Reporter: What do the people call “bitter summer”, from the perspective of Chinese medicine, what is it? Li Xiaolin: Bitter summer is often manifested as a lack of appetite, general lethargy, weakness, loose stools and other physical discomfort based on digestive system symptoms. Because summer is the time when the spleen and stomach are weakest, and it happens that the hot weather causes many people to crave cold, sleep late, and rest poorly, which further depletes Yang energy and hurts the spleen and stomach, so those symptoms of the so-called bitter summer appear. Therefore, the herbs used for summer conditioning are mainly for regulating the spleen and stomach. Reporter: So, how can I spend a summer without taking medicine? Li Xiaolin: The four seasons of Chinese medicine are different. The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine says that “spring and summer nurture yang, autumn and winter nurture yin”, which means that spring and summer should pay attention to protecting yang energy. In fact, instead of interpreting “nourishing” here as supplementing, it should be understood as maintaining. Because spring and summer are the time when Yang Qi develops and Qi and blood flow outward, resulting in a lack of internal Yang Qi, it is more important to protect the Yang Qi of the spleen and stomach. First of all, you should be careful not to consume late in your life routine. The long days of summer, coupled with high temperatures, many people unknowingly stay up late into the night. Whether it’s working overtime, or friends gathering, summer tends to drag on later than other seasons, and even the streets are still busy at midnight, there are a lot of cool people, in fact, this is very hurtful in the eyes of Chinese medicine. This is the season of Yang Qi leakage, if not earlier rest, the consumption of Yang Qi will be more, more loss. Secondly, the heat is not too cold. The food, just out of the hot meal to cool a little is okay, but pay attention to avoid drinking frozen cold drinks, eating things just out of the refrigerator. Especially at night, after the sun goes down, people’s Yang Qi is weaker, if dinner eat too greasy, meat dishes, and a lot of sweet and spicy food, plus cold drinks, etc., so that the spleen and stomach burden increased, bad digestion. In addition, sleeping with the air conditioner on at night is not conducive to the conservation of Yang Qi, so try not to open the air conditioner for a long time, and try to use natural ventilation to reduce the room temperature after nightfall. The four distinct seasons give people different feelings, in line with the seasonal changes, the human body itself is also beneficial. For example, sweating in the summer is the heat and toxins that have accumulated in the body over the last year. If you stay in the air-conditioned environment all day, the body should be discharged from the body can not be brought out by sweat, stagnation in the internal, it may become a disease-causing factors, is not conducive to health. Therefore, do not overwork sweat, but should also be appropriate to sweat. Reporter: In recent years, people are paying more and more attention to food for health, such as eating more “bitter” in summer and eating more things to remove fire. Li Xiaolin: It is indeed very good to eat bitter melon in summer, it has the effect of clearing heat and appetite. But bitter melon should also be eaten – not raw, you need to blanch it with hot water, or stir-fry; put less chili pepper, or garlic, in line with the Chinese medicine “spicy open bitter down” – spicy and The combination of spicy and bitter, which is conducive to the unblocking of qi and the lowering of turbidity and catharsis. In fact, the traditional way of eating and matching, many are very reasonable. For example, the most common summer cold dish pat cucumber, but also to put some garlic and vinegar, not only sterilization, and pungent garlic can neutralize the cold cucumber, vinegar and warming effect of the stomach, eat together does not hurt the spleen and stomach and refreshing. In addition to paying attention to the mix, summer diet should be lighter, try not to add burden to the spleen and stomach in a weakened state. “Five grains for nourishment, five vegetables for filling, five fruits for help, five animals for benefit”, this is the dietary standards of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, the order here indicates the degree of importance – staple foods and vegetables are the most basic, but also the most important, can eat more. The meat, eggs, milk and health products that dominate the modern Western diet are, in our opinion, things that burden the spleen and stomach and are not suitable for consumption in large quantities.