The Kidney is Closely Related to the Growth and Development of the Human Body and longevity. From the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine, a person’s growth and development depend chiefly on maintenance by the kidney (Note that the singular number is used here). The successive stages of life, from its beginning at the time of the person’s birth, through childhood, teen-age, youth, the prime of life, up to senescence, represent in fact the process of wax and wane of the vitality of the kidney. For instance, a person’s vital energy begins to increase ever since he/she is a mere baby and reaches its highest peak in the period of youth. After passing his/her youth, the person will come to middle age, the prime of life and gradually become senescent, with his/her vital energy weakening little by little in the meantime. All this may be represented pictorially as a sine curve.
The Classic of Internal Medicine makes a vivid and quite scientific discussion of the kidney and its relationship with the longevity and the growth and development of the human body. For example, a female is considered to have completed one period of life when she is beginning to be seven years of age. The vital energy of her kidney has begun to climb upward, which is manifested outwardly by the change of her teeth and an increase in the density, or luxuriance, of her hair. When she has passed her second seventh year, that is, when she is 14 years old, a material which is responsible for a female’s ability of reproduction is secreted from her kidney. Menstruation appears. She is able to become pregnant. Then she passes through her 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th seven-year periods until she reaches the end of the 7th one, when she is 49 years old and the vital energy of the kidney, which is characteristic of a female, begins to wane and menopause comes about. This means she will begin to look haggard and will no longer be able to bear children. As a matter of fact, it is the wax and wane of the vital energy in the kidney that has given rise to the above process. On the other hand, a boy who is in the second eight year period of his life, namely at 16 years of age, may have nocturnal emission and can make a female pregnant.
A male then pass through his 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th eight-year periods…until he reaches the end of the 8th one, when he is 64 years old. At that time, the vital energy in his kidney begins to be exhausted. It can be seen here that, in comparison with a female, a male matures and grows old and feeble both a little time later. This is the reason why a male marries at an age a little older than a female. We often say about a person that he/she has become “old and feeble before his/her time”. That means a person’s vital energy in the kidney has been exhausted. Therefore, if a person wants to prolong his/her life and enjoy longevity he/she must, on the contrary, make his/her vital energy so abundant as to surpass the normal value. Since ancient time, the way to attain longevity, whether it is in the form of a secret formula or a recipe, starts from taking care of the kidney. In other words, the kidney is the foundation of longevity.  << Back

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