How does a change in Xie Chi level affect our body?

The increase and decrease in Xie Chi level will both result in illness symptoms. Although both symptoms are similar, the causes of the illness symptoms are different as the Xie Chi levels are going in opposite directions. We need to have separate treatment procedures for patients whose Xie Chi level is increasing versus the patients whose Xie Chi level is decreasing.

When a patient of weak Yang energy level develop illness symptoms (Discomfort feeling), there exists two possibilities. One is that the patient’s Xie Chi level is decreasing, the other is that the patient’s Xie Chi level is increasing.

When a person’s Xie Chi level decreases from level 1 healthy level to level 2 weak Yang level, the body will start show signs of the lack of Xie Chi in the form of illness symptoms. There are two ways to relief these symptoms. One is that the person improves his sleeping pattern and increases his Xie Chi level back to level 1 healthy level. The other way is to ignore these symptoms and continue living the unhealthy lifestyle and let the body’s Xie Chi keep decreasing. As the body’s Xie Chi drop from level 2 weak Yang level to level 3 weak Yin level, the body’s diagnostic system will only take care of problems that are life threatening. Minor illness will be ignored which means that the illness symptoms will disappear. Although the patient may feel that his body is healthy, but in fact the body has actually gotten worse.

Conversely, when a person’s Xie Chi level increases from level 3 weak Yin level to level 2 weak Yang level, the person may feel some illness symptoms that were none existent before. In this case, the patient may feel that his body’s condition has gotten worse, but in reality the condition has actually improved and Xie Chi level increased.

Many people have had the experience of getting ill during a vacation. During normal work days, the body’s Xie Chi level falls into level 3 weak Yin level. Once the person gets a chance for a vacation, the Xie Chi level rises back to level 2 weak Yang level and the person receives illness symptoms as a result. When the same person returns to work after the vacation, the Xie Chi level will drop back to level 3 and the illness symptoms will disappear. My suggestion for this type of patients is that they should try to find a time for a long vacation. It is important to give the body enough time for Xie Chi to replenish and for the body to repair itself.

Measuring Body Energy Level Using Xie Chi

As said in the previous post, Chinese medicine uses the idea of Xie Chi to indicate how much body energy a person processes. Xie Chi supplies the body with energy for it to function much like how the power supply in the computer allows the computer to run. Unfortunately, current technology does not have any instrument that can measure how much energy a person has. We cannot calculate the amount of Xie Chi that is present in a person’s body.

Doctors of Chinese medicine generally determine a patient’s body energy level through examination. By looking at the patient’s appearance, hair color and thickness, skin tone, color of the teeth and gum, tongue color, and etc, an experienced doctor can make an educated guess on the Xie Chi condition of the patient. But since this type of examination lacks consistency, diagnosis will vary amongst different doctors.

Although currently we do not have any instrument that can directly measure Xie Chi, but through data gathered from ancient Chinese medicine documents and through years of observation, we have developed a model that can help us categorize various body energy levels. We can use this model to help us understand the causes of various diseases and devise a healing procedure according to these causes.

Five levels of Body Energy

Chinese medicine categorizes body energy into 5 levels. Because of the lack of a number system in ancient times, Chinese medicine uses the system of Yin and Yang, weak and strong to represent the body energy status.

We can compare our body to a battle field with 2 opposing sides. On one side we have the body’s ability to resist illness and on the other side we have the illness’ ability to invade the body. The illness ability will stay unchanged, but the body’s ability to resist illness will change according to the body energy level.

Now I will explain the 5 level of body energy using the above system. Readers can try to match your own body condition to see which level represents your body.

Level 1 - Healthy Level

From Chinese medicine’s perspective, this type of person is balanced in all aspects of his body. The body does not have too much Yin or too much Yang, and that the body is neither weak nor strong. Having a balanced body is the goal of Chinese medicine. The people that are at this energy level have a fit figure, healthy facial complexion, mild temper, and a regular sleeping pattern. The body’s resistance to illness is much higher than the ability for illness to enter the body; hence the person does not get sick often. This type of people is quite rare. Perhaps only practitioners of Chi Kong and Tai-Chi can achieve this body energy level.

Level 2 - Weak Yang Level

The body’s Xie Chi level is lower than healthy level. There are many causes for the decreasing of Xie Chi, such as lack of sleep, late sleeping time, malnutrition and more. At this level the body’s resistance to illness is similar to the illness ability to invade the body. Because the 2 sides are balanced in power, many battles will occur in various parts of the body. The person will experience various symptoms of discomfort as his body combats illness. These symptoms can be frequent colds, fevers, and etc.

Level 3 - Weak Yin Level

The body’s Xie Chi level is even lower than weak yang level. Due to low Xie Chi, the body’s resistance to illness is lower than the illness’ ability to invade the body. The body cannot combat to remove illness but rather it only has the ability to defend itself. At this stage the body uses all of its limited Xie Chi to maintain the major body functions and ignores the minor illness unless the illness is life threatening.

Many people of the working class are in the weak yin level. Many of them feel that their body is in healthy condition as they are rarely ill. These people usually have irregular sleeping patterns and high pressure work schedules.

People that have this level of Xie Chi shares a common trait: They are abnormally energetic during late night. The irregular energy comes from the “Gan Huo” that their bodies stored previously. (For definition of Gan Huo, please see the previous post) Their bodies’ Xie Chi can no longer support their bodies’ daily activities hence they will use the backup energy to maintain their functions. In other words, the people at this energy level are not as healthy as they think, but rather their bodies lack the ability to get ill since their Xie Chi is too low.
The duration that a person can maintain his body in this energy level varies according to the person’s lifestyle. A person that had a well-rested life will have more energy stored than a person that had a busy life. Generally speaking, children that grown up in the countryside will have more energy stored than the children that grown up in the cities. This is because the children that live in the countryside usually sleeps earlier and have a more stable lifestyle compare to the children of the cities.

Level 4 – Weak Yin and Yang Level

If the person that is in the weak Yin level continues to deplete his energy, when he uses up all of the backup energy, his body will reach the weak Yin and Yang level. At this stage the person the body’s energy will be at the minimum safety threshold. The person will feel constant fatigue during the day as his Xie Chi decreases to the minimum. At this point the body will try to obtain energy from the muscle and other areas of the body.

Level 5 – Xie Chi Exhaustion Level

If the person’s Xie Chi level continues to decrease from the Yin and Yang level, the person’s Xie Chi will drop beneath the safety threshold and reach the Xie Chi Exhaustion level. At this stage the body will attempt to extract energy in anyway they could as the body approaches total collapse. The energy extracted in the form of Gan Huo will cause the patient to have insomnia and making it difficult for the patient to sleep and replenishes Xie Chi. As the patient’s Xie Chi drops even lower, his Gan Huo will increase and his sleep will decrease, this malignant cycle will continue until the body collapses.

The patients of this Xie Chi level will develop some serious diseases as their bodies lose their normal functions. The diseases can be various cancers, kidney failure, stroke, and etc. Since various organs suffer from the lack of Xie Chi, there is a good chance that several organs will develop diseases simultaneously. From Chinese medicine’s perspective, it is not the first diseased organ causing other organs to malfunction; it is rather that all the organs are at the brink of malfunction due to the lack of Xie Chi.

Sleeping during daytime and the definition of Xie and Chi

In Chinese medicine, body energy is defined as “Xie Chi”. Xie meaning blood, and Chi meaning energy. Chinese medicine has a specific definition for blood as blood is tangible, but the definition for “Chi” or energy is rather abstract since Chi is not visible. When a person wakes up in the morning, he is feeling refreshed and full of energy. As the day progresses, the person loses the energy, or chi, and he becomes tired as the day approaches night time.

Xie, or blood, is the most important element of the body. Xie is the carrier of Chi. The more Xie that the body has, the more capacity that the body has to carry Chi. Human body generates Xie through quality sleeping. Sleep can also generate Chi, however the amount of Chi that sleep generates varies according to the sleep quality and the amount of Xie that the person has. The higher the quality of sleep, the higher amount of Xie that is present in the body, and the higher of Chi that can be stored.

If a person had quality sleep the previous night, majority of the time that the person will feel refreshed or in Chinese medicine terms, full of Chi the next morning. As the day progresses, after 4-6 hours of work, the person will feel fatigued as his body’s Chi diminishes. After lunch time, if the person takes a short nap, he will feel energized in the afternoon. Short nap is a good way to replenish Chi.

I have a friend who suffers from severe anemia. He also suffers from insomnia and as a result, he goes through the day feeling fatigued and drowsy. Many people have the idea that if they sleep too much during the day, they will not be able to fall sleep during the night. Yet often times this idea will make it harder for these people to sleep during proper hours. A good number of these people cannot fall asleep until way past midnight.

In order to explain the above situation, let me explain the concept of body energy usage from the Chinese medicine point of view. The main energy source that the body uses is the Chi. The amount of Chi that the body has is defined as above. When the body is low on Chi, it will generate backup energy, called “Gan Huo”. When a person feels fatigue, it means that the person’s Chi is low. If the person chooses not to rest at this point, his body will generate Gan Huo to fill the energy void of the body. In the above example, the people that felt fatigue during the time chooses to stay wake instead of resting. Their body will generate Gan Huo throughout the day. By night time, when the proper sleeping time arrives, their body is still filled with Gan Huo from earlier, thus making it difficult for these people to fall asleep, causing insomnia. Perhaps many people have had the experience of feeling tired early evening, but as the night progresses, the tiredness will fade away.

The advice that I gave for my friend who suffers from anemia is that whenever his body feels fatigued, he should rest immediately. This eliminates the body from generating Gan Huo and it makes it easier for him to sleep at night. As a result, my friend took multiple naps during the day and his insomnia was cured as he fell asleep around 10pm and he slept until 6am the next day.

Sometimes it is not necessary to use medicine to heal an illness. Understanding your body and having a healthy sleeping pattern are the first steps toward a healthy life style.

Arrhythmia (Irregular heart beat)

In some cases, Arrhythmia, or irregular heart beat, is caused by too much pericardium liquid. The symptoms of arrhythmia usually occur in the morning. The majority of these symptoms will disappear after 10 or 11’o clock. For a patient to be diagnosed with too much pericardium liquid, the patient’s pericardium liquid level must be substantially higher than normal. Since the symptoms may appear and then disappear from time to time, sometimes the doctors cannot be sure that the patient indeed has a high pericardium liquid level.

Using the current testing system, irregular heartbeat will usually be found on a patient as it is a more obvious symptom. And after a period of closer examination, then the symptom of high pericardium liquid level can be discovered. Therefore in theory, we cannot prove that high pericardium liquid level is the cause of irregular heartbeat. Instead, since at the time that the patient is diagnosed with irregular heartbeat, that patient’s pericardium liquid level is tested normal, we can say that irregular heartbeat is the cause of high pericardium level.

Sometimes because of the lack of accuracy in our tests, we will reach a conclusion that is opposite from the actual cause and effect relationship.

In Chinese medicine, doctors use pulse examination as an important diagnostic tool. Through examining a patient’s pulse, it is easy to find out if the patient suffers from high pericardium liquid level as the patient’s pulse will be weaker than normal people. Often times the symptom of pericardium liquid can be discovered prior to the discovery of irregular heartbeat.

Sometimes human sensory organs are more accurate than machines. For example, we can easily memorize and recognize different people’s appearances. With the current computer technology, the max accuracy of human facial recognition for AI is only 90%.

Natural Eating

In our biosphere, with the exception of humans, there are no animal species that have a set meal schedule. The majority of people follows a daily “3-meal schedule” (Breakfast, lunch, dinner), and the quantity of each meal usually stays the same. Most animals follow their body needs to determine when to eat, and what to eat. Humans, on the other hand, use their knowledge instead of need to determine their daily food intake. Thus, we can say that the daily “3-meal schedule” was not a eating habit that developed to meet our body needs, but rather it was developed for the convenience of group living life styles.

A person’s eating habit will change according to his body’s change in its needs. For example, some people have a distinct liking to red meat, many of these people shares the problem of nutrient absorption. Although their meals are high in protein, their bodies cannot properly absorb the protein from their meals. As their body’s nutrient absorption ability declines, the need for protein intake increases, and the person becomes fonder of red meat. However, if the person’s nutrient absorption ability doesn’t improve, the amount of protein intake will be irrelevant as his body cannot absorb.

Sometimes when a person’s intestines are in the process of self-repair, the person will lose his appetite. Sometimes the person will crave for sugar; it is likely that his blood sugar level is low. A person preference of food will reflect his body’s need of nutrients.

Using the knowledge of modern medicine, there are many types of foods that are defined as foods that are bad for you. When a person is ill, often times the doctor will inform him to avoid certain foods, and those foods sometimes are the ones that the person likes. Can we be certain that these foods are bad for you? In my opinion, unless the doctor has the ability to understand and cure the illness, we cannot be certain that the foods that these doctors advise you to avoid are actually the foods that are bad for your health. There exists the possibility that the advises given by the doctors are false.

The advice that I give to my patients when they are choosing their diet is that they should ignore the idea of separating the “good food” and “bad food”. Eat the foods that they want to eat, and avoid the foods that their body dislikes. During the first part of the healing process it is essential for the patient to recover his natural ability of choosing food. It is only when the patient recovers this ability, then he can eat according to the need of his body.

As I always say, humans often time over estimates their wisdom and under estimate the wisdom of their body. We should learn to trust our body’s decisions and follow the signals that are given from our body.

Human Body must be more ideal than Computer

Modern day designed computer system contains self diagnostic and self repair functions. The body system that is designed by a higher power must contain more complex and superior functions.

For the computer system to function at its maximum capacity, the computer system requires a certain amount of energy level for it to function. By the same token, for the human body system to function properly, the human body will also have to meet the energy requirements given by the body system. When the energy level drops below a certain level, body system’s regeneration, diagnosis functions will diminish. When the energy level drops even farther, the body system’s self-repair function will weaken. Immunity system, waste remove system, and other systems will lose their function ability as the body system’s level drop below the desired level.

Due to the modern day technological advancements, the human life style has been changing accordingly. These changes have a more or less effect on the human body system.

For example, human beings have long lived a life style where “early to bed, early to rise” described the daily procedures of a person. With the changes in technology, many people’s sleeping patterns have changed far away from what is originally considered as the ideal sleeping pattern. Lack of sleep and later sleeping times have become common in the modern day society. A key part of our body maintenance occurs during our sleep. With the changes being made to our sleeping pattern, our body no longer has the access to the same maintenance schedule experienced by the original human beings. As a result, our body system’s energy level drops and our body system’s blood production rate decreases and eventually let to the deterioration of some of the functions of our body system. Diseases occur as the situation of our body worsen.

As modern technological products such as the computer become easier and easier for common people to use, as long as we have a user’s manual to these products we should be able to use the product with minimal troubles. Likewise, to use our body system, if we follow the original guidelines and specifications, we should be able to use our body without experiencing major illnesses. Even when an illness do occur, like the computer system’s self-repair and self-diagnostic function, our body’s own self-repair functions should be able to cure the majority of the illnesses.

We believe that our human body system must be more ideal than the computer system that we invented. Using the human body should be as simple as using the computer system. As long as we follow the user’s guide and specifications and without interfering with the system’s regular functions, we should be able to use our body system without troubles. This User's Guide for Human Body is made to help us understand how to use our body the correct and harmless way.

Inspiration of Computer Technology

What is the voltage of the human body

Computer technology should be of no stranger to the average person in the 21st century. From the system perspective, there are many similarities between the computer system and the human body system. Hence, I will use the computer as an example to explain the cause of body illness for human.

The power supply of the computer is the driving force for a computer to function. If one examines the specifications of the power supply, one will notice that there is a voltage fluctuation capacity for the power supply to function. Normally, each power supply will function when the voltage is within certain fluctuation range, for example, 35%. Say that a computer system is set to 110 volt power supply, when the voltage given is above 70V, the lower limit of the fluctuation range, theoretically speaking the computer system will still be able to function. When the voltage given drops below 70V, which is below the lower limit of the fluctuation range, the system may not function properly. Say that at this point the user’s disk drive stops functioning, without knowing that the system is under a low voltage situation, it is likely that the user diagnose his disk drive to be not functioning instead of his power supply. For an electronic technician, it is clear for him/her to see that the problem lies in the power supply instead of the disk drive.

Any qualified electronic technician knows that when fixing the hardware of a computer, the first step is to check the power supply voltage to see that if the power supply is working properly. Once the power supply is examined to be in working order, and then the technician will see if the disk drive has problems. Majority of the time, the disk drive has always been working. Once the supplied voltage is brought back to the normal fluctuation range, the system will be back to working order.

If similar situation occurs on the human body, the problem solving process will not be as simple. The disk drive of a computer can be compared to an organ of a human body system. For the purpose of this example, we will compare the disk drive to the liver. If we use the same logic that an electronic technician uses for fixing the computer system, there exists a major problem when we are trying to fix the human body system.

The problem is, what is the “voltage” of human body? If we can not determine the voltage of a system, there is no way that we can prove that there is something wrong with the power supply. Instead, the evidences can only show that the disk drive is not functioning. Hence, the diagnose is that the disk drive, or liver for the body system, needs repairing. Following the diagnosis, the patients try many types of liver treatments, some may even go as far as removing their liver, or receive liver transplant, yet the problem is still unresolved as the problem does not exist in the liver itself. There is a possibility that some livers that are removed from patients may still be functioning. (This may sound frightening, yet this is the fate of some unfortunate patients that wrongfully remove their organs.)

Since modern medicine does not have any particular index for measuring the power supply level of the human body system, from the perspective of an electronic technician, modern medicine when compared with modern electronics, modern medicine is still in the era before the discovery of voltage. Without the discovery of voltage, modern electronics will fail to exist, and obviously no advancements would be made.

A major principle of modern day science is that all theories must be backed by evidence. In the above example, since that we lack the ability to prove the lack of energy of the human body, we cannot use this particular medical theory to diagnose and heal the patient. In the above example, there is enough evidence that there exists abnormality in the patient’s liver. Under these circumstances, majority of doctors will diagnose the patient with a liver disease.

In the above example, doctors may focus their treatment on the patient’s liver. However from the perspective of an electronic technician, it seems as if the technician forgoes the process of checking power supply and goes directly for the disk drive. In the electronics field, this type of diagnosis may be deemed unprofessional, but in today’s field of modern medicine, this type of logic is viewed as the truth and followed by the general public.

Three Phenomenon of Modern Medicine

Phenomenon 1:
Since the discovery of the Sabin vaccine (Vaccine for Polio Disease) in the 1960s, there has not been another chronic disease cured for more than forty years.

Phenomenon 2:
With the exceptions of trauma and infectious disease, most chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, uremia, and lupus erythematosus can only be controlled by medication but not fully cured.

Phenomenon 3:
For years there are many announcements of significant advancements in search for cure of chronic diseases. However, many of those announcements only signify that one day in the near or distant future, humanity will find a cure for such chronic diseases. Never once in the past forty plus years has there been a clear cure for a chronic disease discovered and published by modern medicine. After all these years, not a single chronic disease has been cured.

From viewing the above 3 phenomenon, one can see that it seems our modern medicine has been in the state of stand-still in the field of chronic disease for several decades. The search for the cure may not be as simple as finding a certain medicine that will miraculously cure the disease. There exists the possibility that the direction of path that modern medicine is taking towards the cure of chronic disease is an erroneous one.