How Your Organs and Emotions Relate
After getting a headache or backache from stress or other discomforts, have you ever wondered how your organs and emotions relate?
According to traditional Chinese medicine, our body reacts naturally to each stimulus, whether external or internal, generating many different reactions. These reactions affect each organ differently.
Apart from the physical stimuli that the body receives thanks to the nervous system, we also experience emotions or feelings. If these emotions are intense, negative, and prolonged, they can damage the organs and make them more vulnerable to certain diseases.
Next, we’ll explain in more detail how traditional Chinese medicine relates emotions to the action or inhibition of some organs.
Organs and emotions
The deterioration process of any given organ is directly related to the emotions and feelings that we’re experiencing.
When one organ is affected, it can have a de-balancing effect on the entire body. That’s why it’s important to identify the emotional cause so that we can work towards solving it.
Below, we’ll look at a few organs in particular and the emotions that can affect them according to traditional Chinese medicine.
Read more here: Five Exercises to Control Our Emotions
The heart and the small intestine: joy
According to ancient Chinese medicine, joy is the emotion that’s most closely associated with these two organs. The heart is responsible for regulating the blood and controlling the blood vessels, among other things. Meanwhile, the small intestine’s function is to absorb the nutrients and minerals that come into the body through our food intake.
Although a healthy emotion like joy can stimulate these organs and their functioning, too much joy can generate:
- Insomnia
- Tachycardia
- Nervousness
- Lack of concentration
People who suffer from affected organs tend to be sensitive, extroverted, and talkative. They often find themselves overwhelmed by their own emotions.
Learning to cope with euphoria, agitation, excitability, and an excess of emotions will help keep these organs functioning properly.
2. Organs and emotions: the liver and gallbladder, and rage and anger
Rage and anger, as well as all the other emotions associated with them, relate to these two organs. Your liver is in charge of storing blood and regulating the circulation of vital energy. Meanwhile, your gallbladder is responsible for collecting and excreting bile.
If you’re someone who has trouble with these particular organs, you’re probably also a dynamic person who tends to be troubled by excessive worries. You may even react aggressively to them sometimes. Apart from rage and anger, you should also identify and cope with feelings of frustration and indignation.
3. Spleen and stomach: obsession
These particular organs are associated with obsession, nostalgia, and reflection. While the stomach is responsible for generating nutrition, the spleen forms part of the lymphatic system.
People who suffer from conditions related to these organs are usually calm, but often have a hard time making decisions.
The balance of energy between the two organs enhances compassion and empathy.
4. Lungs and large intestine: sadness
These two organs are strongly connected to feelings of melancholy, sadness, and grief.
The lungs’ main job is to regulate breathing. The large intestine plays a key role in digestion and the absorption of nutrients. In addition, it helps keep the body’s immune system functioning.
If you’re experiencing problems with these organs, you’re probably an independent and highly rational person who is no stranger to self-reflection. However, too much reflection may result in a lack of appetite, chest tightness, and a general sense of apathy.
Discover: Poor Digestion and Emotional Problems
5. Kidneys and bladder: fear
The kidneys are strongly associated with feelings of fear and anxiety. Furthermore, their physical tasks include removing waste elements from the blood. Meanwhile, the bladder is responsible for storing and excreting urine.
People who suffer from pain and weakness in the lower back, as well as a number of other symptoms, may be experiencing a period of uncertainty in their lives.
On the contrary, maintaining a good renal energy balance can help boost your confidence in your own abilities.
Important note on the organs and emotions
All the above information is based on traditional Chinese medicine and not on scientific evidence, therefore, you shouldn’t take it as absolute truth.
While it’s true that emotions can influence physical health to some extent, there’s no rule that applies equally to all cases. So, just because a person is sad doesn’t necessarily mean they have lung problems and vice versa.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Cecchetti Peregrini, Carlo. Rojas Alba, M. (2008). SÍNTOMAS DE LOS ÓRGANOS DIAGNÓSTICO Y TRATAMIENTO SIMPLIFICADO POR LOS CINCO ELEMENTOS. TlahuiEdu A.C. 26, 88.
- Jaramillo, J. (2015). Fundamentos de medicina tradicional china. Editorial Elibros 300.
- Nogales-Gaete, J. (2004). Medicina alternativa y complementaria. Revista Chilena de Neuro-Psiquiatria 42, 243–250.
