Summer wellness starts with the heart

  The ancient people pay attention to the changes of the four seasons, spring and summer to nourish Yang, autumn and winter to nourish Yin. In “Suwen – Six Sections of the Tibetan Elephant”, it is said that “the heart is the essence of life, the change of the gods, and its flower is in the face, its fullness in the blood, the sun in the Yang, through the summer qi”. Chinese medicine believes that summer is fire and is connected to the heart, so summer health care is focused on nourishing the heart.  In summer, the sunshine is abundant, the temperature rises, and everything in nature grows vigorously, so summer is the most vigorous season of Yang Qi and the period of vigorous metabolism of the human body. Therefore, it is important to nourish the heart in the hot summer. Hot weather, easy to make people irritable, angry and angry, easy to cause internal fire, therefore, summer heart a avoid liver fire, try to avoid anger, anxiety, depression; two avoid heart fire, reduce heart annoyance, chagrin, restlessness. Summer heat, it is advisable to meditate and nourish the mind, to maintain a calm, stable emotions, avoid emotional ups and downs, to maintain a calm and quiet mind, to prevent irritability on fire, the heart is quiet and naturally cool.  In the diet, summer days are long and nights are short, so people should go to bed late and get up early in accordance with nature. At the same time, the summer heat, physical exertion during the day, many people will feel sleepless at night, easy to wake up, the next day will not be invigorated. Therefore, napping is particularly important to make up for the sleep, so that the body and mind are fully rested. Nap to start half an hour after the meal, sleep time to half an hour is appropriate. Those who have insomnia at night should not nap. The diet should be mild and light, not cold. According to the principle of “nourishing Yang in spring and summer”, it is advisable to have a mild diet in summer. Too much heat and pungency will create heat and deplete qi and fluid. If it is too cold, it will produce phlegm and trap the spleen and hurt the yang. In summer, you can eat foods with bitter taste, bitter taste into the heart, clear the summer heat to lower the heart fire. A light diet can promote appetite and facilitate digestion.  Exercise in summer to protect Yang Qi, should not do strenuous exercise during the day, too much sweating will hurt Yang Qi. Exercise time should be chosen in the early morning or evening when the weather is cool, the activity site should be selected in the riverside, lakeside, park courtyard and other fresh air, the environment is open and open. Summer exercise should pay attention to the amount of exercise should not be too much, the intensity should not be too high, the frequency should not be too fast. Taijiquan, walking, etc. are more suitable for summer health exercise. Moderate exercise, static and dynamic, moving to nourish the form, static to nourish the spirit, the unity of movement, the form and the spirit.  Summer heart should also pay attention to do not greedy cool, should not stay in the air-conditioned room for a long time, or too much to eat cold food, drink cold drinks. To use air conditioning, air conditioning indoor and outdoor temperature difference is too large, in and out of hot and cold alternately easy to cause people to catch a cold. The use of air conditioning for too long, so that people’s pores closed, sweat discharge is not smooth, affecting the normal metabolism. Try not to use air conditioning at night when you sleep, it is easy to catch a cold or diarrhea after getting cold.