As human beings, we need to be prepare for the high humidity in this season. We may not be able to change the season but we can do things to adjust our condition to fit into the season and the universal energy. One of the major health issue in this season is neuralgia such as intercostal neuralgia, sciatica and trigeminal neuralgia.
Nerve related pain is usually considered as "emotional pain" in TCM, so keep a good emotional condition is the basic. Avoid strong emotional impact, especially anger. Also,TCM believe that moisture (dampness) is one of the major causes for this kind of pain, along with cold and heat; they team up to harm the body and create energy stagnations, sometimes also known as "arthritis". Even though during day time the temperature can be high, but in the early morning and late night it can still be cold. Therefore make sure still be cautious about adjusting your clothes. Stay warm when it's cold and stay active when it's warm, then the conditions for neuralgia will not meet and you will be pain-free. Another issue in spring is allergy, TCM believe this is also cold related. There are internal cold in our body, and symptoms such as tearing and sneezing are our body's self-protection behavior. I have an old post about this topic. Both issues have a common cause which is cold. This can be the "leftover" cold from the winter, which is already in you; and new cold from the spring, which can be avoided. So our suggestion for you is to try to increase your internal temperature, and drinking warm water is the easiest way. Here we are talking about water that is warmer than your body temperature, so "room temperature" usually doesn't qualify. Also, again, dress accordingly.
During the last 18 days of ever big season, our stomach and spleen will be at very high energy level too. So this is also the good time to take advantage of our high digestive energy. If you find your appetite getting better, don't be nervous, enjoy it and eat some good food instead. As the digestive energy is high, we are able to consume some food that we may not be able to in the past days. Especially for those who are trying to lose weight, starving oneself has been proven being the wrong way to lose weight. We mentioned that often our weight is caused by incomplete digestion. So in order to lose the weight, you must first eat more good food to "supply" your digestion system. So this is the good time to take care of your stomach and you will be surprised that you may lose weight by eating more.
Several common food are recommended, which include spinach, bean sprout, Chinese yam, bamboo shoot, buckwheat, millet, black sesame and other kind of bean or seed produces. Still, eat less sour but more sweet, and a little spicy food.
