombe. Hilo laweza kuchochea yang ya ziada ya mwili kujitokeza kama hasira au uchungu. Sababu za Ndani (Za Ndani) za Joto Hisia mbaya zilizofichwa: Hisia mbaya zinahusu hisia za hasira, kushuka moyo, wasiwasi, mvutano, tamaa, nk. Ikiwa hisia hizi zimehifadhiwa ndani kwa muda mrefu sana, bila njia sahihi, inaweza kusababisha joto pia. Kama jamii yetu ya kasi husababisha watu kujifunza na kufanya kazi chini ya shinikizo kuongezeka, watu zaidi na zaidi ni hisia ya wasiwasi na mkazo. "Hisi ya mkazo inaongezeka zaidi, haswa wakati wa janga, na kusababisha shinikizo kubwa zaidi, kwa sababu ya sababu za mazingira kama vile mfumuko wa bei, ukosefu wa ajira, hisia ya kuwa ""kuwekwa karantini"" na kadhalika." 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Ongezeko la matumizi ya vyakula vya "moto": Wakati wa Sherehe ya Majira ya kuchipua, mara nyingi tunatumikia na kula samaki na nyama, vitafunio, peremende, bakkwa, nk. Kwa sababu ya sherehe za msimu, sisi huwa na karamu pamoja na kusherehekea. Chakula cha haraka, vyakula vyenye wanga mwingi ni vya kawaida, kama vile burger, roast beef, kuku iliyochomwa, desserts, pizza, mala moto moto moto, nk. Hata hivyo, kadiri chakula kinavyokuwa kisicho na usawaziko, ndivyo inavyokuwa rahisi kupata "joto". Zilizotajwa hapo juu ni baadhi ya sababu za kawaida ambazo hutufanya tuwe na dalili za "moto". Wakati wa Sherehe ya Majira ya kuchipua, tunatambua pia kuwa kutakuwa na idadi kubwa ya wagonjwa wanaokuja kwetu na dalili za homa. Pamoja na kuongezwa kwa Omicron mwaka huu, tunaogopa kwamba watu zaidi watakuwa na "juzi". Hii ni sehemu ya mfululizo wa sehemu tatu, unaweza kusoma sehemu zingine hapa: Tunatumaini vidokezo vilivyoshirikiwa katika mfululizo huu vinasaidia kuelezea jinsi ya kugundua na kutibu 'Heatiness' kutoka kwa mtazamo wa Tiba ya jadi ya Kichina. Ikiwa unaona kwamba mbinu hizi ndogo haziboresha hali yako, inaweza kuwa kwa sababu ya mambo magumu zaidi ambayo hayajazungumziwa katika makala hizi. Unaweza kuhitaji kushauriana na daktari wa TCM ili uweze kugundua chanzo cha ugonjwa huo.