The Late Summer Season in Chinese Medicine: What It Tells Us About Our Digestive Health and IBS
Late Summer + the Last Dog Days of Summer
Somewhere in between summer and autumn is late-summer. a seasonal period recognized in Chinese/Asian cultural practices and medicine. It feels like the two seasons merging as one for a brief moment here on earth.
You may sense the quiet, transformative process as a pause right before everything in the plant world that grew during the summer dies, and now ceases to grow any more. This is a period of transition where yang reverts back to yin. Summer to winter. Outward movement to inward reflection.
It’s sort of like a rewind button or a temporary lull to propel us again into the depths of yin. The days are getting shorter and the nights colder. The "dog days of summer" refer to the hottest and most oppressive period of the summer, typically occurring between early July and early September in the Northern Hemisphere. The phrase originates from ancient times and is associated with the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star, in the sky during this period.
Earth Element’s Role in Late Summer Balance
The earth element is the five phase association with late summer. During this late summer period the earth puts on its show with its continual bearing of fruits during the fire element. However, at this point the harvest is grand, but everything is getting ready to wither, descend, and decompose into autumn.
The attributes of the earth element consist of aspects from each element because all of the elements derive from earth. The earth is commonly placed in the middle of the five element diagram and is typically associated as a transitory element that assists each elemental transformation and transition. The wholism of earth provides and supports each seasonal transition because of its stable and grounding qualities. Some of these transitions are subtle but late summer, to me, is the most noticeable and dramatic. Earth encompasses that transitory process bringing the yang energy down and into the yin energy to nourish and recover. It’s a natural process that is intuitively sensed and felt.
Stomach and Spleen Health in Late Summer
The stomach and spleen (pancreas) pertain to the earth element. They inherit very similar qualities and energies of the earth. Everything we eat essentially comes from the earth, and the digestive system is the first thing to touch anything we consume from outside ourselves. It breaks it down for further assimilation and the spleen (some say mistranslated from pancreas but stuck nonetheless) helps to transport and transform those nutrients we receive from food and drink. They act as the transition from external to internal. From outside us to becoming us. This is why there is a great deal of emphasis on maintaining and supporting digestive health. Because it is fundamental to our health and the core of our existence. We don't just digest food, we also digest events, interactions, relationships, emotions, etc. Some of this is related to the gut-brain and how that translates to the processing of our nervous system as well. Earth and these organs are supportive, nourishing, giving, and containing.
Chinese characters are pictographs that have symbolic meaning. 胃 Wèi the character for stomach can be broken down into 田 Tián meaning a field and⺼the radical for 肉 (ròu) meaning flesh. This character shows the intimate and deep relationship between earth and the stomach.
Relieve Digestive Issues with Acupuncture
Do you experience abdominal bloating, distention, pain, indigestion, diarrhea or constipation, anxiety or depression?
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can significantly help you in alleviating these symptoms.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by a group of symptoms that occur together, including abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits. These changes can manifest as diarrhea (IBS-D), constipation (IBS-C), or a combination of both (IBS-M or mixed).
The exact cause of IBS is not well understood, but it is thought to involve a combination of factors, including gut-brain interaction, gut motility, visceral hypersensitivity, inflammation, and alterations in the gut microbiota.
Acupuncture for IBS: Research-Backed Benefits
In 2014 the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences conducted a randomized double blind control trial to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of IBS. The study consisted of 60 IBS patients separated into three groups. They were each given different therapies. The drug only group was given Colofac (an antispasmodic medication), the acupuncture group was given only acupuncture, and there was a sham acupuncture group. After two weeks of being observed the results for acupuncture were the highest for reducing symptoms of IBS, anxiety and depression associated with IBS.
Rafiei R, Ataie M, Ramezani MA, Etemadi A, Ataei B, Nikyar H, Abdoli S. A new acupuncture method for management of irritable bowel syndrome: A randomized double blind clinical trial. J Res Med Sci. 2014 Oct;19(10):913-7. PMID: 25538771; PMCID: PMC4274564.
In 2020 Mayo Clinic Proceedings (a highly reputable peer reviewed medical journal published by Mayo Clinic) published an article called Effect of Acupuncture in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial. 519 participants were included in the full analysis set. One group was given 18 acupuncture sessions over the span of 6 weeks and the other group was given a pharmaceutical called PEG 4000 (20 g/d, for IBS-C)/pinaverium bromide (150 mg/d, for IBS-D) over the same length of time. “This multicenter trial found that acupuncture was more effective than PEG 4000/pinaverium bromide in alleviating IBS symptoms and improving QOL over a 6-week treatment period and 12-week follow-up period.”
Pei, Lixia, et al. “Effect of acupuncture in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A randomized controlled trial.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, vol. 95, no. 8, Aug. 2020, pp. 1671–1683, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.01.042.
