Follow These TCM Daily Tips for Health & Wellness
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an ancient principle that focuses on restoring balance to the body.
TCM has a plethora of health tips to improve your overall well-being, weight, and pain issues.
In most cases, people only seek medical attention when they have fallen sick. But TCM takes a more preventive approach to illnesses, and it often preaches a healthy lifestyle that prevents you from falling sick in the first place.
Let’s have a look at these TCM health tips.
Have a Proper Sleep
According to the TCM 24-hour circadian clock theory, sleep is an important aspect of TCM.
It is not enough to only get 8 hours of sleep – the time go you go to sleep is important as well. This is because between 11 pm to 3 am, qi is drawn inwards as the body recuperates. This process is completed between 1 am to 3 am, where your liver and gallbladder system has cleansed the blood and detoxify the system.
Eat More Warm Cooked Food
In TCM, food is viewed in the same context as medicine and given the same importance as well. Eating a proper diet ensures your body always stays in the pink of health.
Contrary to modern culture, TCM favors warm cooked food over cold raw food. Although raw salads and cold smoothies are touted for their health benefits in the western culture, TCM believes these foods are harder for the stomach to digest and requires more energy to break down.
People suffering from bloating and gastrointestinal problems may find cold, uncooked foods to be aggravating. Instead, they would benefit from incorporating more steamed or boiled food into their diet.
Cut Down on Sugary & Oily Foods
Dampness in the body is also another common problem with eating the wrong diet. Consuming excessive amounts of sugary and oily foods such as cheese, flour and sugar creates dampness in the body and obstructs qi flow through the body.
This leads to excessive mucus production, constipation, joint pain, and obesity. One way to eliminate dampness is by eating more vegetables to flush out the toxins and eating more rice, which absorbs the dampness while cleansing the body.
Eat Herbs That Expel Heatiness
Adapting one’s lifestyle to the seasons is not a new concept and is the most basic way humans used to live off the planet. Each season brings about change and affects our bodies differently. For instance, Yang energy is high during springtime, and so is the temperature! Due to the rise in temperature, some people may easily become overheated or experience dampness.
To counter this effect, take more foods that expel heatness, such as barley, chrysanthemum, mulberry leaves, dandelion and honeysuckle.
Keep Certain Body Parts Warm
You’ve probably heard of people advising you to keep certain body parts warm.
The nape of the neck and chest area are particularly sensitive to cold temperatures. Leaving these body areas exposed could allow wind and cold to enter the body and cause cold and other illnesses. Another body part that should always be kept warm is your feet, due to the myriad of nerve endings found in the soles of the foot.
These nerve endings also consist of various acupressure points where qi flows through, and keeping your feet warm promotes better blood circulation, which in turn encourages healthy qi flow.
TCM Treatments for Health
In TCM, the human body contains qi, a vital life force running through the body. When qi is balanced, qi flows naturally through the body’s meridian channels, also known as acupuncture points.
When qi is lacking in certain areas or imbalanced, pain and illnesses occurs. Acupuncture is a TCM technique that restores harmony to qi flow. In acupuncture, single-use sterile needles are used to stimulate acupuncture points in the body to clear energy blockages and promote healing.
Other TCM techniques that operate on the same principles, but without needles, include Tuina massage, moxibustion, herbal spa, cupping, and guasha.