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Notes -
Traditional western medicine held that there are four humors- or essential bodily fluids- which determine by their quality and relative quantity the properties of human health, including the expressions of personality/mental health. A person with a preponderance of blood is said to be sanguine(a people person personality), of phlegm phlegmatic(a go with the flow type), of 'black bile' melancholic(introverted, serious, artistic), and of 'yellow bile' choleric(a type A personality). Galen, a roman doctor, codified the interactions of these humors with bodily functions and Hildegard of Bingen(a medieval German Abbess) codified how they could be influenced herbally and through the diet. I think IIRC that this is kind of a steelman of the theory behind essential oils affecting your health.
What this theory gets right is health being different for each person and more or less about the whole person/body being in overall health rather than about treating the symptoms of disease- I'm sure our resident doctors can relate with frustration patients who just refuse to address their obesity/hypertension/whatever and want meds for the symptoms. What it gets wrong is that eating spicy food will not help you get more done at work.
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