How to Stay Healthy this Winter
Special care should be taken during the winter months to be proactive with your health!
Feeling Winter: A NEW Medicine Approach
By Elson Haas, MD
Winter is generally the coldest and the darkest of seasons. It is the time when living creatures go within, while nature’s crops are in storage. Nature and mankind are dominated by the yin principle. You must stay warm, and it is important in winter especially to have a cozy spot to relax, sleep, and dream. Winter is the time of quiet preparation while awaiting the greening rebirth of spring with the rising winds, singing birds, and blooming flowers.
The Winter season is related to the Water element and to the kidneys and bladder. These organs determine the water, mineral, and acid-base balances in the body by filtering the blood, making urine, and eliminating unneeded substances.
Seasons in the Chinese System
In the Chinese system, the kidneys control the life force energy. Our vitality and longevity are said to be stored in the kidneys, visible externally by the sparkle or vibrancy of our eyes. Weak kidney energy may be experienced as lethargy or low energy and vitality, while strong kidney energy may express the opposite, plus willpower and ambition, also ruled by the kidneys.
The Nei Ching says, “The kidneys are like the officials who do energetic work, and they excel in their ability and cleverness.” This ability and cleverness may be strengthened by nourishing the receptive (yin) principle, of which the kidneys are part, through deep relaxation and refection. From this process a blending of the inner with the outer can occur, which can give rise to knowledge, wisdom, and clear guidance.
The kidneys and Water element rule over the emotions. Both water and the emotions are unpredictable. When flowing, all is well; but when blocked or stagnant, great pressure can develop, or disease can set in.
The Role of Kidneys
Kidneys, water, and emotions are all ruled by the yin principle, the moon, the deep and dark. These aspects may stimulate fear from within, the emotion governed by the Water element, and fear or lack of faith may injure the kidneys or create an imbalance of Water in the body. With attunement to the “feminine” power, deep strength and wisdom develop. Fear, ear, and hear are all associated with the Water element; the ability to listen before acting is important to the well-being of this element and to the ease of our lives.
The winter diet should be warming and substantial, with more whole grains, less fruit, lots of steamed or baked vegetables, and more dairy and flesh foods if these are in your diet. Soups are wonderful during the colder weather. Ocean foods, like fresh fish and the seaweeds, are especially good now and support the element. Soybeans, one of the complete vegetable proteins, is good food with many uses, whether sprouted or cooked, like tempeh and tofu; or fermented and aged to make miso.
Winter is a good time to do indoor exercises that support energy building. Through the year, it is important to balance outward, energy-expanding activities like walking, jogging, tennis, and swimming, with quiet energy-accumulating, internally rejuvenating practices like yoga, tai chi, and breathing-relaxation. Keeping your spine and other joints flexible, and mobile is important to how you feel. These practices can keep you young and vital.
Your Health in Winter
Much of nature is hiding in her roots during the Winter, gathering the energy to be reborn in the Spring. This gathering of energy is important to us as well, and we may facilitate it by brewing herbal roots and drinking lots of good tea. Ginseng is a fine general tonic and rejuvenator, but burdock, comfrey, ginger, licorice, and sarsaparilla roots are also traditional energizers.
Vitally important to your health in Winter, as in all seasons, is a balancing of intake and output of your energy in the form of foods, feelings, and work. You need proper rest and sleep, relaxation and play, to balance the activity, stress, and work in your life. Creating and maintaining cleanliness within and without is also important to Staying Healthy.
The coming of each new season brings stress and change; illness can more easily overtake you then. But illness itself gives you the opportunity to reevaluate your life. However, if you do this voluntarily and tune in and change with the new season, you may prevent illness. Winter is an important time to feel what your inner changes are and weave them into your dance of existence.
“(In winter) people should retire early at night and rise late in the morning, and they should wait for the rising of the sun.” —Nei Ching (The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine, recognized as one of the oldest known medical books)
To help you sleep, which often is challenging no matter the season, I offer this five-minute relaxation audio to help you unwind during the busy holiday season, so you get enough sleep.
Stay Healthy! Happy Holidays and New Year!
If you would like a more in-depth look at how to align with the seasons, my first book, Staying Healthy with the Seasons, has detailed information. This material on Winter is from this book. I also invite you to my website, ElsonHaasMD.com for other articles and tips on seasonal living and eating.
Adapted from Staying Healthy with the Seasons (2003)
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About the Author
Elson Haas, MD is a long-time integrative family physician who is the founder and director of Preventive Medical Center of Marin, an integrative center in San Rafael, CA. Elson is also the author of a dozen books on health, nutrition, and detox, including Staying Healthy with the Seasons, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, The Detox Diet, Ultimate Immunity, and Staying Healthy with NEW Medicine: Integrating Natural, Eastern and Western Medicines for Optimal Health.
