OUR APPROACH (2)

Constitution is broadly broken into two sorts, depending on which one of the two sub-nervous systems of Autonomic nervous system – sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves – exerts relative dominance upon the other. These are further broken down into eight categories, depending on which internal organs exert relative dominance upon one another.

Autonomic nervous system regulates the bodily functions that are operated without our conscious control, such as heart rate, perspiration, respiration rate, and digestion. Autonomic nervous system consists of two sub-systems, namely sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant when we are under emotional and psychological pressure. When we ready ourselves for confessing to a loved one or for delivering a speech before a roomful of audience, for instance, sympathetic nervous system takes over, resulting in short breath, increasing perspiration, fast heart beat, and drying up of saliva. Parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, assumes control in the absence of pressure.

8 Constitution Medicine uses the innate predominance of one sub-nervous system over the other as the first differentiating parameter, and break down human physiology broadly into two categories. Out of the eight categories of 8 Constitutions, four of them fall under the supercategory based on the relative dominance of sympathetic nervous system, and the other four fall under the supercategory based on the relative dominance of parasympathetic nervous system.

Even at this level of categorization, constitutional analysis yields some useful information, such as which food group is beneficial to a person based on his constitution. Take, for example, coffee. Articles abound citing various researches, some of which extol and others denounce the various virtues and vices of coffee. How could one article of food be healthy and unhealthy at the same time, on so many accounts?

8 Constitution Medicine focuses on coffee’s effect on sub-nervous system. Coffee stimulates sympathetic nervous system, and strengthens its dominance if consumed regularly for a prolonged period. For this reason, it is unhealthy to the supercategory of individuals marked by naturally stronger sympathetic nervous system. To those individuals under this supercategory whom are further classified as “Pulmutonian”, coffee will exerts especially detrimental effect by upsetting the balance between two sub-nervous systems, which will lead to the emergence of various anomalous symptoms. In contrast, coffee could be quite beneficial to the individuals falling under the other supercategory characterized by stronger parasympathetic nervous system, in particular those with Hepatonia constitution. Constitution-conscious diet can preemptively undercut the growth of chronic, recalcitrant illnesses that are too often rooted in eating a wrong kind of food. For now, however, let’s get back to the discussion of how constitutions are categorized and identified.
The two broad supercategories, outlined on the basis of the power-balance between two sub-nervous systems of Autonomic Nervous System, break further down into eight categories according to the power-balance between organs. This finer-grained categorization is founded on both the oriental theories of internal medicine and the human anatomy and physiology of western medicine. To grasp that how the methodological synthesis of two medical traditions has been made, let us briefly touch on their difference.