12/04/2026
“A lack of essence causes tired legs, a lack of energy causes fatigue, a lack of blood causes eye strain…” but just seeing it doesn't mean you understand it correctly.
Have you ever noticed familiar signs in your body… legs getting tired more easily than before, feeling weak all the time, or experiencing eye strain and a lack of alertness after sitting for a short while?
Many people, when experiencing these symptoms, often recall a familiar saying in Traditional Chinese Medicine: “A lack of essence causes tired legs, a lack of energy causes fatigue, a lack of blood causes eye strain.”
It sounds logical. But in reality, the important thing isn't just remembering the saying… but understanding where you are in that context.
Because if you only see a symptom and immediately attribute it to a “deficiency of that,” you often overlook the deeper issue, where the body is truly imbalanced.
I've met many people who started with a feeling of tired legs and weak back. There's no obvious pain, but walking for a long time causes fatigue, standing for a long time makes you unsteady, and your back and knees are no longer as strong as before.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Essence (Tinh) is stored in the Kidneys, the foundation of the body. When this part weakens, the body doesn't collapse immediately, but it will manifest in the areas that bear the most weight. And importantly, these symptoms rarely appear in a single day. It's the result of a long process – staying up late, overworking, and an irregular lifestyle. Essence isn't depleted suddenly, but gradually… until the body can no longer sustain it, only then will it manifest externally.
There are also people who don't experience obvious pain, but always feel tired. The fatigue is such that they get exhausted after doing a little work, run out of breath after talking for a long time, and lack the strength to sustain themselves. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is often a sign of insufficient Qi. Qi is the part that operates. When Qi is weak, everything still happens, but lacks the strength to maintain a stable rhythm.
A common tendency is to try to replenish energy even when feeling tired. But if the spleen and stomach aren't functioning properly, adding more food might not necessarily help. Qi (vital energy) isn't something you get just by eating. It must be generated through the body's process of metabolizing what you consume.
And some people experience symptoms starting with their eyes. Eye strain, dry eyes, pain from prolonged viewing, accompanied by mild dizziness and forgetfulness. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the liver stores blood and opens its orifices to the eyes. The eyes are the first to reflect the state of the liver's blood. When blood is insufficient, the eyes are often the first to "speak up."
But blood doesn't generate itself. It's created by the spleen and stomach. When digestion is weak, even with plenty of food, the body may not produce enough blood to nourish itself.
And one important point that many people easily overlook:
Essence, Qi, and Blood… never decline in isolation.
If essence is weak for a long time, Qi loses its source for generation.
If Qi is weak, blood doesn't circulate properly.
If blood is insufficient, it can't nourish essence.
The body doesn't "break" in one place.
It's a chain reaction.
That's why practitioners don't look at individual symptoms,
but at the overall state of the body and which direction it's deviating.
Maintaining health, if done correctly, usually doesn't begin with immediate replenishment. Instead, it begins with preserving, preserving what you already have… preventing further depletion.
Getting enough sleep allows the vital energy to recover, as nighttime is when the body enters its deepest state of recovery.
Eating a balanced diet ensures the spleen and stomach have enough energy to process food, providing a foundation for the production of vital energy and blood.
Moderate exercise prevents stagnation of vital energy and blood for too long.
And keeping the mind from becoming overly stressed, because some depletion doesn't come from the body… but from things held in the heart for too long.
Perhaps, the important thing isn't knowing what the body is lacking, but whether we are continuing to deplete it every day.
Understanding that…is often a huge step forward.
