The little-known link between your Kidneys, Bladder and fertility
You may not have thought that there was a relationship between your Kidneys, Bladder and fertility. Well, from a Chinese medical perspective, there is.
Let me explain.
According to Chinese medicine, your Kidneys are the foundation of life. Whilst they help filter toxins from your body, they are also said to house your willpower, govern the water and fire in your body and they’re the holders of your Jing. So in essence, they’re more than simply organs: they have a mind, body and spirit in their own right.
I know, weird right – and not what we are used to thinking! But try to put your Western thinking aside for a moment and immerse yourself in an Eastern mindset to discover how Kidneys and fertility are linked.
What is Jing? Jing can be thought of as energy that is made up of a combination of genes, epigenetics and lifestyle factors. You could say that Jing is the superannuation account of your body’s savings. It’s something you’re always investing in throughout your life via the lifestyle choices you make. The quality of your Jing determines how long you’ll live, how fertile you are, how long you remain grey-hair free, etc.
Some examples of Jing in the body include eggs and sperm. Jing is said to be adversely affected by taking too many pharmaceuticals, working lots during the night, needing chemotherapy to treat cancer, taking party drugs, going out late and partying often, consuming lots of alcohol, pushing the envelope too much and burning the candle at both ends. Some of us can do this with fewer repercussions than others and whilst this may seem unfair, it’s because it is. Some of us are more robust than others.
When women have babies later in life it is a fact that their eggs are older and so this has repercussions, whatever they may be – it will be different for everyone.
There are ways to improve your Jing – however, sometimes the damage is irreversible. If you want to improve your egg quality for example, in Chinese medicine we say eat like for like. This means eat eggs: chicken eggs, fish eggs and fruits that look like eggs, for example pomegranate and passionfruit. Of course where possible ensure they’re organic and free-range or wild as that’s better too.
Bone broth made from scratch and slow cooked for 24 hours is another excellent way to improve your Kidney energy. Going to sleep earlier helps too. The simplicity of these changes may seem like they wouldn’t have much of an impact but you’d be surprised what your body is capable of once it gets the right nutrition and some decent sleep that’s not erratic. Your body is incredible at healing itself. We are inherently designed for this but we often get in the way with our mod cons, overuse of antibiotics, underuse of probiotics and consuming too many processed foods that lack nutrients.
Of course, your eggs will be a certain age no matter what you do. However, there is a final maturation process before you pop that egg out at ovulation, and your lifestyle and diet factors may have an impact on that. So why not give your diet and lifestyle a healthy overhaul? At the very least, you’ll feel better, clearer and more energised.
The Kidney is considered a Yin organ and the Bladder is its opposite Yang organ. The Bladder is important in excreting waste from your body but isn’t held in as high esteem as its Yin partner. The Bladder has the longest meridian on the body, which starts on the face, goes down the back of your head and all over your back, down the back of your legs and ends on your little toe. Therefore it’s often indicated when you have back pain. In fertility there is often lower back pain. Are you starting to see the connection between your Kidneys, Bladder, fertility and Jing?
When it comes to fertility, the Kidneys are ALWAYS treated in Chinese medicine, as well as any other underlying issues. Often there are digestive issues that are preventing you from uptaking your nutrients – the same nutrients that then help to govern how your hormones work. Everything is interrelated. Your practitioner will be able to decipher what is going on with you and how to best tackle it.
Teaching the body how to work again in the best way possible is the beauty of Chinese medicine. Sometimes bodies just need to be shown how to do their natural work again, then they can do what they need to, all on their own.
Read about the connection between your Lungs, Large Intestine, grief and immunity.
Learn how you can use Chinese medicine at home to care for your kids, your family and yourself with our online course for mums and dads, From Anxiety to Security – The A-Z of Home Remedies for Children’s Health.