When it comes to traditional Chinese medicine health preservation, sentences such as "spring and summer to nourish yang, autumn and winter to nourish yin" may come to mind, but everyone is relatively unfamiliar with how to do it. Let's take a look.
Yang in spring and summer, Yin in autumn and winter
Spring and summer are yang, and autumn and winter are yin. From the beginning of spring, yin energy gradually declines, yang energy gradually rises, and by the summer solstice, yang energy reaches its heyday. From the beginning of autumn, the yang energy gradually decreases, the yin energy gradually rises, and by the winter solstice, the yin energy reaches its peak. After the winter solstice, the yin energy gradually decreases and the yang energy gradually rises. Repeatedly, the cycle goes back and forth, this is the yin and yang cycle of nature.
In spring and summer, the yang energy in nature rises, and everything is full of vitality. People should protect the yang energy in the body, make it full and vigorous, and do not do things that damage the yang energy in the body. For example, it is necessary to go to bed late and get up early to conform to the lack of yin energy and the abundance of yang energy in nature. At the same time, keep the spirit happy.
In autumn and winter, all things are hidden, and at this time, health preservation should conform to the trend of collection in nature, collect the yin essence in the body, and make the essence cohesive, so as to nourish the five organs. Autumn should be later than spring and summer to adapt to the long yin, winter to lie down early and get up late, to adapt to the closure of nature, but also the meaning of nourishing yin, the spirit should also be hidden.
"The Yellow Emperor's Neijing" says: "The yin and yang of the four seasons are the root of all things." It means that the yin and yang changes of the four seasons are the foundation of all things. Therefore, people should take in yang energy in spring and summer, and maintain yin essence in autumn and winter. Contrary to nature, although it does not get sick immediately, it increases the likelihood that we will get sick. Even if the disease is not caused by the feeling of external evils, the lesion may occur due to physiological dysfunction.
Avoid six prostitutions and seven feelings
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "righteousness is stored in the body, and evil cannot be done." "Righteousness" is the immune function and resistance of modern medicine, and righteousness exists in our body. "Evil" is the cause of disease. Traditional Chinese medicine roughly divides the pathogenic factors into two categories: the six external evil qi (wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, and fire), and the seven internal emotions (joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock).
Under normal circumstances, the "six prostitutions" are called the "six qi", which are the six different climatic changes in nature, the conditions for the growth of all things, and are harmless to the human body. When the climate change is abnormal, the occurrence of the six qi is too or too late, or there is its own qi at different times (e.g., spring should be warm and cold, autumn should be cool and hot, etc.), and the climate change is too rapid (such as hot and cold), when the body's righteous qi is insufficient and the resistance is reduced, the six qi can become a pathogenic factor and invade the human body to cause diseases. In this case, the six qi become the "six prostitutions", also known as the "six evils", which belong to a class of pathogenic factors of external diseases.
The "seven feelings" are people's mental state, and they are people's different reflections of objective things, which will not cause people to get sick under normal circumstances. However, sudden, intense, or long-term emotional stimulation may lead to disease if it exceeds the normal range of human physiological activity. It is a major causative factor in internal injuries.
Therefore, health preservation should be achieved to "avoid six prostitutions, but seven emotions".
The law is in yin and yang, and it conforms to nature
The law in yin and yang is to live according to the laws of change in nature, such as working at sunrise, resting at sunset, and appropriately increasing or removing clothing with seasonal changes.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the dynamic balance of yin and yang is the foundation of health and the guarantee of normal life and physiological activities. The internal cause of the occurrence, development and change of diseases is the prosperity or decline of yin and yang, and people may feel six sexual immorality externally or seven emotions internally. The treatment of diseases is to correct the imbalance of yin and yang, make up for its deficiencies, relieve its excess, and restore the relative balance of yin and yang.
A healthy human body is in a state of dynamic balance of yin and yang. As long as we don't do anything that harms it, the body can function normally. Therefore, it is very important to follow the law in yin and yang and conform to nature. For example, during the day, when the sun is strong, the physiological function of the human body is mainly excited, and at night, the physiological function of the human body is mainly inhibited. If you often stay up late, or if black and white are reversed, such a rhythm of life violates the laws of nature and is not good for your health.
Source: Elderly Health News
Text: Wang Guowei, Chief Physician of the Department of Internal Medicine, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University
Curator: Zheng Yingfan
Editor: Wang Qianhui and Yang Zhenyu
Proofreader: Guan Zhongyao
Review: Xu Bingnan, Yang Lichun