Four temperaments: Difference between revisions

These properties were considered the basis of health and disease. This meant that having a balance and good mixture of the humours defined good health, while an imbalance or separation of the humours led to disease.<ref name=":2" /> Because the humours corresponded to certain seasons, one way to avoid an imbalance or disease was to change health-related habits depending on the season. Some physicians did this by regulating a patient's diet, while some used remedies such as [[phlebotomy]] and purges to get rid of excess blood.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Ayoub|first=Lois|date=1995|title=Old English Wæta and the Medical Theory of the Humours|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27711180|journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology|volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=332–346|jstor=27711180 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> Even Galen proposed a theory of the importance of proper digestion in forming healthy blood. The idea was that the two most important factors when digesting are the types of food and the person's body temperature.<ref name=":3" /> This meant that if too much heat were involved, then the blood would become "overcooked." This meant that it would contain too much of the yellow bile, and the patient would become feverish.<ref name=":3" /> If there were not enough heat involved, this would cause there to be too much phlegm.