“It's a new day, there is fever again.” These thoughts arise in our heads more and more often (mostly not so much rhymed). It has been known to Chinese medicine for thousands of years that it is not necessarily a bad condition.
So how to best deal with fever? How to deal with a hot body?
Fever is the name given to this disease by our “fevered” times. In the Middle Kingdom (China) they have always tried to perceive the overall state of the body. If our body (especially the forehead and backs of hands) is like a hot furnace, then it is a state of heat. However, this does not necessarily mean that a thermometer will indicate increased body temperature. This is the case when our natural body energy (CHI) is attacked by an external harmful substance – in this case it is the FENG wind. Heat then means that our body defends itself against this “external invasion”. The more heat our body emits, the more intense the battle with the “enemy” is.
The standard practice here in the West is to immediately administer the most powerful - usually chemical - counterfire (drugs and suppositories against fever) at the first sign of fever (a scent of threat). Sometimes a completely inadequate cannonade of antibiotics or corticoids is triggered and instead of a few prematurely fallen trees (our body reacts to the FENG wind with an increased temperature) we have a windfall bombarded in our forest (body) (so-called drug side effects). Moreover, the problem does not disappear – it has only been pushed into the deeper layers of our body (below the devastated ground) and can attack us again at any time. However, this is usually no longer a “mere fever”, but we have sown the seeds of chronic problems such as eczema, allergies, inflammation of the intestines, asthma, fatigue syndrome, autoimmune, etc. recurrent diseases.
If your temperature is elevated, it is enough for you to drink plenty of fluids for two days, apply cold packs (even repeatedly, depending on the condition), or shower with lukewarm water (approximately at the temperature of the “normal state of the body” - approx. 37°C) . Furthermore, be sure to consume cool foods, which contribute to reducing heat, especially yellow melon, iceberg lettuce, bananas or raw cucumber. Conversely, you should avoid foods that increase the internal heat – dried ginger, pepper, chilli, cloves, cinnamon, grilled, fried and baked foods, red meat, alcohol and black coffee.
However, it is essential for any acute attack on the body that: Less means more! So if you reduce food intake and let the body “starve” to a certain extent, you'll take the wind from the sails and prevent the disease from progressing. Because the wind pushes against a larger surface or building with even more force – however, you need to merge in with the surface as much as possible, so that only a silver wind could ruffle you in the morning.
Even more important factor affecting the strength of the fever is your body constitution. If you have a Yang constitution (i.e., with a predominance of heat), after being attacked by a FENG wind, you will be more prone to a FENG RE hot wind creation – and thus a higher fever (like wind blowing smouldering ember into fire). On the other hand, if you have a Yin constitution (with a predominance of cold), on the contrary, cold wind FENG HAN will be rather created in you (like water freezes in an insufficiently protected pipe).
Today, however, we live in a particularly feverish period. Rush and stress are pursued by ambition, worries and adrenaline. We consume fried foods from fast food, meat, sausages, preservatives, E numbers, alcohol, stimulants, (il)legal drugs etc. without stopping... Most of the population is so hot today, not only because of its constitution, but mainly because of unhealthy eating and puzzled mind.
Prevention is always the best drug (not only in Chinese medicine). From the perspective of TCM, all stress and concern weaken the lung energy (FEI CHI), which is responsible for the defensive capacity and resistance of our body against diseases. It is as if we were liquidating our natural armour with all our sorrows and worries...
