Friday, January 21, 2011

Healthy life is the balance between dynamic and static

    It's been cold the past couple days as the season "severe cold" arrived yesterday. I truly felt the meaning of being "frozen", even my breath. As I suggested early that winter is a season for "storing", so we can then have good amount of energy to "born" well in the spring. Human beings are creatures with wisdom but just like many animals and plants, they are still part of the universe. The universe has a great energy pattern and that is to born in the spring, to grow in the summer, to withdrawal in the fall and to store in the winter. And this is the basic principle for health preservation. It's simple, you follow it, you live a healthy life because the universal energy is helping you. In contrast if you go against it you are going to have some hard time.
    
    Recently with these ideas in mind I had been paying more attention to people who are active. Either I will hear how do they plan to work out and exercise or, as I drove by couple fitness centers, I actually saw people working out hard and walking out of the gym to their cars in shorts or Capris. It's clear to me that after I have been learning about health preservation I want to try my best to follow the universal rule and share the knowledge with people. Therefore here I want to say again, that a good rest in winter time is way better that a good work out.
    
    The media and information have been acting as great driving force that makes many believe that a healthy life comes from exercise.  The statement is true under the condition that a person is exercising at the right time, right place and in the right way. And the universe knows that so it gives you seasons. You have at least 182.5 days out of the 365 to exercise. And the other 182.5 days are what makes your body capable to exercise. So for those who are trying to work out hard and sweat hard in this season right now, my opinion is that you are doing more damage to your body than helping it, because I'm sure if you are trying hard to work out even in this season then you won't stay at home for sure when the weather gets even better. True, that being active in good weather is you following the rule of the universe, but when do you thinking you are "recharging" yourself? 

    I understand that everyone is different, many people were born with lots energy and very active. In that case if they have already developed the habit of exercise all year round then stay that way is just fine for them. But most of us were born and grow with a normal health condition, some of us even got sick and weak for whatever reason. If you happen to be the "normal" people then you should follow the rules of universe.

   We all know how terrible we feel if we did not sleep the night before. So think about it, can you go work out at 2 am and work out again at 2 pm? If you say "no" then think again, can you work out in the winter and still work out in the summer?

    The ancient wisdom had taught us that an ideal state is always a balanced state. When things go extreme they will backfire at themselves. Same thing with health, a healthy people cannot stay either dynamic or static perpetually. Like the famous saying: when storm comes, hard trees will break but the soft grass survives. So sometime it's a better idea to be the "soft grass" than being the "hard tree".

Monday, January 17, 2011

January 20th, 2011, "Severe Cold", the 6th small Winter season,last small season of the year, arrives

    “Severe Cold" is the last season of the year, although the temperature may not be as "severe" as the past seasons, still it's "cold".As the coldness reaches its extreme it will start to die down, therefore it will be the last strike for the cold energy. The heat that the earth saved from the past year has reaches its end as well, plus the sunlight is limited. Cold air travels south often thus create very windy weather. Till this the moment, the earth is frozen.


    Although the season changes the rule of health preservation stays the same. To merge into the season and flow with it is not simply being passive; instead this is indeed a very active activity. As long as we understand and follow the rule of the universe, there is no way for illness to attack us.
    
    "Severe cold" is a very windy and cold season. Wind is the main element of Spring, and cold of course is of winter. So this is another transitional season, between winter and spring. It can also be a season mixed with some really brutal wind chilled days and some warm and sunny days. Wind-cold combination is the most harmful one for human body. Therefore besides taking care of the winter organs (kidney and bladder), we also need to work on the spring organs (liver and gall bladder) to help the Yang energy rise up to protect us from the cold and wind. Also this will help smoothing our emotion as liver is a very "emotional" organ. If the liver energy is too low it can make people depressed, but if the liver energy is too much then the person tends to get angry easy. Again, during this transitional season,the lack of sunshine and Yang energy will make many depressed, meanwhile the strong wind energy may make many angry and frustrated.  
    
     This is also a very dry season. If there are some precious sunny days, the best time for outdoor activities is early afternoon. Make sure you still cover yourself well while enjoying the sun. A humidifier can be a good choice for your house as well. There is also a thing called "cold emission" that usually comes from your cold wall.Researches have shown that when the wall temperature is 6 ℃ lower than room temperature, a person can feel the cold 50 centimeter away from the wall. This subtle cold is as harmful as the cold you can clearly feel anywhere else. It may cause slow blood circulation or even stagnation therefore lead to muscle pain, high blood pressure, arthritis and other cold-related issues. So make sure move your sofa or bed a bit further from the cold wall. 


    For seniors, try to get to bed earlier and get up later. Do not sweat even if you are doing physical exercises. Again, make sure to keep your feet warm and try to do foot bath every night before you go to bed.


    This is still a high season for cold and respiratory illness. If you happen to be the victim, here is a simply remedy for you to kick out the cold you caught without taking antibiotic. The "ginger-brown sugar tea": boil ginger and brown sugar together and drink it hot. (This is very effective for early stage sickness that cause by cold only. You still need to seek professional medical help in time if there are other symptoms.)
    
    Other than these, you have had a great winter so far and here is the last stage. Have a great mood and prepare for the incoming spring energy. Yes, the temperature may still be low, but the earth is waking up, so is our Yang energy.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Regarding "sub-healthy" or "subhealth condition"

   The following article is quoted directly from "http://www.easternherb.com", please read it before we move on:
  
ARE YOU SUB-HEALTHY?Ching-Yao Shi, Lic.Acu.;Dipl. OM                 01/102006
For years we have believed we were either healthy or sick. However, during the  mid-90s, scientists developed a new concept called “Sub-healthy”, a status between health and illness. Sub-healthy has become popular because it has helped to explain many health problems. According to one study, only 5.6% of people in the overall population are actually sick, whereas the sub-healthy group consists of about 60%, and the remaining population is considered healthy. Awareness of one’s sub-healthy will help one to alert the underlying disease and will help one to remain healthier. Sub-Healthy is a state in which the body is either transitioning from health to illness or from illness to health. Our bodies are actively balancing the conditions of health, sub-health and disease. Factors like aging, internal or external toxicity,  body or mind exhaustion may cause  sub-health, but taking good care of the body can change a sub-healthy status to a healthy one.
The most common symptoms of sub-health include: intolerance of hot or cold, fatigue or exhaustion ; insomnia; low resistance or frequent flu.; body aches; bloating or other GI problems; fast weight gain; sluggish memory; hair loss; sexual libido…..  
The recommended standard of sub-healthy status is the persistence of one or more of the above symptoms for more than 3 months, along with no conclusive positive medical finding or diagnoses. Or can be a long term disease patient but the symptoms can not be explained by that disease. Patients who have chronic diseases may not be considered as sub-healthy ones if they keep them selves in a good condition.
In Chinese medicine, sub-health is an Imbalance of Yin and Yang; Chi and Blood and organs. Our bodies have 12 meridians that are energy pathways and where are the acupuncture effectives on. Free flow of energy (Chi) in the meridians ensures the organ’s health, as well as the body’s. The blockage of Chi causes different symptoms; for example, a Lung-meridian blockage may cause cough, and Heart-meridian insomnia. Normally, Chi blockage happens before the clinical symptom develops. It is important to note that it is this meridian energy sluggishness or blockage that causes the sub-health status. To solve this problem, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine work on two ways: they clear the meridian blockage or to strengthen the meridians from the attacks of the illness agents.
To regenerate sub-healthy back to a healthy state is to rebalance the organ meridians through acupuncture, herbal medicine, Qi-gong, massage, diet and exercise. It is very common that our patients are the healthiest ones in their families because a balanced body is a healthier body. To identify and treat sub-healthy is to prevent one from becoming seriously ill. Please be aware of and change your Sub-Healthy!

    Well, I think this is an idea that not too many of us are familiar with, but from my own background and knowledge, "sub-healthy" is a very "popular" concept in China and a very "popular" symptom in the USA. I agree with the main concept and most parts of this article but in my opinion, the "sub-healthy" condition is NOT "a status between health and illness". It's actually a illness status, meaning, you ARE sick when you are in the "sub-healthy" condition. This term is abused when there is something unexplainable by science or medical knowledge. A therapist is responsible for coming up with the treatment for it just like there are treatments for other illness. I'm against the idea of "disregarding" a person's feeling when they do feel sick only because the therapist is not able to explain it with his/her knowledge or the test results from machines. 
   One TCM doctor had an article about "sub-healthy" and he has a good theory about it. It says that the "sub-healthy" symptom has 3 stages:
  1. Yang energy Weakened: We have heard someone complains about some common syndromes like headache, drowsiness,  sleeping disorders or so, but all number and chart from the exam seems to be normal. Usually to a TCM doctor this kind of individual is diagnosed  as low in Yang energy.
  2. Low in "Qi": The term "Qi" here is more than just the translation "energy", it refers to a person's basic "life force". When a harmful force starts to affect the body,  it's in a “cruising" condition. It will travel to a place in the body where has the lowest "Qi" or "life force", then stays there and starts to cause "tangible" problems. Therefore, when we detect this condition we can simply adjust the "Qi" condition by adjust our usual life style and behaviors like doing reasonable diet, sleeping well and exercising right. That is what we usually called "health preservation". Again, the best therapy is preventive therapy.
  3. Blood stagnation: In the morning, check your tongue in the mirror, do you see any zigzag-looking bite marks from the teeth on the sides of your tongue? Well,this usually indicates that your liver or/and gall bladder system energy(blood related) may be imbalanced already. Now move the tip of your tongue up, look at the veins under the tongue. Do they look very dark? When a person reach this stage, yet the body exam results may not show anything out of standard. This is not an ideal stage for the person or the therapist. Because even though there is no onset yet, the condition has been established and the illness may start to outbreak anytime. This is usually when a person is really diagnosed with some testable illness.
   For example, take storm. If using scientific knowledge, lighting, thunder and rain happen at the same time. However, usually when we see the lighting, we will spontaneously cover our ears. This is like the first stage when we sense the symptom in ourselves, we should do something like covering our ears (preventive treatment) from the thunder(further symptom). If you didn't cover your ear then you are at stage 2, after you heard the thunder you know the rain (illness) is coming, so you run away and get covered (further treatment). If you are still in a open area, you are at stage 3, the rain arrives fast and you are soaked (testable illness).
    
    Therefore, there is no "sub-healthy" condition. Don't use this term on yourself or allow others to use this term on you to fool your body. And always remember, the best medicine is in your body and the best doctor is yourself. Listening to your own heart, words from others are aids not orders. I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to your therapists, but you should not let their words interfere with your true self. A healthy body is a balanced body and a healthy mind is a balanced mind. A healthy person is a person who has a balanced body and balanced mind. 

    "Everyone can do it". I trust myself when I say this. 
    
    Now is your turn.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Organ system hours

3-5am: Lungs
5-7am: Large Intestine
7-9am: Stomach
9-11am: Spleen
11am-1pm: Heart
1-3pm:Small Intestine
3-5pm: Bladder
5-7pm: Kidney
7-9pm: Pericardium
9-11pm: Triple Energizer
11pm-1am: Gall Bladder
1-3am:Liver

Monday, January 3, 2011

January 6th, 2011, "Moderate Cold", the 5th small Winter season arrives

    The next 2 seasons are "moderate cold" and "severe cold". From their names we can tell that "severe cold" will be colder than "moderate cold". But from meteorological recode, "moderate cold" had lower temperature than "severe cold", it is usually the coldest season of the year. In the article of "winter solstice" we talked about the "9-day" counting, as the 3rd 9-day is usually the coldest days and it falls into the "moderate cold" as well. Although during recent years there had been some "warm winters", we still need to be cautious about the coldness.
  
    Similar to any winter season, we need to keep storing our body Yang energy for the "growth" in next Spring. As the folk saying that "cold grows from the feet". Keeping the feet warm is particularly important in the season. TCM doctors believe that our feet reflex our organ conditions, on the other hands, by protecting our feet we are helping our organs to function better. Therefore to protect the feet is not a partial protection but a whole body protection in the winter. Again, the best way to do so is the "feet bath" we talked about before. To make it better, after the "feet bath", dry the feet well and rub the bottom of the feet. Another saying is "to live long, keep the head cool, keep the feet warm and keep the stomach 80% full". So after a lite dinner, before going to bed, do the feet bath and feet rub. Then the body will recharge itself very well from a great night of sleep.
  
    This is also the great time to exercise. People believe the hottest and coldest time of the year are the best time to do outdoor exercises. But this is strictly depends on the individual's body condition. Even the strongest people need to prepare well before the outdoor activities. If you like morning exercise, do it after the sun rise. And if the weather is severe such as snowy, foggy or windy, do not force yourself. As the temperature is very low, our blood vessels on the skin level are easily to get contracted. This will slow down our blood flow, increase the muscle viscosity and lower the flexibility of tender and ligament. Therefore without proper warm-up, it is very easy to have the body injured. So make sure you do the right warm-up before large amount exercises.  Make sure you adjust your clothes well. Dress more during warm-up and after exercise, and dress less during the main exercise.Again this method is NOT for everybody, it's only recommended for those who are in good body condition and without any health issues. Even for those who can do so, whenever there is discomfort please stop the exercise right way and do medical examination if necessary.


    One common problem in this season can be itchy skin, especially for seniors. Itchy skin can be caused by many other things. But, 100% cotton clothes is better than polyester on the skin. Also do not shower too often during coldest season. Usually once in 2-3 days is enough. Also the temperature of the water should not be too high. After shower, apply mild lotion to the entire body. Eat more fresh fruit, vegetable and  bean products.Avoid too much alcohol, thick tea , fried food, heavy food and spicy food. Make sure to do regular defecation. Also try to stay in a good mood, do not overspend energy, avoid being angry and irritable. Do proper exercise to increase skin metabolism and sweat secretion. When the skin is itchy, try not to scratch too hard as this can only worsen the skin condition in a long run. Here are couple folk remedies to treat itchy skin.
  1. Apple. Use fresh apple and cut into big pieces, use the apple to rub the itchy area. 3-5 times a day.
  2. Banana skin. Boil banana skin for 5 minutes, when the temperature drops to a comfortable degree, use towel to apply the liquid to the itchy area.
These are just some simple remedies for temporary control, if symptom remains or even worsens, you must seek necessary medical attention.


    After all, natural body energy is better than any others. We need to make sure to recharge the body properly by eat right, exercise right and most importantly in the winter, sleep right. Especially for younger people, even if you still have what it takes to stay up later and party hard, your body is over working and still need rest. So next time when you do have the choice of going out late and sleep early, choose sleep early, and you will find your body truly appreciated it.