The Six Pathogenic Factors (六淫)
Traditional Chinese Medicine classifies external diseases into six types of climatic energy. When these energies are in moderation, they are natural. But when they become excessive, or when the body is weakened, they become disease-causing.
The Six Factors
🌬️ Wind (风) — Spring
- Nature: Yang, mobile, rapidly changing
- Symptoms: Moving symptoms (migrating pain), shivering, headache, sensitivity to wind
- Location: Skin, head, neck, back
- Examples: Common cold, sinusitis, sudden neck pain
❄️ Cold (寒) — Winter
- Nature: Yin, contractile, slow
- Symptoms: Severe fixed pain, coldness, pallor, absence of sweating, pale urine
- Location: Joints, abdomen, back
- Treatment: Warming, ginger, cinnamon, moxa
🔥 Heat (暑) — Summer
- Nature: Yang, rising, consumes qi/yin
- Symptoms: Fever, thirst, profuse sweating, fatigue, dizziness
- Location: Head, heart
- Treatment: Cooling, watermelon, cucumber, mint
💧 Dampness (湿) — Late Summer
- Nature: Yin, heavy, sticky, slow
- Symptoms: Heaviness, bloating, phlegm, edema, fatigue, sticky stool
- Location: Lower limbs, abdomen, skin
- Treatment: Drying, adzuki beans, rice tea, movement
🏜️ Dryness (燥) — Autumn
- Nature: Yang, dries fluids
- Symptoms: Dry throat, dry cough, dry skin, constipation
- Location: Lung, skin, intestines
- Treatment: Moistening, pear, honey, sesame
🔥 Fire/Internal Heat (火) — Any Time
- Nature: Strongly Yang, rising, consuming
- Symptoms: High fever, facial redness, bleeding, delirium
- Location: Heart, liver, stomach
- Treatment: Strong cooling, bitter herbs
Practical Prevention
By Season
| Season | Dominant Factor | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | Wind | Cover the neck, avoid direct wind |
| Summer | Heat | Drink fluids, avoid midday sun |
| Late Summer | Dampness | Reduce fatty foods, move |
| Autumn | Dryness | Humidify the air, drink honey and water |
| Winter | Cold | Warm the kidneys and abdomen, avoid cold |
General Rules
- 1Do not go into the wind while sweating — after exercise, dry off your sweat before going out
- 2Do not drink very cold water — it shocks the spleen and stomach
- 3Do not sleep on damp ground — dampness enters from below
- 4Protect your neck in spring — wind enters from the Fengfu point (GB20)
- 5Warm your abdomen in winter — cold enters from the navel
🛡️ Tip: Ginger tea with honey in the morning in winter expels cold and strengthens immunity. But do not drink it in summer — ginger is hot!
