Health Preservation Ideas at the Waking of Insects | 惊蛰养生

Let's look at some health preservation ideas for today march 5th, 2018. Today marks the Waking of Insects -惊蛰节气, which is the 3rd one of the 24 divisions of a solar year in China.

惊 means "awaken" and 蛰 means hibernation and hidden. Waking of Insects means that now the weather is warming up and the spring thunders are rolling, which awaken those hibernating insects .

In Beijing, the first thunder usually comes in spring and this idea of Spring Thunders is more about the climate around the Yangtze River Basin. Nevertheless, let's see if there are some health preservation ideas to use.

First of all, the weather is getting warmer, but sometimes, it could suddenly get back to the cold. So pay attention to the weather forecast and don't put on your skimpy clothes yet.

When the weather gets warmer, you may feel lassitude from time to time. The reason for that is, during the winter months, our blood vessels contract and pores are closed. Now the temperature is up, pores, sweat glands and blood vessels start to open, they need more blood supply for the peripheral body. Relatively less blood supply goes to the brain now. So we need to have enough sleep hours at night to avoid the sleepiness during the day.

In order to cultivate a happy mind and stay healthy now, according to The Yellow Emperor's Classic Of Internal Medicine, is to get up early in the morning, let down your hair and take a stroll in your yard with big-strides :) - 夜卧早起，广步于庭，披发缓行，以使志生.

In this season, we should spend more time outdoor to receive the sunlight (at least 20 minutes a day), stretch, join milder exercise such as walking, jogging, Taiji, five animal mimic boxing etc. These activities can comb liver Qi and prevent the liver fire flaming due to the yang energy rising in the nature. Spring is the season to nourish the liver organ, and you can go to your acupuncturist to have your liver meridian checked.

Don't eat cold foods. Anything goes into the mouth should be warm or room temperature. Warm doesn't only refer to the temperature of food, but also the nature of food. Warming food can strengthen our body's yang and disperse wind cold to prevent catching a cold, such as ginger, green onion, leek, garlic, parsley etc. Some spleen-strengthening food includes, glutinous rice, black rice, sorghum, oat, squash, walnut, chestnut etc.

This is the beginning of a prosperous year ahead, wish you happy and healthy .