What is Pathogenic “Heat”? 了解“上火”

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are six factors from the environment that contribute to illness and cause imbalances in our body. They are:

We, as part of nature, constantly contact with these natural factors. Under normal condition, our body can adapt to the environmental changes, however, if the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature is broken, an imbalanced body will become unable to adapt itself to the changes, leading to the occurrence of disease. Under such condition, the six natural climatic factors become pathogenic factors. These factors can be either external (exogenous) or internal (endogenous) and both are interrelated. External factors are often the cause or triggers of internal factors.

Fire 火

Pertaining to Summer, Fire element, and Heart, Heat/fire can invade our body in all seasons. If we make a comparison between the fire and the heat, we can say that the heat is the manifestation of the fire and the fire is the nature of the heat. The following is a brief description of the nature and the characteristics of heat (fire) in causing disease:

Endogenous Fire

The causes of endogenous heat (fire) are various. Wind, cold, dampness, and dryness can all transform into heat; mental upset and extreme changes of emotions that often turn into fire; predomination of yang and deficiency of yin that usually produce the endogenous fire and heat; and excessive qi frequently leads to fire as well. Manifestations of internal heat can include inflammation, agitation, anger, canker sore, red cheeks, acne, profuse bleeding during menstruation, bitter taste in mouth, etc.  

To recover from fire invasion, we need cooling and calming foods and herbs.

Reference: https://tcmwiki.com