Blood Deficiency
血虛 · xuèxū
The body’s nourishing, mind-anchoring substance is running thin — so tissues dry, sleep shallows and the nerves lose their cushioning.
Classic signs of Blood Deficiency
- Dizziness or light-headedness on standing quickly
- Pale, dull complexion; pale lips, inner eyelids and brittle nails
- Eyes that tire, dry or blur quickly; "floaters"
- Falling asleep easily but waking in the night; abundant vivid dreams
- Hair that sheds, thins or dries
- Numbness or tingling in the limbs; easily-cramping muscles
- Poor short-term memory; a foggy, unanchored feeling
- Easily startled; a fragile or anxious baseline
- For women: light, short or scanty periods
- Tongue: pale, thin and dry
The garden dries from the leaves inward
Blood (血) in TCM is nourishment itself — stored by the Liver, governed by the Heart, and manufactured by the Spleen from food. Run it low and tissues dry, sleep shallows, and the mind loses the very thing it rests on.
Two thousand years before the smartphone, Chinese medicine had already named screen-fatigue's mechanism: the eyes spend Blood, and modern life stares for a living.
Lifestyle
- Eat before you're ravenous, rest before you're spent — Blood is manufactured by a Spleen with spare capacity
- Ration the staring: every 20 minutes of screen work, 20 seconds on something distant. You're not resting your eyes; you're conserving Blood
- Exercise to circulate, not to deplete — walking, gentle strength work, restorative yoga. This constitution overdraws at boot camp
- Protect the post-period week and the postnatal months: warmth, nourishment, early nights
Food therapy — cook the ingredients of Blood
- More: the deep-coloured builders — black sesame, black beans, beetroot, cooked spinach and dark greens, eggs, red meat or liver in modest amounts if you eat them, red dates (紅棗), goji (枸杞), longan (桂圓), bone broth. Red and black foods, gently cooked
- Less: raw-everything diets, strong tea or coffee straight after meals, the skipped breakfast that steals the day's first production run
One to try: the scholar's tea — goji berries and three or four longan steeped in hot water five minutes, fruit eaten at the end. The traditional companion of people who read and worry for a living.
Acupressure — the production line, daily
Zusanli · ST36
Four finger-widths below the kneecap, one thumb-width off the shin. Blood is made from food qi — this is the point that feeds the factory.
Sanyinjiao · SP6
Four finger-widths above the inner ankle bone. The great meeting point of the three yin channels — nourishing for Blood, a classic for women's health. Avoid during pregnancy.
Blood-nourishing blend — in development
A dedicated constitution blend for Blood Deficiency is being formulated in the clinic now. Meanwhile, this constitution responds beautifully to food therapy above all — and if broken, dream-heavy sleep is your loudest symptom, our Tranquility & Sleep evening powder includes Shou Wu Teng (首烏藤), the vine classically paired with night-time stillness.
For women whose pattern involves their cycle, constitutional care is the heart of our women's health clinic work.
Food supplements support general wellbeing and are not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment, nor for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Asked across the treatment couch
Is this the same as iron deficiency?
Why do you keep telling me to cook my food?
Is this a medical diagnosis?
Can my constitution change?
When to seek more than a webpage
- See your GP first for red-flag changes: unexplained weight loss, persistent unexplained pain, blood where blood shouldn't be, chest pain, breathlessness at rest, new severe headaches, or anything rapidly worsening.
- Pregnancy changes the rules: some acupressure points on this page are traditionally avoided in pregnancy (marked above), and supplements should be run past your midwife or GP.
- On medication? Check with your pharmacist or GP before adding botanical supplements.
This guide supports general wellbeing and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Always consult your GP for medical concerns. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Not quite you? Meet the other constitutions
Most people are a blend — a primary pattern with one or two supporting actors. If parts of this page fit and parts didn't, your answer is probably two doors down.
Take this page's advice for a season — then tell us what changed
Constitution work is gardening, not surgery. And if you'd like the professional reading — tongue, pulse, history, the full craft — the treatment room is where your pattern gets read properly.
Cheuk's Wellness & TCM · ATCM-registered practitioner (FM 0220069) · 96a High Street, Staple Hill, Bristol