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This summer, I had the opportunity to learn and shadow at a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital in Inner Mongolia called Shen Nong Hospital. This opportunity came about because my TCM doctor, Dr. Kun Liu, goes back to her hometown in Inner Mongolia every year to visit her family, and this year, I happen to be in China at the same time. She knows I'm a TCM enthusiast, so she asked if I'm interested in coming to learn at her father's hospital for a week. I totally jumped at the opportunity.
(Me in front of Shen Nong Chinese Medicine Hospital)
That week I learned a lot, and it's one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I wrote a detailed blog post about my experience here, but I know not everyone is into the details of TCM, so in this article, I'll just share some PSA (public service announcement) type health advice that I got from the doctors there. In summary, they are
Have good posture
After sitting for a while, get up and do some neck and shoulder stretches
Exercise enough
Eat a balanced diet suited to your body constitution
Avoid AC and cold wind directly blowing onto the skin, especially the neck and upper back
Cultivate positive emotions
Basically, I asked the doctors in each department there what the most common illnesses they treat are, and how people can prevent them. After all, we should take advantage of healthy times to prevent illness. By the time we do get ill, regret is already too late.
Massage Department: Neck, Shoulders, and Digestion
In the adult massage department, the doctor said, "90% of my patients come to me for shoulder and neck problems. I'm doing shoulder and neck massage almost all day. Sometimes I'll get patients with lower back problems or local injuries."
In terms of prevention, he said, "Prevention is really simple. Most people get shoulder and neck problems due to bad desk posture for a prolonged period of time. So #1 is to have good desk posture. #2 is after sitting down for a while, maybe 30-60 minutes, get up and stretch your neck and do some shoulder exercises for a few minutes. #3 don't have AC blowing directly onto your neck and back because that cold wind will enter the body and cause the muscles there to become tense, creating problems long-term."
I asked if there are any specific exercises to do. He said, "No, any are fine. It's not that complicated."
He then showed me some basic exercises, and indeed, it's just what you'd expect if you searched up "neck and shoulder exercises" on the internet.
In the child massage department, the doctor said most kids come to him for digestive issues (yes, TCM massage can aid digestion, and I do it for myself every day). I was surprised but also not surprised. Surprised by the fact that children already have digestive issues. But then not surprised because of the big fast food and takeout culture in modern society. This signals that as a society, we need to be more conscientious of our dietary habits. Less processed foods, fried foods, and restaurant foods. More natural foods, vegetables, and home-cooked foods. For more on healthy eating, check out this article: Healthy Eating 101 and TCM: Food and Cooking.
Moxibustion Department: Coldness and Digestion
Moxibustion is when a practitioner burns moxa sticks to apply heat onto specific acupoints or areas of the body. The body then absorbs the heat and herbal qualities of the moxa.
The human body needs heat, or what TCM calls "Yang", to function, and people who are deficient in Yang tend to have symptoms such as getting cold very easily, having cold hands and feet, easily tired, easily catches colds and flus, loose stools or diarrhea, and having a white coating on the tongue.
I asked the head doctor of the moxibustion department what the most common illnesses he treats are. He said that people usually come here for one of two reasons: deficiency in Yang and cold stomach. People can get deficient in Yang due to many factors, such as climatic factors (i.e., cold winter), poor diet, overwork, and old age (people's Yang energy decreases with age).
In terms of diet, eating too much cold-natured foods, cold-temperature foods, and raw foods all harm the stomach. Cold-temperature foods harm the stomach because the stomach needs heat to digest foods, and eating really cold foods will shock the body, causing it to suddenly need to direct a lot of heat towards the stomach, which is very stressful. Raw foods (e.g., raw salads) also harm the stomach because it is much harder to digest raw foods compared to cooked and soft foods, so raw foods create more "wear and tear" on the stomach.
Eating too much cold-natured foods will make the body cold, which includes the stomach, which of course reduces digestive power. In TCM, foods can be classified into five natures: cold, cool, neutral, warm, and hot.
For example, most fruits are cold, so eating a lot of raw fruits can lead to diarrhea. Of course, an appropriate amount is fine, especially in hot weather. Every person's body is different, so we cannot use one standard for everyone. But if you have a cold body constitution, then you should eat less cold-natured foods and more warm-natured foods, such as ginger, pepper, garlic, cinnamon, pumpkin, walnuts, etc. If you do eat cold-natured foods, you can mix in some warm-natured ones. For example, seafood tends to be cold, which is why Japanese people pair seafood with wasabi and ginger.
Of course, not everyone has a cold body constitution. Some people have an overly hot body constitution, which might lead to symptoms such as always feeling hot, hot hands and feet, dry mouth and nose, dry stools or constipation, oily face, acne (no wonder I used to get acne after eating fast food), bad breath, and a yellow coating on the tongue. This can be due to excess fried foods (deep-fried foods are very high in Yang), spicy foods, and alcohol. My doctor mentioned that a lot of westerns have excess Yang because of eating too much fast food, especially fried chicken (a double-whammy on Yang). For people who have excess Yang, eating some cold-natured foods would be helpful. The goal is always balance.
Healthy eating in TCM encompasses more than just warm or cold natures, and if you're interested in learning more, you can read this article: TCM Food And Cooking. I'll just mention a few more tips here:
Go for a short walk after meals to aid digestion. Don't sit down right away.
Eat until 70-80% full. Eating too full hurts the stomach.
Eat at regular times.
Try to eat a variety of flavors. It's easy to eat sweet and salty in western foods. Try to add some sour, spicy, aromatic, and bitter flavors into the diet. Each organ responds to different flavors.
Eat a variety of colors. Each organ responds to different colors.
Cupping Department: Colds and Emotions
Cupping is when a practitioner applies suction cups to draw out and clean out toxins from the body. The color left behind indicates different health situations. For example, light pink is healthy, darker colors indicate stronger stagnation, red indicates heat, and purple indicates coldness. Sometimes the cup becomes damp inside, which indicates dampness in the body.
I asked the cupping practitioner what patients usually come see her for. She said, "Usually for coughs, back problems, and liver stagnation."
Coughs and colds are a bit unavoidable. We all catch a cold once in a while. But I learned that aside from viruses, we can also catch a non-contagious type of cold when the body goes from a really hot environment to a cold one. This actually happened to me in Fuzhou, China.
In the summer, it's 40 degrees outside, but all the rooms are air conditioned. I was moving a lot of boxes and furniture between rooms, so I went from 40 degrees to suddenly 20 degrees, back and forth. I was sweating a lot, so all my pores were open, then I enter an AC room, and that cold air directly enters my pores. Moreover, I was a bit overworked and sleep-deficient, resulting in a weakened immune system. When the external pathogen (in this case, the cold wind from the AC) is stronger than the body's defensive energy, the person gets ill, and I indeed caught a cold.
I also noticed that many people in Fuzhou wear a light wind-breaker jacket to prevent AC from directly blowing onto their skin. I was very intrigued at first because I've never seen people do that in the west. But now I know that if someone is sitting still, and there's AC blowing directly onto the skin, especially the neck and upper back, it's very easy for the cold wind to enter and accumulate in the body, which will eventually create problems.
My doctor also said that the majority of the cold-natured patients that she sees tend to sit in an office environment all day, meaning they lack exercise, and exercise creates Yang. They also have AC blowing on their bodies all day. So it's important for us to get up and do some simple exercises after sitting for a while, to dress warm enough in an AC room, and avoid AC directly blowing onto the skin, especially the neck and upper back.
Back problems are also related to back posture and lack of exercise, though sometimes they can be due to local injuries. I didn't ask more about this one to the doctor, so I won't say that much.
Liver stagnation is usually due to emotional disharmony, such as anger, frustration, stress, and anxiety. According to TCM, external pathogens need to go through many defensive layers before they can reach our internal organs. However, emotions directly and immediately affect our organs' health. I never realized how serious emotional management was for my health until I learned TCM.
So if we want to prevent liver stagnation and other health problems, it's very important to cultivate happiness, calm, and peaceful emotions. Regularly do activities like yoga, tai chi, going for walks in nature, or whatever helps you to feel calm, relaxed, peaceful, and happy.
The topic of healthy emotions is a big one, and if you want to read more, you can check out my past articles on stress management, relationship management, and inner joy.
Conclusion
When we are healthy, we might not think too much about preventing illness. But after we get ill and feel really uncomfortable and painful, we think, "Ah! If only I knew this would happen earlier, I would have done more to prevent it!" So let's take advantage of healthy times to guard against illness.
In summary, the doctors at the hospital recommended:
Posture is very important for our neck and back. Practice good posture.
After sitting down for a while, get up and do some quick neck and shoulder exercises.
Exercise enough.
Avoid having AC blow directly onto your skin, especially the neck and upper back.
Eat a healthy and balanced diet. Excess cold and excess heat all create problems.
Healthy emotions are key to a healthy body. Manage negative emotions, cultivate positive emotions, and nurture good relationships.
A big thanks again to Dr. Kun Liu and all the doctors at the Shen Nong Hospital, and I hope readers will find some of this advice useful!
Weekly Wisdom #306
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