Climates (or external causes)

February 25, 2020

WaiYin, or external causes, named after climatic conditions, are one of the most difficult concepts for a neophyte to grasp. Let's simply that at the outset, external causes are characteristic natural or artificial from the environment (cold, drought, humidity, heat wave, etc.) which fail to adapt of an organism whose defenses are weakened. 

These causes include waiting 35 minutes for the bus to – 30 oC than working at the year in a cold store; as much a stay in a very dry environment than in a poorly ventilated workshop; as much occupying a damp basement affected by mold that work in the rice fields. But beyond these familiar phenomena, climatic causes take on a broader meaning that we will define by placing TCM in its 3,000-year-old philosophical context.

By observing nature, the Chinese have associated specific qualities to certain natural phenomena. So, finding that the water freezes under the effect of the cold, they deduced that it has the quality of slowing down the movement. Conversely, they concluded that heat stimulates movement, since water boils under its influence. While observing the sick they noticed countless analogies between the ailments and these same phenomena. As an example, by observing that older adults had difficulty to move, that their fingers were frozen, that their pains were relieved by heat and made worse by cold, they deduced that they were affected by the Cold – medicine western will say they have rheumatism. By dint of observations incessant, TCM concluded that the GLOSS microcosm of humans behaves in the same way as the GLOSS macrocosm of nature. 

TCM has identified five main factors, called Climates, that act on humans or which represent specific types of conditions. Each of them is the subject of a more detailed sheet at the level next. It's about :

  • The wind (Feng). LINK N5

  • Cold (Han). LINK N5

  • Heat (Re). LINK N5

  • Humidity (Shi). LINK N5

  • Drought (Zao). LINK N5

In its study of the causes of diseases, TCM has much refined the characteristics of these five elementary climates in their bringing all kinds of nuances: everyone can combine with others, be qualified as internal or external, be in excess or lacking, having too much Yin or Yang, coming from a Viscera particular or affect it, etc. 

Even though Climates are considered external causes, they can be generated inside even of the organism. This is why TCM talks about external and internal climates. In general, Climates are perceived as pathogenic factors external when linked to conditions environmental and seasonal. Wind, cold, heat, humidity and drought are normal climatic elements to which our body usually adapts without problems. They become pathogenic if they vary abruptly or abnormally, or if our ability to adapt or resistance is low; Climates are then called Energies perverse external GLOSS, since they attack the body and produce diseases.

On the other hand, if an individual has symptoms corresponding to a certain climatic factor without having been in contact with it, we will say it struggling with a Climate internal since he will have produced it himself in his organism. Indeed, the TCM considers that each Organ can generate, inside the body, an imbalance similar to the one that Climates produce on the environment.