While sweating is synonymous with vigorous physical activity, sweating in TCM is also linked to illness, that is, as a method of therapy. Overlooked for more concrete assertions related to regulating blood circulation or immune system, sweating can be used by the individual, whether through herbs or through regular workouts to release pathogen, stimulate endorphin production and maintain mindfulness and well being.
The Rumen Shiqin (ca. 1228 A.D.) states:
An illness is something that the human body originally does not have. An illness may enter the body from outside of it, or it may emerge from inside of it....The six influences sent out by heaven are wind, heat, fire, dampness, dryness, and cold. The six influences sent out by earth are fog, dew, rain, hail, ice, and mud...illness resulting from evil influences sent out by heaven affect mostly the upper sections of the body; illnesses resulting from evil influences sent out by the earth affect mostly the lower sections of the body, and illness resulting from evil influences invited by man through his living habits mostly affect the central section of the body. These then are the three possibilities as to how an illness may emerge. Since they may be localized in the three sections they can be driven out by the three methods. All evil influences resulting from an impact of wind or cold assemble in the skin; they are stored inside the main conduits [jing] and network conduits [luo], they remain where they are and do not leave the body by themselves. In some cases they cause pain that moves through the body, or numbness and loss of sensitivity, and also swellings, itching, and cramps in one's four limbs. In all of these cases, the evil influences responsible can be eliminated through therapies causing perspiration....
The Advanced Textbook on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology summarizes as follows. "The proper dosage of drugs for relieving exterior syndrome causes slight perspiration; overdose can cause excessive perspiration, damage yang qi and consume body fluid. In summer or hot days when people perspire easily, the dosage should be decreased. For patients with spontaneous sweating, night sweating, or blood loss, these drugs should be applied with great care even though the patients suffer from exterior syndrome due to an attack of exogenous pathogenic factors. Most drugs for relieving exterior syndrome are aromatics and contain voltatile oils, and so should not be decocted for a long time, otherwise, their therapeutic effects will be reduced....It is contraindicated in cases of severe vomiting, sever diarrhea, stranguria (inhibited urination), skin infections and hemorrhaging; it should be discontinued as soon as the pathogenic factors are dispelled, since excessive sweating may consume yin and yang; the diaphoretic method differs in different seasons, geographic areas and the conditions of the individual patients."
Perhaps the personalization of herbs to place, case and time are exactly why this purging method has been on the wane. It takes individual resolve to include sweating as the mode of general health maintenance or when needed as valuable treatment method.
