Surviving Winter: Um ... Good Common Sense? 

"Cold weather is just the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of having more stress and decreasing your immunity."
"Even if it's just walking for ten minutes [outdoors in winter], that's going to get the circulation going, but it's also for stress relief. When people are stressed, their immune system declines."
"Just be mindful of things."
Dr. Renee Miranda, physician, Center for Integrative Medicine, Ohio State University

"Cold is what we call an exterior pathogenic factor. It's an elemental force that can cause a change in the body."
"The terrain [of environmental conditions impacting illness] is tremendously important, and that's exactly how the Chinese thought about it."
"We say that cold invigorates the yang, which means it calls it to the surface. If you stay in the shower with cold water beating on you, at some point you're going to feel some warmth come to the area as your body compensates for that cold."
Brandon LaGreca, acupuncturist, Oriental medicine practitioner, East Troy, Wisconsin

"It makes sense that there's cross-talk between our immune system and emotions in ways that will protect us."
"If your wei qi [a protective layer of energy covering your body; comparable to modern science's identification of the immune system] is deficient, you feel like you want to curl up, stay at home, and not be around people."
"But if your wei qi is prolific, you want to have a party and invite people over."
Dr. Andrew Miles, Chinese medicine practitioner

Life becomes complicated during winter's cold months when we must adapt ourselves to the changing environment adding stress to our lives. We're concerned about keeping warm, and we suffer from a rise in respiratory infections; cold and viruses appear to go together. The increased incidence of colds that occur in fall and winter is related to the increase in time spent indoors where people are crowded in interiors, windows closed and stale air circulates giving those in that area increased exposure to pathogens, creating illnesses.

Researchers have of late noted that rhinoviruses recognized as the most common cause of colds tend to reproduce more efficiently in cooler temperatures. New evidence appears to support the old theory that cold does indeed play a pivotal role in increasing the likelihood of illness. Cold weakens our defences, according to Dr. Renee Miranda. In a world teeming with microbes having infectious potential, few lead to illness and we owe that fact to our efficient immune system warding off invasion of 'foreign' interlopers.

But when we're sleep deprived, dehydrated, overworked and begin eating junk food to excess as a manifestation of stress, the resources our body requires for immunity becomes depleted, according to Dr. Miranda. This, and then the season changing with the introduction of cold weather adds a new stress, rendering  our situation more amenable to infections gaining ground. Ancient healers considered lifestyle and environmental imbalance as causes of illness.

Cold is considered to be a force of nature that we must take pains to protect our bodies against lest we risk developing health problems, according to traditional Chinese medicine. Louis Pasteur promoted the idea of germ theory in 19th-century medicine, while a contemporary of his felt that infections were caused not by microbes but through environmental conditions allowing microbial invaders to flourish and while scientists gave support to Pasteur's theory as the pathogen being the root of illness becoming reliant on microbe-destroying medicines, new research is evolving greater scientific understanding of how the immune system is affected.

The altered view corresponding more closely with Claude Bernard's (Pasteur's medical science peer) theory that environmental conditions impact illness, aligns with the view held by ancient practitioners of Chinese medicine. Cold represents a formidable force for the promotion of stress and it is at times when we must cope with a cold environment that Chinese physicians discourage cold beverage intake noting that the body expends additional energy to warm these liquid intakes to our internal temperature.

According to ancient Chinese medical texts, instructions are given how to live in a healthful manner during the winter season when nature is cold, dark and still. It is at those times that people are encouraged to align themselves more closely with this yin energy; resting more, and consciously cultivating a gentler, more relaxed and introspective spirit as stress-minimizing reactions to the weather. Winter lifestyle recommendations have the purpose of preserving what Chinese medicine names wei qi; defensive energy.

According to Dr. Andrew Miles, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, if we fail to slow down our pattern of living throughout winter, our wei qi withers to the extent that our reaction must be to obey our instinct to slow down. Dr. Miles made reference to a 2016 study on a recent broadcast of Botanical Biohacking, that found when our immunity is compromised our social behaviour becomes increasingly introverted. A healthy wei qi has the effect of preventing cold's damaging influence from invading the body; conversely weak wei qi leaves us illness-susceptible.

Wearing comfortably appropriate winter gear is supportive of the function of wei qi, insulating your body from the effects of the cold in winter. Of particular attention is the need to ensure neck and abdomen are adequately protected; areas considered to be particularly vulnerable to environmental cold. Wei qi is amenable to replenishment with rest and hot, nourishing foods. On the other hand, some exposure to cold can also effectively support our ability to tolerate cold.

One should familiarize oneself with how much exposure to cold is personally tolerable. If one's wei qi feels robust (you feel energetic), it is a signal that time can be spent outdoors in regulated exposure to the cold, adequately dressed for the occasion. Winter may be a time for rest but there is no excuse, when we're feeling well, to entirely avoid the out-of-doors. Dress for the weather and embark on an outdoor excursion in the cold and the snow, an exhilarating little expedition that can become a daily recreational exercise.

Winter is also a time to diligently wash your hands regularly, to slough off germs that may be picked up unknowingly, particularly when out and about in places where people tend to congregate. While hand-washing plays no part in boosting the immune system, it does aid in minimizing exposure to viruses and bacteria that can cause illness that we are unaware of being exposed to. Finally, Chinese medicine encourages balance in all of life's routines. It is what the Greeks called the Golden Mean, and it is analogous to moderation in all things.