Are You Really Drinking Water Right?

The TCM View on How Your Body Handles Water

We all drink water — but are we really doing it right? Understanding how to drink water properly can make a significant difference in our hydration habits.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) sees the body much like the Earth: about 70 % water. Just as Chinese history has long been about managing water, TCM believes treating illness is essentially managing water inside the body.

This article explains how TCM understands water metabolism (water circulation) — how water is absorbed, transformed, and eliminated — and how to drink in a way your body can actually use.

Why We Feel Thirst (or Don’t)

In TCM, water doesn’t simply pour straight into the bloodstream.
It first enters the Stomach, and if it’s warm or tea-like, part of it gets absorbed into a fluid transport and regulation network around the stomach — what TCM calls the San Jiao (Triple Burner).

• This network acts like a plumbing layer that connects the stomach to the rest of the body.
• The Spleen works with it to move this water outward.
• When the Spleen absorbs water, it frees space around the stomach — which creates the sensation of hunger.

💡 Cold or low-energy water is much harder to absorb.
If you’re extremely thirsty and drink cold water, your stomach may passively absorb it into outer layers but cannot draw it back in, so it just sits there as retained fluid (“xīn xià yǐn”).
This can stop the feeling of thirst, without actually hydrating you.

That’s why TCM prefers warm or room-temperature water — and why serving tea is traditional: it adds energy to the water before it enters the body.

How Water Circulates in the Body (TCM Pathway)

Once in the body, water takes a fascinating journey through this fluid transport and regulation network:

1. Stomach → Spleen (Middle Jiao)
   • Warm, energized water mixes with food.
   • The Spleen sends its moisture with the nutrients to the Small Intestine.
2. Small Intestine → Liver → Heart (Blood)
   • The Small Intestine only absorbs water that the Spleen has energized.
   • These nutrient-rich fluids go to the Liver, then into the Heart vessels → becoming the first source of blood water.
3. Large Intestine → Lungs (Mist)
   • Natural (unabsorbed) water goes to the Large Intestine.
   • Heat from the Small Intestine steams it up to the Lungs (the first “energizing” process).
   • This produces moisture like saliva, tears, and mucus — the fine mist of the Upper Jiao.
4. Lungs → Heart → Blood
   • Lung water goes through heart–lung circulation (a second energizing step) → becoming the second source of blood water.
5. Blood → Body Fluids → Lymph → Back to Blood
   • Some blood water seeps out as interstitial body fluid.
   • The lymphatic system collects it, re-energizes it (the Spleen is the largest lymph node), and returns it to the bloodstream.
6. Kidneys and Bladder — Sorting High and Low Energy Water
   • High-energy water is transformed into Jin-ye (body fluids) and circulated throughout the body, absorbing metabolic heat to keep temperature stable.
   • Low-energy water is filtered to the Bladder. Part of it vaporizes and travels to the Liver to rinse away waste and form bile, which aids digestion. When the bladder fills, leftover water condenses as urine.

⚠️ If the Mingmen fire (metabolic heat) is weak, the bladder can’t vaporize water well → causing frequent urination and thick bile, which over time may form gallstones.

How to Drink Water So Your Body Can Use It

Practical tips from the TCM perspective:

• Prefer warm or room-temperature water — easier to absorb and less shocking to the stomach
• Sip slowly, don’t gulp — protects the stomach’s digestive bacteria and prevents pushing low-energy water outside the stomach lining
• Drink between meals rather than during heavy eating, to avoid diluting digestive juices
• Listen to real thirst — don’t force large amounts when not thirsty
• Choose teas, broths, or lightly cooked liquids — they come “pre-energized” and are absorbed more efficiently

When Water Circulation Gets Stuck

If this fluid transport and regulation network gets blocked, fluids stop moving and start transforming:

• Stagnant fluids → retained water (yǐn)(Check out about Yin at Balancing Yin and Yang)
• Thicker → phlegm (tán)
• Even thicker → blood stasis (yū)
• Hardened → tumors

This is why TCM sees treating illness as managing water: keeping water moving prevents stagnation from hardening into disease.

Final Thoughts

When water flows smoothly — energized, transformed, and circulated by the body’s fluid transport and regulation network (what TCM calls the San Jiao) — it keeps the whole body nourished, clean, and warm.

Drinking water isn’t just about quantity.
From a TCM perspective, it’s about helping your body actually use the water you drink.

When water circulation is healthy, it supports your hydration, digestion, immunity, metabolism, and temperature balance.
When it stagnates, trouble begins.

So next time you take a sip, ask yourself —
Are you really drinking water right?