TEHRAN — Personalized medicine (PM) is a novel term used for a medical model in which all diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic aspects of a disease are individualized for a patient.

The Iranian-Islamic traditional medicine is an ancient paradigm for personalized medicine based on which every person has an individual temperament, so they have individual and distinguishing behavioral and physical characteristics.

There are six essential factors behind the Iranian traditional medicine lifestyle in preventing diseases and maintaining one’s health including food and drinks, climatic conditions and environment, physical activities and rest, psychiatric conditions including that of sadness, happiness, depression, and stress, sleep and wakefulness, absorbing key nutrients and ridding body from waste materials (sweat, urine, or feces). 

In the Iranian-Islamic traditional medicine the excess or less of warmness and humidity define four essential temperaments of “Warm and Wet (sanguine or Damawiy)”, “Warm and Dry (choleric or Safrawiy)”, “Cold and Dry (melancholic or Saudawiy)” and “Cold and Wet (phlegmatic or Balghamiy)” respectively. The terms in the parentheses refer to four groups of material in the body (called “humors” or 'Akhlat') including blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm respectively. Words written in italic show original Persian terms in the ancient literature.

Sanguine: warm and wet

People with sanguine temperament are normally gregarious, sociable and cheerful. They are usually in high spirits, beaming and funny, patient, and adaptable.

They have rosy and ruddy complexion and soft and smooth skin. They also have thick black hair, with thick density and more volume which can easily hold a curl or style.

People with sanguine temperament are stout, sturdy, and burly with muscular body.

These people have bigger veins which are prominent and easily seen through the skin in the arms and legs. They also have a more powerful and stronger pulse.

They rarely get sick; however, they are more prone to develop diseases such as obesity, h

Drowsiness, particularly in spring, is pretty common among people with sanguine temperament. 
They are more likely to get abscess or pimple. 

They are good leaders and due to their wetness, they are patient and very well manage and cope with those inferior or superior to them. 

Their bodies feel squishy and warm. 

Those with warm and wet temperament have good appetite and have a craving for meat, bread, rice and in general wider selection of dishes.
Waste matter (urine, sweat, and feces) discharged from their bodies have usually strong color and odor. As they consume food in large quantities they expel more body waste.

Seyed Mahdi Mirghazanfari, MD, holds a PhD degree in medical physiology and is an Iranian-Islamic traditional medicine researcher. He is also an assistant professor in AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran.
MQ/MG