On Energy Flow in the Human Body

Many of the eastern and/or new age approaches to health and well being are predicated on the notions of energy flow. Acupuncture, feng shui, yoga, many forms of meditation, chakra, auras, ghosts, those detox foot pads they advertize on TV, and many other forms of, well, bullshit spend most of their time discussing the flows and concentrations of various kinds of life force energy, such as chi, yin or yang. Many people buy into this kind of thing because, to them, life energy is a mysterious and strange thing. So you can say just about anything you want about it as long as you keep up the act *most* of the time.

Really, though, the patterns of energy flow in the body are very well known, and not at all mysterious. A breif synopsis for those unfamiliar with the biology:

1.) Energy enters the mouth in chemical bonds clumped together in large chunks.
2.) In the stomach, energy is broken into smaller chunks.
3.) Energy passes into the intestines where it passes into the blood stream.
4.) The cirulatory system carries energy to individual cells all over the body.
5.) In each individual cell, the energy is processed in one of a few ways:
5.a.) The energy is burn bu either aerobic resperation or anaerobic processes such as fermentation to fuel cellular growth or other such processes. (this process is complex but well understood. I will not go into it)
5.a.1.) energy can be converted to different kinds of chmeical enegry or into mechanical energy, such as in muscle cells.
5.b.) Unused energy can be converted and stored in the body for later use.
5.c) Some energy is unusable, and is simply passed from the body.
6.) Leftover scraps and byproducts are returned to the blood stream and dispelled from the body in the urine.

The basic pattern is nicely summed up in this (unmodified) illustration by the great Vesalius:


See? It is simple. No need for energy centers or balancing of opposing forces. No appeal to the energy flow of a tree. No ghosts.

Just food, blood and pee.