How to prevent children from getting sick less in autumn and winter?

  Many children have good health in summer, but once the weather turns cooler they start to get sick with fever, cough, etc. They often cannot go to school on time and parents are extremely troubled, so how to prevent it? I hope that the following explanation can solve the parents’ problems and avoid incorrect care and treatment to hurt the child again.  The weather gradually turns cooler in autumn and winter, the natural plant growth slows down trees begin to fall leaves, showing a stern atmosphere, the five elements show the characteristics of gold. Gold qi downward normal then the weather is normal, gold qi does not descend then manifested as autumn dryness.  The human body is also the same, autumn lung qi normal decline will not be sick. In children, the lungs are often deficient and the descending force is insufficient, which easily causes coughing. At the same time, these children are more likely to cough if some reason prevents the lung qi from descending. The main factor that hinders the descent of the Lung Qi is Dampness. Dampness blocks the Middle Qi, which cannot descend, and the Fire Qi in the upper part of the body cannot descend, and the Fire kicks the Gold, which injures the Lung Qi, hence the cough. Where does dampness come from? In the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, it is said that when dampness is injured in autumn, a cough is born in winter. We should pay attention to this from summer, when the middle qi is most important. Children’s middle qi is the weakest and easily injured, and summer is the weakest season of the year. Cold drinks and cold foods are the culprits that hinder the operation of the middle qi. The current popularity of cold drinks for children to salivate, children often eat for poor appetite, often a burst of stomach pain, some children vomit, the face is white and blue, the root of the bridge of the nose that is often green, stools will be hard like goat poop ball, some children have thin and unshaped stools, all kinds of performance is damp obstruction of the qi, not running smoothly. When these children encounter slight changes in weather, they will easily develop fever and fear of cold, etc. Many children have tonsillitis or pus related to this.  Based on the above discussion, we find that regardless of autumn and winter, the culprits of children’s fever, fear of cold, cough and other diseases are surprisingly all in summer and in the voltaic days after autumn, which is where the principle of winter diseases and summer treatment lies. An interesting phenomenon is that people living in the countryside have the habit of taking everything out of the house, including quilts, clothes, food, etc., to dry once in the sun, so that they can spend the winter in peace, and nature is really wonderful, and there will be so many days of abnormally dry and hot weather after autumn, providing people with this opportunity. In fact, the human body is the same, people want to “sun” out of moisture at this time, of course, not to let everyone go to the sun, but to clear the spleen and stomach wet, to avoid wet blocking the middle qi, to avoid autumn and winter illness.  So understanding this issue, how exactly to avoid dampness blocking the middle qi or how to remove dampness from the body?  The middle qi is most afraid of dampness, and dampness arises immediately after the middle qi is injured. So the most important measure is to avoid cold drinks in summer, keep the spleen and stomach functioning normally, and eat a warm, light and easily digestible diet. Many parents say that their children have those symptoms mentioned above how to do, you can try to restore the function of the spleen and stomach middle qi, first of all, food therapy with yam, coix seeds, white lentils, etc. added to cook porridge. Secondly, children younger than 4 years old can be treated with Tui Na, which is effective. The tui-na points can be chosen to transport the spleen and earth, i.e., the radial side of the thumb, rubbing the pancreatic door, i.e., the large fish interval; rubbing the tianshu, rubbing the navel, rubbing the abdomen, pressing and rubbing the foot three li, and kneading the spine. Usually children can get better with these measures, more serious children may need Chinese herbal medication.  So seize the time after autumn, to protect the middle qi, remove dampness, is the key to autumn and winter children do not get sick, like the old generation of the family sun, “sun” out of the child’s body dampness, the middle qi spleen and stomach more robust, in order to pass the winter peacefully.