Thanks to advanced technology, in such hot weather, one could hardly imagine what it would be like without air conditioning. But every coin has its two sides (like Yin and Yang Philosophy), “air conditioning sickness” is the other side of it.

Let’s take a look at statements from my patients:

Patient A: “ it’s too hot, I have to keep the air-con on the whole night. But when I get up the next morning, I feel sore all over my body. Even the joints of my fingers and toes hurt.”

Patient B: “The air-conditioning at my office is too strong, I feel pain in my neck and shoulder. I have difficulty getting up in the morning. I feel weak all over, and do not have appetite. I even feel depressed, nauseous and dizzy.”

Patient C: “I just recovered from a cold, now I’m having another cold. My period pain becomes more serious and I feel depressed.”

Among those symptoms, a lot of them are caused by the air conditioning. In this very hot weather, our bodies are switching back and forth from the cool air-con environment to the hot summer heat. It’s like we walking out of an “oven” and then walking into a “fridge”, and not long after, we walk out of the “fridge” and walk into the “oven” again. Our bodies are adapting and adjusting to our body temperature and the outside temperature. In order to adjust to the change of temperature, our Qi (vital energy) and organs keep working and adapting. Our pores keep opening and closing all the time to protect our Qi (vital energy), internal organs and body temperature. When this goes on for a long time, when we feel tired and deficient, when our immunity system runs down, or when women are undergoing menstruation or pregnancy, these “air conditioning sicknesses” will find us easily, unnoticed. Especially for children and the elderly, “air conditioning sicknesses” might cause more trouble for them.

“The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine” has it that “drilling a well right before feeling thirsty or sending troops right before the enemies’ invasion, isn’t it too late?” (“The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine” is the earliest Traditional Chinese Medicine book) To improve, mind and prevent the symptoms of air conditioning sickness is the essential way to keep us from sicknesses in the following autumn such as, arthritis, cold and flu, cough, indigestion and depression.

What can we do about air conditioning sickness?

1. When working in a cold, air-conditioned office, it’s always good to bring a jacket or a scarf to protect the neck. Our neck is the “window” of the incoming chill. It’s better for women to keep the feet warm, in order to prevent a “cold uterus” and help relieve period pain.
2. If using air conditioning at night, it’s better to set a timer and turn it off after midnight. A little sweat helps with removing the chill from the air conditioning.
3. When feeling tired after getting up in the morning, it’s better to drink a cup of hot tea, which will help you eliminating the chill by sweating. Cold breakfast is better to be avoided.
4. If possible, try not to use the air conditioning, especially at night. The chill will go into our bodies slowly through the open pores, make us catch a cold while lying still.
5. Be careful of the draught. Especially at night, the draught would give us a momentary comfort and coolness, but it could pass through our bodies and internal organs. Our bodies sometimes can not eliminate the wind and this would lead to sickness, such as arthritis, asthma, cough, cold, headache, neck pain, joint pain and indigestion. Special attention should be paid to children and the elderly.
6. No excessive cold drinks. Cold drinks may make us feel comfortable for a short period of time. But it makes a bigger difference between our body temperature and the natural temperature, we probably feel even hotter after having cold drinks, so we keep drinking cold stuff. If you keep doing this for a long time, the Qi of the spleen and stomach will be damaged, which would lead to fatigue, cough, phlegm, indigestion, gassy stomach and depression.
7. We need to sweat a bit everyday in summer. Summer is the perfect season for everything to grow. Letting nature take its course is healthy. Our bodies need certain amount of sweat to remove the heat stored inside.
8. Ginger is a treasure. Drinking some ginger tea or using ginger in the cooking helps to remove internal chill as well as external chill.
9. Please do not take a shower after sweating heavily. Please do not put yourself into the “fridge” right after the shower.
10. Keep warm of the lower back and abdomen at night, especially for kids.
11. Drink a lot of water.

Prevention and wisdom are the two principles of Traditional Qi.

My very best wishes for your health and happiness.

Written by Angela Zhu, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, Qi Gong & Tai Chi instructor.

Translated by Janet Zheng

© Copyright Angela Zhu 2011

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