Stressors to the human body have increased tremendously in the past few decades. Genetically modified foods, pollutions, toxins, etc., have affected the ability of our body to function in the way it was naturally intended. The inventions of radio, cellular communication, and other such devices that transmit electromagnetic waves have also caused a new kind of stress to the body known as electromagnetic pollution. The way in which we deal with pain, injuries, ailments, and stressors to the body has advanced immensely in the past few centuries. The medical field has been a blossoming industry that deals primarily with correcting these problems. In modern times, it appears that the cure to these problems is in the form of some sort of chemical that is ingested into the body.

For example, when a part of the body is injured, our natural protective mechanisms go to work. White blood cell count at the site of the injury increases, which causes heat, loss of function, and pain. All of these effects are potentially beneficial; but after we know we are injured, the pain is still relevant. Taking ibuprofen acts as a painkiller due to its ability to inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins. It does this by interfering with the enzyme cyclooxygenase, which catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins, which will in effect help alleviate the pain and solve one problem, but may also create others. As well as being harmful to your liver, ibuprofen may cause stomach pain, constipation, gas, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Alternative solutions to these problems – such as Eastern medicine – take a different approach to this. While the Western medicine approach clearly separates health and disease, the Eastern medicine approach considers health as a balanced state, versus disease as an unbalanced state.

Eastern Chinese medicine divides the body into parts by their function rather than their structure: the anatomical, physiological, and the psychological. These parts are all connected by what they call “meridians” which are electrical pathways that carry energy and information throughout the body.