Lungs (Chinese Medicine): Difference between revisions

 

The [[Lungs]] (Chinese: 肺; pinyin: fèi) is one of the zang organs described in traditional Chinese medicine. It is a functionally-defined entity and not equivalent to the anatomical organ of the same name.

The Lung is a zang organ meaning it is a yin organ. Situated in the thorax, it communicates with the throat and opens into the nose. It occupies the uppermost position among the zang-fu organs, and is known as the "canopy" of the zang-fu organs. Due to the lung's position in the body, toward the back of the chest and in the upper half of the abdomen, it has yin within yang qualities and is more yang than other zang organs besides the heart. Each zang organ is paired with a fu organ, the lung's paired organ is the large intestine. Its meridians connects with the large intestine, with which makes it internally related. The lung and large intestine are connected by two meridians, Yangming large intestine meridian of hand and the Taiyin lung meridian of hand. The Lung and its paired organ are associated with the element of metal and the emotion of grief. Each of the Five Elements have a color associated with them. Due to its association with metal, the lungs are associated with the color white. The peak time for the Lungs according to the Chinese Horary body clock is from 3–5 am. Illnesses that are rooted in the lung are most commonly due to weakness of wei qi or water regulation. Common symptoms indicating lung disease are coughing, weak voice, asthma, and fish smelling mucus or saliva.