Health in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hinges on striking a balance between all the elements in our bodies. A person will feel bulky and sleepy all the time when they are damp. The body feels sticky like glue and the person feels sluggish. In TCM, dampness is described as being like cotton that has been soaked in oil. Too much of it in the body can cause acute or chronic health issues if left untreated for too long.
Yang and yin bodies respond differently to dampness
This condition affects people with different constitutions, such as yin (cold) and yang (hot) differently. A yin person usually feels very sensitive to the cold and tires easily. A yang person feels hot, is prone to muscle and joint aches, and is more susceptible to skin conditions.
If the problem worsens, the dampness will affect blood vessels, resulting in high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart and kidney problems. For yang body types, its symptoms are most visible on the skin, in forms such as acne and eczema. Drowsiness is less pronounced for yang people; instead, there’ll be pain around the shoulders, neck, back of the head, waist, and joints.
Causes of dampness
There are many factors that cause this condition in the body, but most are external. It enters the body through the respiratory organs and people who are sensitive to the changes in their environment can develop a conscious sensation of dampness.
This condition in the body is often characterized by a feeling of thickness and stickiness, moving downward toward the extremities. However, it can also be caused by ailments of the digestive system. The reason could be an imbalance of qi flow and stagnation in such organs as the stomach or spleen.
As a result, the dampness that would normally be evenly spread out and utilized by the body and its other organs will accumulate in the area of the organ affected by a qi deficiency or stagnation.
When the body is damp, metabolic activities also slow down. In this state, the body is more prone to fall victim to ailments, edema, and obesity.
Coinciding with an increased amount of dampness, too much humidity can bring on discomforts such as headaches, eczema, edema, a persistent cough, sore muscles, and tiredness.
Susceptible conditions and symptoms of dampness
Overweight or obese people tend to have this problem. If the condition is serious, it will result in swelling of the lower limbs, especially around the ankles. Thus, weight loss, daily exercise, and a healthy diet are the recommended treatments for immediate results to reduce it.
People with heavy dampness often tire easily. They do not want to move and their heads feel heavy and their thoughts are foggy. Their joints are stiff and their body aches all over. All of these are signs of congested dampness and blocked meridians. These people also often experience chest tightness and need to take deep breaths often.
People suffering from heavy dampness do not feel hungry. A few bites are enough to make them feel bloated and the food feels like it can come up any minute. This is a typical sign of a weak spleen due to this condition.
People with heavy dampness need to urinate often, but the volume each time is not much and may be accompanied by pain.
If the skin and hair are oily, it is often a sign of this condition. Swollen eyelids and bags under the eyes in the morning or a dull or yellowish skin tone are all signs that point to it.
Food therapy for dampness
Winter melon
Winter melon clears heat, promotes water flow, and relieves edema. Adding ginger to make winter melon soup can expel the body’s coldness, generate sweating, and quicken the pace of ridding dampness.
Bitter melon
Bitter melon tastes bitter and is cool in nature. It can clear heat, expel dampness, promote urination, lower blood temperature, detoxify, and supplement energy.
Mung beans
Cool in food nature, mung beans can clear heat, detoxify, promote water flow, reduce edema, and relieve eczema itchiness. It is a good food therapy choice.
Coix seeds
Coix seeds are sweet and slightly cool in food nature. They function to reduce edema, clear heat, replenish the spleen and discharge pus. they are good for ridding dampness, especially for cases of rheumatism, arthritis, and edema.
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