Our Five Vital Organ Systems 

 

 

Our 5 vital organ systems: liver and gall bladder, heart and small intestine, spleen and stomach, lung and large intestine, and kidney and bladder; all have distinct characteristics similar to the five elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water. External factors such as seasons and climate and internal factors such as emotion and taste of food all have direct impacts on the 5 organ systems.  

 

The following table highlights their characteristics:

 

	WOOD	FIRE	EARTH	METAL	WATER
YIN ORGAN	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
YANG ORGAN	Gall Bladder	Small Intestine	Stomach	Large Intestine	Bladder
SEASON	Spring	Summer	Late Summer	Autumn	Winter
CLIMATE	Wind	Heat	Dampness	Dryness	Cold
ORIFICE	Eye	Tongue	Mouth	Nose	Ear
TISSUE	Tendon	Blood vessels	Muscle	Skin	Bone
TASTE	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Pungent	Salty
EMOTION	Anger	Joy	Worry	Grief	Fear

 

The extreme climate of each season can adversely affect our corresponding organ system. However, during this time of vulnerability, it is also the time for us to treat and strengthen that particular organ by feeding it with the right nutrition. 

Orifices are facial openings or windows to look into our internal organs. By observing the orifices and the tissues (related body parts), Chinese doctors can tell the conditions of the corresponding internal organ systems. For example, our eyes can predict diseases: disappearing eyebrows -  thyroid disease; a small blind spot in your vision - migraine; whites of the eye turned yellowish -  jaundice; eyes that seem to bulge - hyperthyroidism; sudden double vision - stroke; blurred vision - diabetic. 

The five tastes have benefiting effects on the five organs. For example, sweet benefits the spleen therefore promotes digestion. That is why dessert is good after meals. But too much of the good thing can be bad. If the diet has too much sweetness, it dampens the spleen system and makes it very sluggish and not able to function properly, therefore causing diabetes. Likewise, too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney stones. Therefore, meals with good balance of the five tastes are most beneficial to health.   

Emotions can have damaging effects on our systems. Too much sadness damages our lungs. Over joyfulness causes heart attacks. Extreme anger hurts our livers. Too much worrying causes indigestion. Extreme frightfulness damages our kidneys and bladder.

Understanding the impacts of internal and external factors on our five vital organ systems is most useful in managing our health.