During The Twelfth Lunar Month, Villagers Benefited From Listening To Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Teach About Winter Diet And Health Care.
On February 6th, during the twelfth lunar month, the cold wind was blowing and it was extremely cold. However, inside the Zhouzi Health Station of Tuqiao Community Health Service Center in Jiangning District, Nanjing City, the situation was different.
The place is full of warmth and the atmosphere is lively. A special lecture is being held, with the theme of "Traditional Chinese Medicine's Ways of Oxygen Storage in Winter – Warm Up and Accumulate Energy for a Healthy Winter".
The lecture was extremely attractive and attracted many surrounding residents. The venue was packed with people. Everyone wanted to hear how to adapt to the season and survive the current winter safely.
"Winter storage" is the core essence of health preservation
The speaker of this lecture is a doctor named Ma Zhizhang from the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the Center.
He got straight to the point, starting with the classic theory of traditional Chinese medicine and explaining that winter is a time in nature when all things are closed and hidden, and corresponding to the human body, this is a critical period for "hiding essence".
Dr. Ma explained that in plain language, the so-called "storage" means to store the body's energy and essence, so as to reduce unnecessary consumption, in order to lay a solid foundation for hair growth in the next spring.
If there is excessive consumption in winter, it will be as if the trees have not stored nutrients in their roots, and it will be difficult to achieve luxuriant branches and leaves in the next year.
This "hiding" process plays a vital role in improving physical fitness and preventing various diseases, especially respiratory diseases and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Keeping warm and keeping out the cold, these three parts are the key
When it comes to how to "hide", Dr. Ma first emphasized the importance of keeping warm. However, keeping warm is not as simple as wrapping yourself in a rice dumpling. There is something different about it.
There is a person who specifically emphasized that there are three places that need to be protected in a specific situation. These three places are: head, back, and feet.
According to the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine, "the head is regarded as the place where all Yang should gather". If the head is attacked by ice, Yang Qi is particularly likely to be lost; "the back is regarded as the category of Yang, and the abdomen belongs to the category of Yin". There are the Governor Channel and the Bladder Meridian on the back. Once these key meridians are affected by cold, all the yang energy in the whole body will be damaged; and as far as the discussion of "cold spreads from the feet" is concerned, the feet are far from the heart, and the speed of blood circulation is relatively slow, making them more susceptible to invasion by cold evil.
He suggested to residents that they should wear a hat when going out, wear a vest to protect their back, and soak their feet in warm water at night to promote blood circulation. These are simple but extremely effective ways to keep warm.
Be careful about taking supplements and avoid blindly following the trend.
Faced with one of the various questions and answers that residents are most concerned about, that is, "Should we engage in a large number of particularly high-level nourishing behaviors in winter?" Dr. Ma gave an unambiguous answer. It is indeed beneficial to adopt moderate nourishing behaviors in winter, but it must be decided based on the conditions of different people."
He explained that human physiques include Qi deficiency, blood deficiency, yin deficiency, and yang deficiency. If supplements are taken carelessly without distinguishing between constitutions, for example, if a person with yin deficiency and fire exuberance consumes a large amount of warming supplements, it will "add fuel to the fire".
He suggested that when people eat in winter, they can moderately increase certain warm foods, such as mutton, beef, walnuts and longan. However, the key point is to achieve a balance. Grains, vegetables and fruits are also indispensable.
If you want to use medicated food for conditioning, it is best to consult a professional Chinese medicine practitioner in advance.
Exercise should be gentle and avoid sweating profusely
How to exercise in winter?
The suggestion was given by Dr. Ma, and the content is "Movement will generate Yang", but there are additional conditions, that is, "But do not disturb Yang", which is its complete expression.
What it means is that exercise can promote the growth of yang energy. However, exercise performed in winter should be limited to gentleness and slight sweating. For example, these include Tai Chi, Baduanjin, walking, etc.
Avoid strenuous exercise like in the summer that can cause you to sweat profusely.
Since Chinese medicine holds the understanding that "sweat is the fluid of the heart", excessive sweating will cause the body fluid and yang energy to be consumed and damaged, which is contrary to the principle of "storage" in winter.
He encouraged residents to choose a sunny and relatively warm afternoon period to carry out outdoor activities, and the time should be controlled to about 30 minutes.
Interactive Q&A to resolve residents’ health concerns
The interactive session after the lecture pushed the atmosphere to a climax.
Residents raised their hands and asked one question after another.
Faced with questions that are close to real life, such as "How to treat chronic bronchitis in winter?", "What should patients with hypertension pay attention to in winter?", "Are there any dietary remedies suitable for the whole family?", etc., Dr. Ma and the medical staff on site patiently and meticulously answered each one.
They did not use complicated medical terminology, but used real-life examples and metaphors to explain professional health knowledge clearly, eliminating many health confusions in everyone's mind, and completing effective answers to public health cognition.
Handbook gifts to bring health knowledge home
As the activity came to an end, the staff distributed the carefully compiled "Winter Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Manual" to each participant.
This manual is presented with pictures and texts. Its content includes the basic principles of winter health care, as well as the prevention and treatment of common diseases. It also adds a variety of relatively simple and easy-to-implement recommendations for medicinal diets and teas. This makes it convenient for residents to take it home and refer to it at any time.
We regard these thoughtful arrangements as an incentive for people to participate in the activities, and we hope that everyone can effectively apply the knowledge they have learned to their daily lives and achieve the unity of knowledge and action.
A lecture titled "Traditional Chinese Medicine's Ways of Oxygen Storage in Winter" was like a warm current, injecting warmth and care into the cold winter.
It is not just a one-way transfer of knowledge to residents, but it focuses on showing the importance of grassroots medical services towards community residents and focusing on health.
Now that the activity has ended, the people in Zhouzi Village are still feeling unfinished in their hearts. They all expressed that such health lectures are really "down to earth". Through it, they have really mastered the methods of health preservation, and they are full of expectations that in the days to come, more health services of this kind can be delivered to their doorsteps, thereby protecting everyone's safety and health.
