Hi everyone. The usual apologies for not writing for a long time. The usual reasons-very busy clinic, technophobia and a slight tendency towards idleness are all conspiring against putting all the useful knowledge in my head onto paper on a more regular basis.

Today I am going to discuss the one most common cause of health problems in humans. It is therefore the most important one yet, at the same time it is the one that is most underrated, misunderstood and largely ignored by modern medicine. Emotions have been recognised by the ancient TCM practitioners as the one most common cause of internal health problems. This pattern was recognised by them many hundreds of years ago at times where stress was significantly less than it is these days. They identified the effect that different emotions have on different organs: it goes as follows-too much anger injures the liver; grief and melancholy injure the lungs; worry injures the spleen; fear and fright injure the kidneys and too much joy injures the heart. Other effects of emotions on the flow of Qi in the body are: anger causes the Qi to rise up, grief drastically consumes it and worry causes it to stagnate.

I’ll try to reorganise and simplify these principles in order to make them more applicable to the modern day environment. These days the most common emotional health hazards are worry, anxiety and stress.

Excess worry, as mentioned before, has a bad effect on our spleen. In Chinese medicine the spleen stands for our ability to digest food and turn it into energy (Qi). The Qi gives us energy and a strong immune system. Overworrying will therefore have a detrimental effect on our energy, our immune system and our digestive system. Even modern medicine science, with all of its confusion regarding the issue of stress, has recognised that our immune system is underfunctioning when we are worried or stressed. So, worry affects the spleen. What about stress? Stress is a very modern emotion and is mainly a result of our hectic and slightly crazy way of life in these modern times. Stress has a bad influence on our liver, and that is a major health problem. It would not be an exaggeration to say that about one third of the people who come to my clinic are suffering from a condition or have symptoms that arise as a result of a malfunctioning liver as a consequence of stress.

So what is it about the liver that is so important? The doctor will tell you that the liver is the main organ in the body in charge of metabolism and detoxifying. But what about the subtle functions of the liver? In TCM we know that the liver stores the blood, controls the emotions, and maintains the smooth flow of the Qi ( the body energy). If we expose our liver to too much stress we can expect health problems and symptoms which are related to those functions. Common examples of problems related to the blood storing and hormone regulating functions are most womens menstrual problems including many cases of infertility. As to maintaining the smooth flow of Qi function, this one is extremely important because when the Qi is unable to flow smoothly it can affect a few different areas of the body: it can affect the mind and cause insomnia, it can affect the lungs and cause asthma, it can affect the immune system and cause all host of immune system related problems including autoimmune conditions. It very commonly affects the spleen, causing digestive system problems (most commonly IBS), fatigue and a weak immune system. As mentioned earlier the liver controls the emotions and an under-functioning liver is the most common cause of emotional problems including depression and anxiety. Another problem that can arise from a liver that has been put under pressure by too much stress is that it tends to get overheated. This liver heat tends to go upwards and commonly causes eye problems, ear conditions, dizziness and, most commonly, headaches and migraines. The smooth flow of Qi is essential for the maintenance of health.

It is not just psychosomatic conditions that are related to problems in the liver. Very serious medical conditions like Parkinson’s disease or even cancer can arise as a result of a pathological process that started from an under-functioning liver as a result of too much stress. InChina there was a dramatic rise in the diagnosis of Breast cancer in the few years that followed the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. The local doctors blamed the extreme stress the ladies were under during this dark period in China’s history.

I once read an article by a scientist who claimed he didn’t understand the fuss about stress. “Stress is a good thing”, he wrote, “it’s a mechanism given to us through evolution and is just a natural reaction of the body.” Of course, here we have an example of a scientist who has spent too much time in his lab and who has basically lost contact with reality. “Stress is a mechanism given to us through evolution” that is true but it is only meant to help us in case of an emergency. It is called the fight or flight response. Imagine you are walking in the forest and suddenly encounter a danger-let’s say a bear, for example. Your body then will get into stress state; your adrenalin and other stress hormones will be secreted into your blood. This will cause a few things to happen: your pulse and blood pressure will increase; your blood supply will be diverted from the internal organs to your muscles; and your nerve system will become more alert and sharp. You will be ready to fight or run away. This stress mechanism is great to keep us alive in emergencies. The problem is that it was never meant to stay with us for long periods of time on a daily basis. It is not the normal state that the body is supposed to function in and if it is continuously experienced then something will give and problems will start. So even if we look at it from the point of view of modern medical science, which generally has a very weak understanding of stress, we can see it has the potential to cause damage.

To sum up: stress, worry and anxiety can badly affect your immune system, energy, sleep, emotions, digestive system and hormone balance. It can also be the cause of headaches, migraines, dizziness, asthma, eye and skin problems.

So what we can we do about it? To start with, the TCM deep understanding of the effect of emotions on your health is also extended for the treatment. A visit to your Acupuncturist or TCM Practitioner will go a long way towards relieving you from the problem. Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine are very good in undoing the damage done to our liver and spleen by stress and overworrying. My patients who are under stress on a regular basis will come to see me once a month to three months for a treatment aimed at undoing the damage and stopping it from accumulating.

That is all well and good but, as we all know, prevention is better than cure. We have to find a way to get less stress. I know it is hard but I hope, now that you understand the possible health implications of stress, it will encourage you to make some changes.

What can we do?

–        Take less on: you are doing way too much

–        Genuinely make a priorities list: (prioritise your health)

–        Meditation: there are all sorts in the market ( try Sahaja yoga at sahajayoga.org)

Good luck with it all. I wish you health and happiness.

Ilan