Sweating

1. The expulsion of fluid through the skin. Sweating occurs in health as response to hot weather, heated environments, or strenuous physical activity. The Magic Pivot (灵枢 líng shū, wǔ lóng jīn yè bié) states, With hot summer weather and thick clothing, the interstices open; hence sweat passes out. From this, it can be assumed that the ancient Chinese understood that sweating has the function of dispersing body heat. It was posited in The Inner Classic (内经 nèi jīng) that the heart governs sweat. Heart blood is derived from fluids, and sweating drains the fluids; great sweating not only leads to excessive action to disperse heatbut can also damage qì and the fluids, thereby damaging heart blood. Although sweat is said to be governed by the heart, the spleen is also closely associated with sweating since earth is the mother of the myriad things, including sweat. Sweating occurs in sickness as a result of exterior evils, internal heat, or vacuous qì failing to contain fluids. In exterior patterns attributed to externally contracted evils, sweating or its absence is important in diagnosis. Wind-heat, for example, may cause sweating whereas wind-cold does not. In both cases, sweating is considered necessary for the expulsion of the evil from the body. In internal damage miscellaneous diseases, a major distinction is seen between spontaneous sweating and night sweating. Spontaneous sweating, which is a tendency to sweat in the daytime for no obvious cause, is attributed to yáng qì vacuity, whereas night sweating, which is sweating at night that ceases on waking, is principally associated with yīn vacuity. The precise nature of the sweating can provide more diagnostic detail. See entries listed below:

Sweating

Generalized

• Spontaneous sweating
• Night sweating
• Absence of sweating
• Profuse sweating
• Great sweating
• Desertion sweating
• Leaking sweat
• Expiration sweating
• Shiver sweating
• Yáng sweating
• Cold sweating
• Oily sweat
• Yellow sweat

Localized

• Genital sweating
• Heart sweating
• Hemilateral sweating
• Sweating hands and feet
• Sweating armpits
• Sweating head
• Sweating brow

See also corporeal soul sweating. For methods to control sweating, see constraining sweat; constraining sweat and securing the exterior.

2. Also promoting sweating; effusing sweat. One of the eight methods. Inducing perspiration as a method of resolving the exterior. It involves the use of acrid dispersing medicinals that promote outthrust and effusion to open and discharge the interstices and expel the evil from the body. Sweating is used to eliminate an evil from the skin and body hair before it enters the interior. This is the meaning of the line in Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn, yīn yáng yìng xiàng dà lùn) that states, when it [an evil] is in the skin, it is made to effuse. Sweating is mainly used in exterior patterns such as the onset of external diseases and wind-damp and water swelling diseases, as well as in measles immediately preceding papular outthrust. Warm acrid exterior resolution treats cold patterns; cool acrid exterior resolution treats heat patterns.