Life Cycles:

Harmony Talks with Dr. Yongli Ni

Harmony:  How can traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) help women improve and maintain their health?

Dr. Yongli Ni:  It's interesting, about two-thirds of the patients in the West who seek alternative medicine or Chinese medicine doctors are women.  They are looking for a way to build and manage their health.  Why are so many Western women seeking help? 

In the TCM view, most symptoms and complaints people have result from an imbalance of Yin and Yang in the body.  How are these opposite yet complementary forces brought into balance and how can you regulate them?  The answers are found in the ancient Chinese medical text, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine [Huang Di Nei Jing, dating from around 250 B.C.E.].  This classic book, in the very first chapter, talks about the human body and human life on Earth.  It tells us that women's and men's energy, or Qi, moves in specific cycles.  It says there is a relationship between human beings and their environment, and the root of all life—everything in the Universe—is Yin and Yang.  Without this very fundamental knowledge, you can't balance and regulate Yin and Yang in the body; you wouldn't know how to apply these essential principles to create and maintain good health.

Can you talk more about a woman's life cycles according to TCM?

Women are Yin, and their life pattern is seven; this means their life moves in cycles of seven.  At the end of her first seven years, the Qi of a healthy girl is abundant.  She has a full head of hair and her permanent teeth have grown in.  At the age of fourteen, a girl's energy reaches its peak, and this time marks the onset of puberty and the start of menstruation.  Through the next three cycles, a woman is fertile, and then around the end of the fifth cycle—around the age of thirty-five—her energy naturally begins to decline.  A man's energy naturally declines too, but his life will move in a pattern of eight-year cycles.  Sometime between a woman's sixth and seventh cycles (between forty-two and forty-nine), menopause occurs.  The Yellow Emperor's Classic states that at this point in her life, a woman's energy begins to drop and she can then experience menopausal and aging symptoms.  A lot of women start looking for a way to improve their health when they reach this point in their life—many are turning to TCM.

You've mentioned that in your experience women generally tend to have more symptoms than men.  Why do you think this is so?

According to TCM theory and understanding, women always "clean up" for the whole family.  A lot of women's illness is not from their own body—some is from the children, some is from the husband.  That is why women's health is more complicated.

Are you saying that women process the energy of their whole family in some way?

That's right.  They not only process their own emotional and physical issues, they also process those of their entire family.  Most TCM practitioners know this; most people don't realize this.  For example, some women's breast cancer is related to the "bad energy" or "toxicity" of their husband.  This also can be the case with uterine fibroids.  It's interesting, about twenty years ago they did research on men regarding allergies.  In the process of this study they found that men who are unmarried are not as healthy as men who are married.  And about three years ago, research at Harvard showed that single women are healthier than those who are married and live in a family setting.  Married women should recognize that harmony in their life with their husband is essential.  Their health depends on it.  And then there are the children—how can you create a situation where all family members live together in harmony?

As a TCM doctor, what suggestions do you have for women—and men—to take good care of themselves?

At its very core TCM talks about human life, why there is sickness and how to deal with different sicknesses.  Everyone is vulnerable to a different kind of stress and tolerates stress differently.  For instance, some people feel better early in the day and others feel better in the evening; some experience more energy in summer, while others prefer winter.  You have to listen to your body . . . really listen to your body, do the right thing by it.  Make sure you get good sleep—sleep is really a good healer, eat well, get some physical exercise—anything you feel comfortable with—Qigong and Taiji are very good, also do exercise for your mind—meditation.  You have to remember that every day your body is different, every day your mood is different, so how can you do the same thing every day?  How can you take the same supplement every day forever just because it is "good"?  You have to learn what kind of body you have; learn about your body from the TCM perspective.  If you have a health problem, look for a place where you feel comfortable to get good treatment.  Find a doctor that you can trust.  My job as a TCM doctor is to help my patients understand why they got sick in the first place and then teach them how to heal themselves.  You know, I always tell my patients, "You have to trust your Western medicine doctor fifty percent, trust me fifty percent, and trust your own body one hundred percent!"  No one knows your body more than you. 

Yongli Ni, M.D., M.P.H., L.Ac., is of the founder and president of the International Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Center as well as the International Traditional Chinese Medicine Exchange Association, Washington, D.C.  A graduate of Beijing Capital Medical University, she earned a master's degree in public health from the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.  Dr. Ni's practice includes Western and traditional Chinese Medicine.  She trained in medical research methodology and management in China, and her research work involves developing a theory of comparative analysis of Eastern and Western medical systems.

At the 2006 Building Bridges of Integration for TCM conference, Dr. Ni will present "Women's Health in the 21^st Century:  Ancient Wisdom for Overcoming Serious Conditions."  This provocative discussion will detail TCM's comprehensive approach to women's health and shed light on the emotional imbalances that frequently underpin serious health conditions.  Visit www.tcmconference.org for information and to register.