What is Yang Qi Deficiency in Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Qi Deficiency symptoms almost always include feeling tired. 

Qi Deficiency can affect your Spleen (digestion, hormones, and immune function) or your Lungs (breathing, sinuses, skin). 

Symptoms of Qi Deficiency include poor digestion, usually as loose stools.  It’s easier to get sick with allergies and infections when your Qi is low. 

More severe Qi Deficiency symptoms are uncontrolled bleeding (hemorrhaging) or prolapsed organs.  Qi Deficiency will make your metabolism more sluggish too.  

The potential causes of Qi Deficiency are poor absorption of nutrition from eating too much sugary foods (carbs) or cold-natured foods; overworking; poor recovery from illness or childbirth.  Worrying too much or “overthinking” is a frequent cause of Spleen Qi Deficiency.  

To strengthen your Qi, eat small meals of warm foods.   Try relaxation techniques like meditation, yoga, or mindfulness to ease up on the worrying.  Herbs that can help include Licorice, Ginger, Black Pepper, Astragalus, and Ginseng.  

Yang deficiency is similar to Qi deficiency, but more severe.

You’ll typically feel cold (especially the hands and feet) and tired. Yang deficiency is almost always accompanied by some lower back and knee pain.

You may have a hormone issue like adrenal fatigue, menopausal disorder, infertility, or low thyroid function.

The underlying causes of Yang deficiency could be: not getting enough rest; having too many kids (especially for women); too much sex (more in the case of men); eating too much cold food (raw foods, iced drinks, etc.); or overworking.

To heal, you need to stay warm, rest, and take herbs like Ginger, Black Pepper, Astragalus, and Ginseng.

Use moxa.

You should take some protein with each meal, and incorporate stock or bone broth into more meals. Don’t eat cold foods, but instead eat more soup, stew, and roasted foods.

Foods that help Yang energy:  

Protein - beef, mutton/lamb, oysters, clams, crab, shellfish, shrimp, offal, chicken, trout, walnuts, pistachio, pine nuts

Fruits - cherry, peach, strawberry, raspberry 

Vegetables - leeks, mustard greens, radish, squash, sweet potatoes, scallions, watercress, onion

Grains - rice, organic whole wheat