An unhealthy lifestyle makes it easy for pathogenic dampness to invade the body. It seeps in through every opening and is never alone; it always colludes with external pathogenic factors, creating a tangled mess. Three habits can cause internal dampness to become increasingly severe.
Dampness combined with cold becomes cold-dampness, with heat becomes damp-heat, and with wind becomes wind-dampness. How can we tell if our bodies have dampness? By looking for these five signals of distress:
1. A constant feeling of heaviness in the body, a lack of freshness, and legs that feel like they're filled with lead;
2. An oily complexion with enlarged pores;
3. A thick tongue coating;
4. Sticky stools that are hard to flush clean;
5. An obese body with a prominent belly
All these signals are related to the characteristics of pathogenic dampness. Dampness is characterized by heaviness and turbidity, so when it invades the body, one feels extremely heavy all over, as if bound by something, and lacks freshness. Furthermore, because dampness has a tendency to move downwards, it easily invades the lower parts of the body, making the heaviness in the legs particularly pronounced. Due to its sticky nature, when it stagnates in the large intestine, stools become consistently sticky.
Pathogenic dampness has become the root or an accomplice in most intractable diseases and chronic conditions like cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes. The reason people are susceptible to pathogenic dampness is closely related to their lifestyle—our daily habits have damaged our constitutional health:
First is "illness entering through the mouth." An unbalanced diet, excessive intake of high-calorie foods such as fast food, fried foods, sugary drinks, and excessive alcohol consumption, combined with an unbalanced distribution of meals, especially an overly丰盛 (丰盛) dinner, are key factors.
Second is a significant lack of physical activity. Spending most of the day sitting—at a desk for work and driving for commutes—has become the norm. Many people often say, "I'm busy all day, how can I find time to exercise?" What they don't realize is that those who can't make time for exercise will eventually have to make time for seeing a doctor.
Third is the growing disconnect between people and nature. The use of air conditioning in summer is particularly detrimental to our health. Sweating in summer is an important way to expel dampness. However, once you enter an air-conditioned room, the sweating is suppressed. The sweat that should be released doesn't come out, and the energy that should be expended isn't used up. Consequently, the body becomes filled with waste and pathogenic dampness. Additionally, some young people find it romantic to stroll in the rain, but this can also inadvertently allow dampness to invade the body.
How can we keep our bodies free from pathogenic dampness? In recent years, as living standards have improved, many misconceptions have arisen about diet, with the belief that eating large amounts of meat and fish daily is a sign of prosperity. This is, however, unsuitable for the Chinese constitution. Therefore, to prevent dampness, one's diet should be primarily grain-based, with a mix of coarse and fine grains, and should include more vegetables, fruits, and tubers. Regularly drinking coix seed and red bean porridge can help strengthen the spleen and promote urination to drain dampness. Secondly, the lazier the body, the more it needs to move to help expel dampness. Thirdly, avoid staying in air-conditioned rooms for long periods in the summer; it's important to sweat moderately to give dampness an exit path. Finally, avoid getting caught in the rain or wading through water to prevent pathogenic dampness from taking advantage of any weakness.