11 Unani Medicine Principles and Concepts Explained

3. Principle #3: Akhlat (Humours)

Akhlat refers to the four humours in classical Unani thought: Dam (blood), Balgham (phlegm), Safra (yellow bile) and Sauda (black bile). Each humour has qualities—hot or cold, moist or dry—and health depends on their balance. Historically, practitioners linked symptoms to excess or deficiency of a particular humour, using signs like pulse, urine color, and stool characteristics to infer the underlying imbalance. Remedies then targeted the quality thought to be out of balance: cooling measures for heat, draining or purgative methods for excess, and so on (AYUSH/Delhi). Modern biomedical science does not recognize humours as physiological fluids in the way classical texts meant, and Unani's humoral model should not be equated with contemporary blood chemistry. That said, some traditional treatments derived from humoral thinking—like certain dietary changes or herbal decoctions—have observable effects on digestion, inflammation, or well‑being, and those effects are the focus of current research rather than the humoral explanation itself (ScienceDirect, 2025). Practically, akhlat remains a diagnostic lens in Unani clinics and helps explain why different people respond differently to the same food or environment. Takeaway: Akhlat offers a historic framework for diagnosing imbalance, used cautiously alongside modern insights.