Spring + Hay Fever
Since I can remember, I have simultaneously been excited for and dreaded Spring. Hay fever season, if you’re a seasoned hay feverer, can be a bit stressful - you never know when you’ll need a tissue to sneeze a thousand times into 🫠
Chinese Medicine has some things to say about hay fever (of course!).
Firstly, hay fever is typically considered a “Wind Heat Invasion”. We saw this last week - the temps were a little higher and it was quite windy. What happens next is all those beautiful flowers (which I cannot stop taking photos of on my walks) open up in the heat, and the wind moves around all that pollen, and voila! Sneezing, itchy eyes, mouth, throat, skin!
Hay fever is also a lot about our Defensive Qi (Wei Qi). This is the Qi that looks after the exterior of the body and prevents any pathogens from getting in and pushing them back out if they do get in (think loosely of it as the immune system).
To do its job well, Wei Qi needs enough Yang (think our warmth and primary energy reserves), fluids (hello hydration!), good Qi flow (so things don’t get stuck) and dispersing power (this gives the push needed to expel a pathogen).
Hay fever symptoms are really just the Wei Qi pushing back out to the exterior, to stop progression to deeper parts of the body. A sneeze is a great example of this - force and fluids, all at once.
However, if hay fever symptoms get really hectic, sometimes it can be because Wei Qi is weak, or any of the above mechanisms are hindered for some reason.
One of my lecturers at Uni pointed out that often in Melbourne, because in general we are a stressed out group of humans, it is the stress induced stagnation of Qi that prevents the Wei Qi from doing its best work. This is where the Liver comes in, because its job is to keep all the Qi in the body moving smoothly, but it has a really hard time dong this when we are stressed.
Therefore, hay fever becomes a really hectic experience because Wind Heat can more easily “invade” the body and then the body has to work way harder to push it back out.
To support yourself if any of the above sounds like you, make sure you are:
Resting as you need and keeping warm while the weather is still cold/cool
Keep your hydration up (water of course, but also warm and wet foods like soup, porridge, stews, and go easy on the Hot Seven - onion, garlic, sugar, coffee, alcohol, chocolate, spicy foods - as these dry us out more).
Regularly moving and engaging in your favourite stress-reducing activities (you’re thinking acupuncture, right?)
Wearing a scarf when you go outside, especially if it’s super windy.
Fortunately, and as I said above, herbs and acupuncture can be really helpful to support hay fever, mainly by helping to clear the pathogen, but also by giving your Wei Qi a big boost so it’s stronger for next time 💪🏼
Don’t let hay fever make you dread Spring - there are way too many beautiful flowers to appreciate!
Book in an appointment instead 💚