People often say that "the head should be cold, the feet should be warm", and this saying actually contains a profound health wisdom, that is, the upper part of the human body should be cooler, and the lower part should be warmer.
However, due to various reasons, many people's bodies have become "hot at the top and cold at the bottom", and yin and yang are reversed.
What's going on with the body being hot and cold? How to correct it? "Life Times" (search "LT0385" in WeChat to follow) invites TCM experts to answer you in detail.
Experts interviewed
Huang Suiping, a famous traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Guangdong Province and an academic leader of the Department of Spleen and Stomach Diseases of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Hu Suiyu, Chief Physician of the Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
What's going on with the body being "hot at the top and cold at the bottom"?
Whether a person is cold or hot is often not so clear. Clinical findings show that many people have both cold and heat, which is "cold and heat syndrome".
Huang Suiping, a famous traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Guangdong Province, said that the "cold and heat syndrome" can be subdivided into upper and lower cold and heat mixed and the surface and inside cold and heat, the former is more common in internal injuries and miscellaneous diseases, and the latter is more common in external diseases. Among them, "upper heat and lower cold" is the most common clinical syndrome type.
When the yin and yang are balanced, the heart, lungs, and yang energy located on the upper part of the human body can be transferred to the bottom, warming the five internal organs; The yin of the liver and kidneys, which is located in the lower coke of the human body, can also be turned upwards to nourish the heart, lungs and even the whole body. In this case, the person will not be afraid of heat or cold.
On the contrary, if the yin and yang are unbalanced, the upper and lower surfaces are not connected, the yang energy cannot dive, and the yin water cannot be nourished, which will lead to heat and cold.
A common symptom of "hot at the top and cold at the bottom".
Huang Suiping introduced that there are corresponding manifestations of hot and cold, such as:
Typical symptoms of upper heat are recurrent mouth ulcers, swollen and sore gums, sore throat, acne on the face, difficulty sleeping, easy insomnia, and lack of replenishment (once supplemented, it will become hot);
The cold is manifested as diet temperature tolerance but not cold tolerance, unformed stool, soreness and cold waist and knees, cold hands and feet, edema of the lower limbs, frequent urination, female dysmenorrhea, etc.
People who are hot at the top and cold at the bottom have 4 habits
In fact, "the heat goes up, the cold goes down" is the law of nature, and normal people will not have the phenomenon of polarization of cold and heat.
However, if the living habits are not good, it will hurt the internal organs, which will lead to an imbalance of yin and yang, and a syndrome of upper heat and lower cold. Huang Suiping gave a few simple examples:
No.1
Use your brain a lot
Modern people think too much, when they think about things with their brains, a large amount of qi and blood will be led upward, and the lower body will be insufficient.
No.2
Less exercise
Many people can lie down without sitting, can sit without standing, go out either by car or in a car, and the exercise is seriously insufficient, resulting in qi stagnation and blood stasis, qi and blood can not flow smoothly throughout the body, and after a long time, it will be cold and hot.
No.3
Do not avoid the cold
The most typical lifestyle is to blow the air conditioner for a long time, eat cold drinks often, avoid the sun for sun protection, and love to wear crop tops.
According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the yin water in the lower coke of the human body should be transferred to the upper coke, relying on the rise and spread of the spleen, just as the water in the river should evaporate through the irradiation of the sun.
If there is a large amount of cold and dampness in the body, it is necessary to mobilize a large amount of yang energy in the spleen and kidney organs to warm the cold and dampness.
No.4
Greasy diet
If our body is like a machine, food is the source of energy that keeps the machine running.
If you eat too much high-sugar, high-fat, and high-cholesterol foods, you will consume more energy than the body needs, which will accumulate in the body and hinder the middle focus (below the diaphragm and above the umbilicus, including the spleen and stomach).
Once the middle coke is blocked, there will be problems such as stomach qi not dropping, spleen qi not rising, kidney qi not hiding, etc., which will eventually lead to fire in the upper coke and cold in the lower coke.
In addition, staying up late and feeling bad are also the causes of heat and cold.
The key is to build bridges
It is not difficult to see that the upper heat and lower cold are caused by the impassability of the middle focus, the yin prevails in the bottom, and the yang floats in the top, and the key to the problem is to open up the bridge in the middle - the middle focus, that is, the part below the diaphragm and above the umbilicus, including the spleen and stomach.
When the spleen qi rises, the stomach qi rises, the kidney qi and liver qi rise, and the stomach qi descends, the heart qi and lung qi both fall, so that the upper and lower qi can be smoothly connected, and yin and yang can be connected smoothly with each other.
In terms of daily conditioning, TCM experts have given some methods.
1
Appropriate diet
Usually you can drink tangerine peel water, woody tea to awaken the spleen and appetize, strengthen the spleen and regulate qi, the specific method is: take 3~5 grams of tangerine peel or woody incense, boiling water to brew and drink frequently.
The kidney is the "fever organ" of the human body, in order to alleviate the heat and cold, we should pay attention to nourishing the kidney, you can use the method of flat supplement, and often eat wolfberry, peanut, black sesame, mulberry and other medicinal and edible food.
2
Make it a good habit to exercise
If you want to balance yin and yang in the human body, a good lifestyle is indispensable. It is recommended to go to bed early and get up early, and strengthen exercise every day, but the intensity should not be too large, and half an hour is appropriate.
3
Try a sauna
For people who are obviously hot and cold, you can try sauna to expel excess moisture from the body, but not too often, just steam once a week or two. However, it is not recommended for men to take a sauna frequently.
4
Soak your feet in warm water
Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes that "cold starts from the feet", and it is recommended to soak your feet in warm water at about 40°C every night before going to bed to dispel the cold of the whole body.
After soaking, including daily life, you can rub the spring points on the soles of your feet, which can lead the fire down and warm your hands and feet.
5
moxibustion
Through moxibustion, the middle focus is opened, so that the fire of the body can come down and the water can go, so as to warm the whole body.
Generally, the lower body is mainly taken from the acupoint, which helps to warm the yang and nourish the kidneys while leading the fire downward, and it is easier to achieve the balance of cold and heat. Moxibustion is best done under the guidance of Chinese medicine.
It should be noted that for people who are hot and cold, they cannot simply use cold medicine to reduce fire, so as not to add cold to cold, deficiency to deficiency, and enter a vicious circle. ▲