How to manage dampness in the body
Aug 15, 2025
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Sun Lianqing
Introduction
Dampness can generally be managed through adjustments to diet, regular exercise, optimizing the living environment, using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapies, and maintaining a consistent sleep schedule. Choose exercises such as brisk walking, swimming, or Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade), and aim to exercise 3–5 times per week for approximately 30 minutes each session. Exercise helps promote blood and qi circulation, facilitates sweat excretion, enhances physical fitness, and reduces susceptibility to dampness.
Generally, dampness can be managed by adjusting the diet, maintaining regular physical activity, optimizing the living environment, using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapies, and keeping a consistent daily routine. A detailed explanation is as follows:
1. Adjust the diet: Reduce the intake of sweet, greasy, and raw cold foods. Consume more spleen-strengthening and dampness-resolving ingredients such as yam, winter melon, and red adzuki beans. Cooking porridge with yam and coix seed can aid the spleen's transformation and transportation functions, helping to reduce the accumulation of dampness in the body.
2. Maintain regular physical activity: Choose exercises such as brisk walking, swimming, or practicing Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade), aiming for 3-5 sessions per week, each lasting about 30 minutes. Exercise promotes blood circulation, accelerates sweat excretion, helps expel dampness, and enhances physical fitness to reduce susceptibility to dampness.
3. Optimize the living environment: Keep indoor spaces well-ventilated. Use dehumidifying equipment during rainy weather, regularly air bedding, and avoid staying in damp environments for prolonged periods to reduce the risk of external dampness invading the body.
4. Utilize TCM therapies: Under the guidance of professionals, undergo treatments such as cupping, scraping (Gua Sha), or moxibustion at acupoints like Spleen Shu (BL20) and Zusanli (ST36). These therapies help unblock meridians, warm yang to dispel cold, and promote the elimination of internal dampness. These treatments can be done 1-2 times per week.
5. Maintain a regular daily routine: Cultivate the habit of going to bed early and waking up early; avoid staying up late. Ensuring sufficient sleep at night helps restore and improve spleen function, enhances the spleen's ability to transform and transport fluids, and reduces dampness accumulation caused by spleen deficiency.
Managing dampness is a gradual process that requires long-term adherence to a combination of these approaches. If discomfort or worsening symptoms occur during the process, consult a professional promptly to adjust the management plan.
