Windy Weather

Talk to any Chinese Medicine practitioner about going for a walk in the windy weather without wearing enough clothes, and you will undoubtedly see them vigorously shudder. Wind is always written about in the ancient Chinese Medicine texts as an external factor that can enter and attack the body, and cause disease.

The classic texts tell us that the wind carries with it all of the other pathogenic factors that can get into the body and disrupt our state of health: If it is a cold day, the wind helps the cold to get into the body; if it is a hot day the wind helps the heat to get into the body, and if it’s raining, the wind helps the dampness to get into the body.

When someone comes into the clinic and needs support for muscular aches and pains, sudden stiffness, bells palsy, migraine, tingling and numbness to name but a few conditions, we will always want to know what they were doing and if they were out in the windy elements before the symptoms showed up.

The wind is very stirring. For some people (including children and animals), a windy day can create a restless and irritable mood. Does that happen to you? For me myself, going for a walk in strong windy weather makes me feel very cranky, as though I am being poked and prodded constantly. I really don’t like it.

In Chinese Medicine we talk a lot about covering up the body on windy days. So, if you are out walking the dog, or walking to the tram stop on a windy day, it is a great idea to cover up your body, especially your neck to keep the body a little more stable and protected from the external environment.

By Dr Karina Smith.