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The Benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine According to PULSE TCM Clinic

  • By Bryan Goh

The Benefits of Traditional Chinese Medicine According to PULSE TCM Clinic body heatiness
Body heat — or in more scientific terms, thermal energy — is a by-product of metabolism in higher animals. With birds and four-legged mammals, they increase body heat by fluffing their feathers or raising their hair. With humans, the spike in body heat can prove to be quite discombobulating — our bodies are optimised at 37°C. Any higher and the thermostatic region of our brain goes into overdrive leading to ailments like fevers. 

However, this concept of “heatiness” can be often quite muddled in the mix of medicinal science versus traditional Chinese medicine. It is easy to confuse the latter as a quick medicinal cure — sip a drink and one’s body becomes cooler. Brew a pot and one’s vitality signals flash hot, hot, hot. In physician Sheryl Tay’s words (she is in charge of many a feat at PULSE TCM Clinic including general health, pain and injury management and paediatric massages), the concept of traditional Chinese medication is simple — “natural and holistic treatments”.

 

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“I don’t think we have to pit traditional Chinese medicine against modern medicine as they both have benefits. I’d like to think that traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine work hand in hand to help patients manage their condition and overall wellbeing.”

“However, from a traditional Chinese medicine point of view, body heatiness does not necessarily mean that the body temperature is high. It generally means that there is an excess of yang energy in the body. Depending on the individual’s body, you may experience symptoms such as redness in the face, acne, constipation, bad breath, ulcers in the mouth, yellow urine, sore throat, and so on.”

 

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Yin and yang; the moon and the sun; fire and water — the duality of such forces stems from Taoist philosophy and is perhaps even more relevant in the now as most people live by extremes. Modern technology has made partaking in the acts of indulgences even easier and some quite literally, live like ancient Roman hedonists armed with smartphones — he cups runneth over.  

Tay however, believes that body heatiness occurs in two ways. The first is what we do externally. “External factors include being under extremely hot weather for a long time or eating oily and fried food. Internal factors include activities like sleeping late.” 

“The emotional result of excessive body heatiness can include afflictions like acne that can cause one to feel frustrated or anxious. Having constipation as well could further cause discomfort and other bodily problems. Emotional turmoil and even stress is also considered as an internal factor for heatiness.”

 

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“As there are many factors that can cause heatiness, usually we would have a consultation with the patient to find out the cause of this. From there, we would typically prescribe medication or even do cupping or scraping to help. We would also recommend drinking some chrysanthemum or barley drink, and even green bean soup to help reduce the heatiness. However, it is always advisable to consult a traditional Chinese medicine physician first.”

“With more people knowing about traditional Chinese medicine and its advantages, it will become more widely accepted. With that, I foresee a greater uptake of traditional Chinese medicine being used alongside western medicine in hospitals to aid recovery in patients, which has been gaining ground in Singapore in recent years.”

This story about the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine to combat body heatiness first appeared in our June/July 2021 issue. Thanks again to Sheryl Tay of PULSE TCM Clinic!