What is Pathogenic Heat and How Does It Affect Your Health?

In Western society, we are quick to dismiss models of health and disease that are different from the one promoted in the biomedical model of health. In this predominant model, we see health from a purely functional point of view, focusing the on the physical elements that make up our biological being.

This model, which most of us in the west are familiar with, disregards spirituality, energy, and emotion as an extension of our physical selves and vice versa, as many ancient and holistic philosophies of medicine hold close.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a state of health is a state of harmony, where our body finds a balance between two opposing, yet complementary forces, called yin and yang. Disease results from an imbalance between these two forces.

The human body is a small representation of the universe and is affected by inherent qualities of dampness, dryness, heat and cold, represented in the five elements (fire, water, wood, earth, metal). Again, health is a state where there is harmony between these forces. A state of too much of one of these qualities results in toxicity, and thus illness.

Pathogenic Heat is a condition that results from a yin deficiency or yang excess. In western medicine, this can be detected as fever, pain, inflammation, infection, tachycardia, anger, ‘stress’ and anxiety.

Certain foods, drinks, and emotions, and the interaction between all of them, among others, can result in a state of pathogenic heat. For example, excessive amounts of caffeine can create “pathogenic heat” in the liver, causing a rise in anger and anxiety.

TCM uses herb formulations to, once again, achieve harmony and counteract the heat that has become pathogenic. Some of these include: Bupleurum, jujube date, licorice root, gardenia fruit, and rhizoma coptidis.

At Balance Blends we have harnessed the health power of TCM to help you achieve internal harmony and prevent and rebalance a state of pathogenic heat through our formula,  Just Breathe – Stress Relief & Mood Enhancer. We invite you to visit the product page for more information!