As we move into cold and flu season, I thought it would be helpful to explore the Chinese medicine perspective on 'catching a cold.' In Chinese medicine, the common cold is more than a collection of symptoms. Traditionally, it is understood through the concept of wind-cold—an external influence associated with movement, change, and the body's response to its environment.
While modern medicine understands the common cold as a viral infection that can spread between people, Chinese medicine offers another lens through which to understand why we may become ill at certain times. We encounter countless microorganisms in our daily lives, yet we don't become sick every time we're exposed.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, our internal environment - our overall state of balance, vitality, and resilience - plays an important role in how we respond to external influences. This perspective can also invite us to reflect on what is happening in our lives when illness arises.
Wind and Cold: More Than the Weather In Chinese medicine, the two influences associated with a typical wind-cold pattern are, quite literally, wind and cold. Wind represents movement and the way an illness may begin or develop, while cold is associated with contraction, slowing, and stasis. Physically, this may be reflected in chills, body aches, headaches, neck stiffness, and congestion.
But both have a deeper meaning.
Wind is a metaphor for change. It reflects the movement and transitions happening around us and within us. It's no coincidence, from this perspective, that we often see more illness during seasonal transitions, the return to school, or periods when our daily routines and social environments change. For children, change is happening constantly through growth and development. During the colder months, they are navigating not only shifts in weather but also tremendous biological, social, mental, and emotional changes.
Cold represents stagnation—the places where things become stuck. This might invite us to consider where we're holding on to old habits, thought patterns, or ways of being that no longer serve us. A cold can become an unexpected opportunity to slow down, pay attention, and reflect on what may need to shift in our lives.
Listening to the Body Our bodies often give us cues when we're becoming ill. Fatigue may be a signal to slow down and rest; chills and congestion may remind us to seek warmth and comfort. Rather than pushing through our usual routines, we can use this time to pause and ask ourselves:
What has changed recently? What is changing now? What might need to change?
Periods of illness can offer an opportunity to listen more closely to ourselves and our children.
Supporting the Body Through a Wind-Cold From a Chinese medicine perspective, our approach to a wind-cold is to warm the cold and expel the wind. When a wind-cold first takes hold, the body may generate a fever as a response to the invading cold, increasing metabolic activity and helping to mobilize the body's defenses. Sweating is one of the pathways through which the body can release wind-cold, and a gentle sweat has traditionally been encouraged as part of this process.
We can support this response by bundling up comfortably during the day and at night, eating warm, nourishing foods, and incorporating warming spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Avoiding cold foods directly from the refrigerator and freezer is important, as well as foods that are cooling in nature such as raw fruit. A great way to have fruit during a wind-cold is to warm it up, like making steamed apples or pears with cinnamon. We can also use members of the allium family, including garlic, scallions, and onions, which are traditionally used to open the pores and encourage sweating to release wind-cold.
Chinese herbal medicine offers wonderful options for this purpose, and I particularly like using herbal tinctures for their ease of use. There are also many essential oils that can help open the sinuses, ease congestion, and loosen phlegm so it can be expelled rather than lingering in the respiratory tract. And of course acupuncture is always a helpful tool to move through illness when your body feels ready.
Many of these approaches can also help manage symptoms and provide comfort, supporting the body's response rather than immediately reaching for fever-suppressing or other symptom-suppressing medications. Pictured above, my son Van is showing off the fresh ginger, scallions, and herbs we turn to when he's feeling under the weather, complete with his bandana to keep his neck warm (and look super cute) 😉
In this way, we can support the process on both a physical and a personal level—using the tools of Chinese medicine to address the wind-cold while making space for the reflection and renewal that a period of illness can invite.