How To Maintain Health After Falling Into An Ambush?
Jul 19, 2023
I often see articles like this, telling everyone what to do when it comes to a certain solar term. For example, in the past two days, I have read something like this: 'I have fallen asleep, this is a good opportunity to replenish yang. I should try to eat warm food as much as possible, not be greedy, protect yang qi, and not miss it!'!
I think this may seem right, but it's also specious. Why?
Due to different constitutions, there are differences in the way adjustments are made when the external environment changes at each time period. Therefore, it is not possible to use a one size fits all approach, and it is not possible to use a single method to maintain one's health in any season.
So, what should we do after falling into an ambush?
Of course, there are various solar terms after the fall, which are also different. However, I'm just here to talk about how people of different constitutions should cope when the weather becomes hot!
Cistanche tea
1. People with yin deficiency are quite sad during this season.
The so-called Yin deficiency refers to the deficiency of substances that regulate calmness and nourishment in the body, such as blood and body fluids, which are all Yin substances. When these nourishing substances in the body are insufficient, the body will become dry and hot, just like when a car engine runs out of lubricating oil or cooling water, the engine will heat up and smoke.
We can also make an analogy, like a tree, which is about to grow but without the nourishment of water, that's the feeling.
People with yin deficiency have easy autumn and winter, but difficult spring and summer.
In autumn and winter, it is cold outside, so people with heat deficiency can still adapt. However, in the hot season, if there is not enough yin fluid, the body will find it difficult to tolerate.
Therefore, elderly people with yin deficiency often experience many physical problems in spring and summer, such as increased blood pressure, irritability, and hyperactivity of liver yang.
A netizen asked me, 'Why do I start getting hot as soon as I get sunbathed on such days?'? I will have "Aphthous stomatitis, dry throat, swollen eyes, swollen gums"? In fact, these are all manifestations of deficiency fire and inflammation, and the cause is yin deficiency. On hot days, when you are exposed to the sun again, the damage to yin fluid will become more obvious.
The ancients believed that fire conquers gold and the lung belongs to gold. Therefore, in the hot summer season, excessive fire can lead to people with insufficient lung yin and physical problems, such as patients with tuberculosis and yin deficiency syndrome, such as those who cough due to yin deficiency on weekdays, which will worsen this time.
So, during the hot season, unlike some articles that only protect the yang qi, people with yin deficiency need to nourish yin to adapt their bodies to the external environment.
At this point, the popular iron maple bucket on the market can come in handy. This tin maple leaf is a variety of Dendrobium officinale, a traditional Chinese medicine that nourishes yin. It has now been hyped up as a fairy grass on the market, but in fact, it is used to nourish yin, which is not good for people with yang deficiency. But for people with yin deficiency, it can be used at this time.
In this season, you can use six grams of Dendrobium, six grams of Polygonatum odoratum, six grams of Ophiopogon japonicus, and three grams of Cistanche deserticola. Soaking water instead of tea can nourish yin and moisten dryness. For people with yin deficiency, using it every three to five times during summer when they feel dry mouth and tongue, and the body is hot and weak can improve their physical fitness.
2. People with yang deficiency should seize the opportunity in the hot season.
People with yang deficiency are relatively sad in autumn and winter, because the weather was cold at that time, and people with yang deficiency were shivering all over. They often had to wear more clothes than others, but even so, they still had a series of physical problems.
However, in spring and summer, after the hot weather, people with yang deficiency feel comfortable. This is "spring and summer are easy to pass, but autumn and winter are difficult to endure". However, it is important to remember that such hot days are the easiest days to regulate and replenish yang qi. Do not feel comfortable, just feel that there is no problem, and miss out on such a rare adjustment opportunity.
For example, a patient with asthma caused by a lack of yang qi may have been rescued in winter, but in summer, they feel that there are no problems anymore, their breathing is smooth, and their body is restored. At this point, they feel that there are no problems anymore, which is incorrect. In autumn and winter, problems will still occur again. Therefore, in summer, it is important to quickly warm and replenish yang qi to allow the body to fully recover, which is the right path.
So, what should a person with insufficient yang do at this time?
At this point, it is necessary to take yang-tonifying foods to warm and replenish yang qi.
In the food, Cistanche deserticola, beef, mutton, shrimp, leek, ginger, cinnamon, Chinese prickly ash, etc. are warm and invigorating.
Cistanche deserticola Y.C.Ma or Cistanche tubulosa (Schenk) Wish, traditional Chinese medicine for tonifying the kidney, is recorded in the 2015 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. It is a succulent stem of the genus Cistanche in the family Lewandaceae, mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Cistanche deserticola and Tubular Cistanche deserticola have extremely high medicinal value. They enter the kidney and large intestine meridians. The Compendium of Materia Medica records that Cistanche deserticola "is a nourishing but not severe substance, so it is called Cistanche deserticola" and "it is warm but can moisten, replenish but not dry, smooth but not diarrhea".
Desert living cistanche
It has the effects of tonifying kidney yang, benefiting essence and blood, moistening the intestines, and defecating. Traditionally, it is used for kidney yang deficiency, deficiency of essence and blood, impotence, infertility, soreness of the waist and knees, weakness of muscles and bones, and constipation due to intestinal dryness, It is the most frequently used tonifying kidney yang medicine in history. Modern pharmacological research shows that Cistanche deserticola has many effects such as improving sexual function, anti-aging, improving learning and memory ability, anti-Alzheimer's disease, defecation, etc. It is widely used in clinical prescriptions of Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese patent medicines, and simple preparations and health care products.
Cistanche extract powder
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The main chemical components of Cistanche deserticola are phenylethanoid glycosides, iridoids, and their glycosides, lignans, and polysaccharides. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that phenylethanoid glycosides are the most important active substances in Cistanche deserticola, and have obvious anti-Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, myocardial ischemia, and other effects.
Main Chemical Constituents of Cistanche deserticola
During this season, people with yang deficiency should pay attention to:
Firstly, do not eat food with a cold temperature, such as frozen drinks, as it will further damage the yang qi;
Secondly, when eating food, it is advisable to choose foods that are warm in nature, rather than foods that are cold in nature. This has little to do with temperature, such as watermelons. Many watermelons are eaten chilled, and the temperature is low. At the same time, even at room temperature, the medicinal properties of watermelons are still cold. People with sufficient yang energy are fine after eating them, while those with yang deficiency have cold stomach pain and diarrhea after eating too much.
As for the prescription, it is necessary to consult a doctor at this time to see what kind of prescription can be taken to warm and regulate yang, such as Huangqi Jianzhong Tang, Jingui Shenqi Wan, Fuzi Lizhong Wan, etc. You can have the doctor adjust the dosage according to your own situation and appropriately warm and tonify.
During this season, doing moxibustion and applying acupoints are both beneficial for enhancing yang qi.
I understand the two major directions of yin deficiency and yang deficiency. I will also briefly explain how to regulate other constitutions during this season.
3. A person with blood stasis happens to dissipate blood stasis at this time.
Blood is a liquid, warm and unobstructed, cold and stagnant. So being cold is an important reason for blood stasis.
In summer, the blood vessels open and the circulation of blood accelerates. At this time, it is most conducive to promoting blood circulation and resolving blood stasis, completely eliminating stasis in the body.
For example, at this point, you can take daily:
1 gram of Panax notoginseng powder, 1 gram of American ginseng powder, and 1 gram of Danshen powder. Rinse with warm water twice a day.
My mother calls this the "Three Treasures of the Elderly", and some people say it is the "San Shen Powder", which can promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. During this season, it is even more helpful in resolving blood stasis.
4. People with heavy water dampness should pay attention to dispelling dampness and strengthening the spleen during this season.
Some people may wonder why in summer, the weather is hot and we sweat a lot. Isn't it beneficial for the discharge of moisture? In fact, every result in this world is composed of many reasons. For example, in summer, although yang energy is abundant and qi and blood flow are unobstructed, we are prone to sweating, which is beneficial for the elimination of water and dampness. However, due to the hot weather, we are more likely to drink a lot of water, especially some people who drink a lot of cold drinks, which can easily exceed our physical burden. I have seen many people eat watermelons and have a large stomach, which is full of water, and then sleep in bed.
Therefore, in summer, people with heavy moisture should pay more attention to invigorating the spleen and removing dampness. For example, they can often drink a soup made of wax gourd, job's tears, and red bean to remove dampness, and often eat yam, lotus seed meat, and Congee made of Euryale fruit to invigorate the spleen.
5. People with qi deficiency should pay special attention to replenishing qi during this season.
Cistanche deserticola slice
Why should people with Qi deficiency pay more attention in hot summer?
Due to excessive sweating in summer, there is a theory in traditional Chinese medicine called "Qi goes with sweat", which means that when sweating too much, Qi will also run away, leading to Qi deficiency. The basis of this theory is: 'Sweat is the liquid of the heart', 'Blood and sweat are homologous', and blood is the carrier of qi. If there is too much blood loss or sweating, it will lead to the loss of qi.
After sweating heavily in the summer, we feel powerless and soft all over, which is the case. So, people with qi deficiency need to replenish their qi in summer. However, at this time, if you simply replenish qi, there will still be dryness and heat, so in summer, it is often a combination of qi and yin.
Li Dongyuan, a famous doctor in the Jin Dynasty, suggested using his prescription: Shengmai Drink during this season. This prescription is composed of ginseng, ophiopogon japonicus, and Schisandra chinensis. Now there are traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations in the drugstore. In summer, people with qi deficiency can buy them.
The above are some suggestions on how to spend the summer with special changes in physical fitness. Some friends may ask: How do I know what constitution I have? I suggest that if you want to understand this issue, you can purchase Professor Wang Qi's "Decrypting the Nine Constitutions of Chinese People" and my book "Illustrated Tongue Diagnosis" to learn about the theory of constitution, which is beneficial for our daily health.
If your body is in a peaceful state and there are no biases of yin deficiency and yang deficiency, then congratulations! In this season, pay attention to heatstroke prevention and be happy!
