Disease in the Middle Ages :: Health

In the Medieval and Renaissance time periods, health conditions were extraordinarily poor for the European nations. Many contrastive diseases and ailments arose to plague these unfortunate people. Luckily for them they had their much esteemed doctors, scholars and the highly religious clergy members to help rid them of their affliction. They offered solutions to the suffering souls seeking answers and a cure. Many of these illnesses were spread by prostitution, consumed grain, animals or too much of a bodily biliousness. It could be agreed upon that the medical education of these times were few and none.The most popular sickness of the pump ages was the four bodily humors. This physiological philosophy was brought about by Hippocrates, who was wrongfully regarded as the Father of Medicine. As history does, the ideas of great medical practitioners of ancient Greece were passed atomic pile through the Unani peoples to the Europeans. The four types of bodily humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. The idea was that too much of one of these humors would upset the balance of a persons temperament. The humors were also associated with the four elements and seasons and have their own qualities. Yellow bile had the element of fire and the season of summer, it is said to cause irritability and anger and is characterized as heatable and dry. Too much phlegm or water would make one sluggish or lazy, its season is winter and its said to be refrigerant and moist. Black bile, having the element of earth and the season of autumn is said to make one sad and melancholic and is characterized as cold and dry. Next theres phlegm, associated with the element of water and the season of winter. Having too much phlegm results in apathy and is characterized as cold and moist.Lastly is blood, just like phlegm this bodily humor is somewhat self-explanatory. Blood, with the element of air and the season of summer, is said to bring about temperament and disposition an d is characterized as, of course, hot and moist. This is also where the term hot-blooded is derived from. These behavioral unbalances were case-hardened through diet, exercise, and activity prescribed to purge the body of the imbalanced humor. For example a person with the symptoms of yellow bile (hot and dry) would be treated by increase its opposite, phlegm (cold and moist). The patient would be told to take cold baths until the symptoms decreased, but if this prescription did not work they were told to take hellebore, a poison with the side effects of puking and diarrhea.