Treating Winter Illnesses in Summer and Dressing Warmly in Spring, Coldly in Autumn
Traditional Chinese medicine features an interesting health-preserving and disease-prevention method: treating winter illnesses in summer. That is, during summer—the peak of yang energy—treatment is conducted to boost internal yang and expel accumulated cold. This helps reduce or prevent the recurrence of cold-related conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis in the elderly, arthritis, and gastric disorders during winter.Traditional Chinese medicine also advises dressing warmly in spring and lightly in autumn. The author further explains, from a meteorological perspective, why, despite both being transitional seasons with fluctuating temperatures, spring requires warmth while autumn demands light clothing.The reason lies in the opposite temperature trends between spring and autumn: spring warms up, while autumn cools down. Due to China’s cold winters and hot summers, temperature changes in spring and autumn are extremely rapid. Indoor temperatures lag behind outdoor changes due to the thermal inertia of buildings, resulting in significant indoor-outdoor temperature differences. Thus, in spring, returning indoors from outdoors (especially from sunny warmth) without adding clothes (“spring-wrapping”) can quickly lead to catching colds, especially in the elderly or weak. Conversely, in autumn, since indoor spaces are warm, entering indoors without wearing much clothing (“autumn-chilling”) is beneficial.In fact, in ancient Chinese mansions, even during summer, considerable indoor-outdoor temperature differences could persist. Entering a cool indoor space from the heat can easily cause illness—known historically as “yin summer.” Symptoms such as headache, chills, stiffness, joint pain, and restlessness are quite distressing. Such conditions rarely occur elsewhere globally, as extreme indoor-outdoor temperature differences are unique to China’s climate. Thus, the traditional Chinese health culture, shaped by China’s special climate, greatly enriches traditional Chinese medicine, and China’s TCM theories and practices have made significant contributions to global medicine.