RyanS2

P.S. Chi means a form of energy, generally translated as "life energy" by direct connection to what it is supposed to mean, but the rough translation is "breath".

The Japanese word for it is "Ki", which doesn't translate easily into english. It's is used in many common Japanese idiomatic phrases where it conveys a meaning of spirit, energy, power, or air (gaseous). There is an old connection between spirit and breath (air) related to the Chinese word Chi (or Qi) and to the Hindu word Prana. This older meaning of Ki as being a term for the life force (breath) and natural power within us and within all things is how we use the term here. Calling qi or chi into a direct translation of air would be like translating the Sumerian dialect of LIL directly into "Air", it would get you yelled at pretty quickly.

thaiboxerken

"Hmm... very interesting. So, by this conclusion, the Artic Inuits, the Norse region, and most of Russia should suffer from impaired immune systems correct? "
No, it's the change in weather that beats down the immune system.

thaiboxerken

My wife, the nurse, said that the reason people get the flu more often in the wintertime is because the people are staying indoors more and exposing themselves to the virus. The lack of circulation in the indoor invironments lets the germs build up and that's why people are more likely to get colds and flu in the wintertime.

RyanS2

I'll have to take your word on it that your wife is a RNA, but she is correct, at least somewhat. Non-circulating air gets stagnant, and stagnant air does make a more hospitable environment for all sorts of microbiotic creatures. I believe Dr. Russell Thatcher Trall noted this in the 1850's. I'm suprised she didn't mention that during the Winter months the daylight gets shorter as well, another thing resulting in people going indoors.

However, this also is problematic. People don't spend a lot of time outdoors, summer or winter, (on average). Most of us work 8 hour jobs, (exception to people who work outdoor jobs of course), we sleep 8 hours on average, so what does that leave us with?

The average American watches an equivalent of 52 days of TV per year, and average time per week that the American child ages 2-17 spends watching television: 19 hours, 40 minutes (Nielsen Media Research, 2000). Even social settings, such as going to dinner, dancing, going to a Muay Thai class, movies, etc. are indoor activities.

I imagine that you go to the gym, and that's an indoor activity, (exception of a few places) as well. Then we figure in time spent inside of a car, time eating, (generally an indoor activity), etc., and we find that very few of Americans get outside, some even if at all for a substantial period of time. Most people go from "box to box", they wake up, they get in their car, they go to their job, they leave their job, get back in their car, go back to a bar or friends house, (depending on whether you go straight home or not), and then go to their house. It's a simple fact that Americans don't get out much. According to the EPA on their excerpt on toxins in the home, Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, season irrelevant.

Also, ask your wife about the effects of cold weather on the human body. It doesn't do anything unless your core temperature drops, (internal body heat). In cases of extreme cold, it can start activating stress hormones which hamper the immune system, but the effects are usually negligible unless the person is a complete hyper-reactor to cold as stimuli.

lpetrich

Actually, "chi" meaning "breath" is most likely NOT derived from dissection; the human body is mostly condensed,with the lungs being mostly spongy rather than outwardly hollow.

However, we need to breathe in order to survive; if you die, you stop breathing. And that is also true of all of the larger land animals. Strangle a chicken, and it will die. This is why words for life-essence are often derived from words for breath; Latin spiritus, Greek psukhe, Hebrew ruach, etc. Chinese is far from alone.

In fact, this may be why breath had outpaced blood as the leading pre-scientific candidate for life-essence stuff; it is possible to bleed to death, but it is also possible to die without bleeding.

Modern science, however, finds no trace of a special life-essence stuff or vital force; attempts to isolate such a substance have universally failed. Instead, what has emerged is a paradigm in which life is a kind of organization of nonliving materials, with no special substance like "chi" needed.

However, the perception of such a force is an interesting one; when one is exhausted, one feels drained.

thaiboxerken

"According to the EPA on their excerpt on toxins in the home, Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, season irrelevant. "
Yes, but in warmer weathers people tend to have windows open and this lets fresh air circulate from the outside. That is the difference between spending time indoors in the summer vs winter.

RyanS2

That's a toss-up. Before moving to Louisiana, I lived in California, and prior to that in Georgia. In Georgia and Louisiana, I dare not open my windows during summer. The amount of horseflies, mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and other flying things will cause a few sleepless nights. (Even bug screens don't keep them out here). In California, if I left my window open, I would have had to chase someone out of the apartment a minute later coming in through that window.

Lpetrich, "Chi" was originally associated with medicine, and most serious martial artists who believe in Chi have my basisc definition it. As your average Chinese person cared more about what house they lived in than how good their kung-fu was, "Chi" was never really so much associated with "lethal" fighting techniques. It's amazing that touch of death "Chi" techniques never find their way to any serious martial artists, but always to fat white Westerners.... quite a parodox.

Dirk the Daring

This is a very interesting thread and has given me a lot of things to look up =). I can say as a personal testimonial that in the two years since I began going to Chinese doctors, eating healthy (a lot of traditional Chinese foods, fruit and vegetables), abstaining from alcohol, and practicing meditation and tai chi, I have not gotten sick one time -- not even a little bit sick. When I was growing up, I used to get sick about 3 times a year, which I feel is about average.

Now I watch cold medication ads on TV and realize I hardly remember what a cold feels like. It's pretty clear to me that diet, exercise, and general quality of life are the three pillars of health. Western medicine has proved surprisingly resistant to acknowledging that fact.

Valmorian

Eh? I'm surprised to hear this, considering that every time I see a doctor this is exactly the advice I get. "Eat better, excercise more and you're maintain good health".

Where do you hear otherwise from "western medicine??"

thaiboxerken

Western doctors are contantly telling people to live healthier lives. The only difference is that western doctors don't add superstition to the equation.