Night sweating and Chinese Medicine

Western aspect

Sweating is condition in which the body takes out through the pores acid fluids that have some smell, it contains fatty acid and minerals. the sweating is actually the body’s way to cool itself. generally its normal condition when someone is in stress, sports, etc unless when the sweating places are changing, frequency and quantity.
western medicine divide it to 2 main pathologies:
Sweating a lot- there is some problem in the places where it takes place, meaning sweating a lot usually takes place on the palms, feet
other- more connected to menopause, mainly happens at night, after the period doesn’t come anymore, there is hormone imbalance.

Chinese medicine aspect

Sweating is divided into 2 main: sweating during day and sweating during night, usually sweating during day connected to the lung, when sweating during night connected to kidney. the common of both kinds are the heart, because the sweating is the liquid of the heart, actually the sweating at night happens (most of time) from yin deficiency in the kidney which creates empty heat. to make the matter more simple, in the human body there are 2 main parameters: water and fire.

In normal harmonic situation the water and fire- sometimes one will be little less while the other will be in little excess and vice versa but with women, for example: after they dont have period anymore, the body is hormone imbalance, in chinese medicine the water isnt enough so the fire becomes in excess but the root is the water.

I will talk little more on night sweating, lots of patients we see, we ask about sleeping and night sweating, most of people have on some level night sweating, sometimes it is accompanied by heat flashes. its a pathology, so in chinese medicine its one of the first thing that need to be improved in priority.

One day when I was with my teacher in the clinic, new patient came and while we were talking with him, we found out he got really serious night sweating, the seriousness of the sweating were measured by how many times he needs to get up at night change clothes. My teacher told us (I dont know if it was official research or not) that in past they did some research and they found out that when someone have night sweating, he loses lots of salt and minerals compare to day sweating.

If we  take a look now in my field (chinese medicine oncology) there are alot of patients talking about having night sweating, mainly on the first few days after getting chemo, so because these side effects are from heat toxic damaging the yin in serious level but mostly it will damage the qi and blood.