How Seasonal Changes Affect the Body | Winter
Despite living in the comfort of HVAC and central air, our bodies, in their inherent wosdom, are still affected by seasonal changes
In Chinese Medicine, each season is associated with a particular organ system:
Winter – Kidneys and Urinary Bladder
Spring – Liver and Gall Bladder
Summer – Heart and Small Intestine
Late Summer – Spleen/Pancreas and Stomach
Fall – Lungs and Large Intestine
What does this mean?
Blood is always circulating, but throughout the year, certain systems take the lead. When a system is healthy, it does its work quietly in the background. When it’s strained or depleted, that’s when symptoms start to show. There are also seasonal patterns that most people experience to some degree, even if they don’t think of themselves as “seasonal.”
Winter and the Kidney / Urinary Bladder System
Winter is a time of storage. It’s meant for rest, consolidation, and conserving energy. This is why many people feel more tired in winter, less motivated, and want to stay in bed longer. There’s nothing wrong with you if this happens. You’re not lazy or depressed—your body is responding appropriately to its environment.
If symptoms arise during this time—such as difficulty warming up, increased urination, sleep disturbances, digestive issues like bloating or constipation, skin problems, lower back pain, stiffness, or increased aches and pains—it may be a sign that the Kidney system needs support. It can also mean the Kidneys aren’t adequately supporting other systems, such as the Liver.
Kidneys store reserve energy
This ability to store translates, in many ways, to what we call “reserve energy” in the body. How you live in one season influences how you feel in the months that follow.
Our bodies mirror the environment around us, and ignoring that has consequences. People who refuse to slow down in winter and continue pushing year-round often pay for it later—feeling scattered, overwhelmed, and chronically tired. The older you get, the harder it is to keep drawing on your reserves.
Those reserves matter. They help carry us through periods of unexpected stress—loss of a loved one, job changes, illness, or other events that demand everything we have. These experiences are largely unavoidable. When someone enters them already depleted, recovery is slower and harder. I’ve seen this repeatedly in the clinic: a major life event that someone can’t seem to bounce back from, followed by a cascade of symptoms and system breakdowns.
I also see this often in perimenopausal women. When the ovaries’ ability to produce sex hormones is reduced, the adrenal glands—which sit atop the Kidneys—take on a greater role. If those reserves are already depleted from years of chronic stress and over extending oneself, navigating the hormonal fluctuations of this phase becomes much more difficult.
What you can do to nourish your Kidneys
The three things I tell all my patients to do in winter:
Sleep. Rest. Sleep. Make it non-negotiable.
Eat warming, nourishing foods, such as bone broth. Here is a download of some winter food ideas.
Take a five-minute horizontal rest midday. This isn’t about napping— it’s about breathing and resting your bones. Even Harvard recognizes the need for rest beyond sleep.
Seasonal Acupuncture and Herbal Remedies
Many patients come in for their seasonal ‘tune-up’. This means incorporating certain acupuncture points into a regular maintenance treatment to help your body adapt to its environment. Additionally, we incorporate herbal formulas where more support is needed. If you have questions, please email us @ info@acupuncturekelowna.com or call us.