Chronic diseases/conditions include arthritis, asthma, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, and some viral diseases such as hepatitis C and AIDS. Patients can survive with controlled symptoms and turn into chronic diseases.
These non-healthy physical conditions or illness that lasts for more than three months.
Table of Contents
Why the treatment better time is dog days of Summer
The hottest and most unbearable 30 days of the year are actually the best season for health preservation. And it is also an important time for treating winter diseases in summer by moxibustion.
It is suitable for everyone including chronic diseases, weight loss, strengthen physiques.
2024 Dog Days Schedule
First Period: July 15-July 24
Middle Period Days : July 25-August 13
Last Period Days: August 14-August 23
Winter chronic diseases generally refer to the following serious diseases: cold hands and feet, fear of wind and cold; abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating cold food; thin secretions, pale complexion, white tongue coating; backache and discomfort; easy to catch cold when cold, cough, nasal congestion, sneezing, etc.
People with chronic diseases and low immunity (such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis, tumors, etc.) are prone to influenza, chronic bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, tuberculosis, joint pain, back pain, angina, myocardial infarction, measles, dysentery, enteritis, angular cheilitis, angular cheilitis, etc. in winter.
Increased sweating in summer often leads to excessive release of Yang Qi in the human body, resulting in the summer physical characteristics of insufficient Yang Qi in the body.
At this stage, the pores of the human skin are open, and moxibustion is most likely to penetrate the meridians through the skin. It can dispel cold and support yang to the greatest extent, but also reach the affected area directly through the meridians.
Therefore, treating winter chronic diseases in summer can achieve better results.
Other 5 key summer health tips, especially important for people with chronic diseases
Nourish the heart and mind
In the hot summer, there are more opportunities to sweat, which will consume a lot of heart yin fluid, easily leading to hyperactivity of heart fire, irritability, restlessness, insomnia and other symptoms.
Therefore, there are many traffic accidents in summer, so in summer, we should regulate our mind and calm our mind naturally.
In summer, the heart fire is strong, which will consume kidney yin and cause kidney yin deficiency. Excessive lust will cause heart fire, so sex should be reduced in summer.
Timely replenish the body fluids lost after sweating profusely. Wumei, Ophiopogon japonicus and other fluid-producing ingredients are indispensable. They can be made into sour plum soup, which is especially suitable for hot and sweaty summer.
Wumei can astringe the lungs, astringe the intestines, and produce fluid; Ophiopogon japonicus can clear the heart and moisten the lungs, nourish the stomach and produce fluid; and tangerine peel can regulate qi and spleen, dry dampness and resolve phlegm, which can try to avoid excessive fluid replenishment and greasy.
Taking a nap can not only make up for sleep, but also improve coronary blood supply, enhance physical strength and eliminate fatigue. Noon refers to 11 to 13 o’clock. Sleeping for about 30 minutes at this time can help nourish the heart. Even if you can’t sleep, closing your eyes and resting your mind is also good for your body and mind.
Listening to light music at the right time, calming your mind and regulating your breathing, allowing the heart to rest, also promotes sleep at night. Soaking your feet at night and massaging the Yongquan acu-point can help eliminate heat and dampness, increase appetite, and promote sleep.
Red fresh fruits and vegetables such as watermelon, red dates, hawthorn, and tomatoes can act as a diuretic, lower blood pressure, and protect the cardiovascular system, especially for people with high blood pressure.
Diet in Summer to nourishing heart
In summer, the diet should be mainly low-fat, easily digestible, and fiber-rich foods. The ratio of fruits, vegetables, coarse grains, and proteins should be balanced to nourish the body.
Breakfast and dinner can often be mainly porridge or soup with lily and lotus seeds, which can not only quench thirst and relieve heat, but also strengthen the spleen and remove dampness, nourish and strengthen the body.
Eat less spicy and greasy food in summer. The most suitable food for calming the mind and relieving heat is three-bean soup, namely red beans, mung beans, and black beans. Red nourishes the heart, green nourishes the liver, and black nourishes the kidneys.
During the dog days, do not drink any cold drinks or cold food to avoid problems with blood circulation or stagnation. Drink at room temperature.
In summer, although red is the popular color in summer food for heart.
Meanwhile, and the following foods, which are not only delicious, but also mild in nature and flavor. They are also good to expel dampness and calm mind.
Lotus seeds: nourish the heart and spleen, communicate with the kidney water, and calm the mind.
Lily: sweet and flat in taste, enters the heart and lungs, and specializes in nourishing deficiency and clearing heat.
Longan meat: soothes the stomach qi to nourish the spleen, nourishes the heart and improves intelligence.
Ziziphus jujuba seeds: sour, sweet and neutral, can enter the heart and liver, astringe fluid and consolidate deficiency.
Red beans: sweet and slightly sour, can connect the heart and small intestine, remove blood stasis and promote diuresis.
Coix seeds: sweet and neutral, strengthen the spleen, promote diuresis and eliminate dampness, and remove numbness.
Long summer is the season of spleen prosperity, so it is better to eat less sweet and more bitter.
Less sweet is to prevent excessive loss of spleen yang, and more bitter can eliminate heart fire and spleen dampness and dryness.
Many bitter foods can clear the heart and nourish the heart, and can be eaten appropriately, such as bitter melon, bitter buckwheat, lotus seeds and other bitter foods.
The weather is hot and sweating is easy to consume qi and yin, so yam, jujube, lotus root, fungus and other foods that nourish qi and yin should also be eaten more.
Exercise properly in Summer
Summer is also a season for weight loss. Many people use summer to lose weight and increase their exercise volume, therefore replenishing lost water in time is a must.
Avoid taking a cold shower immediately after exercise, because cold water will cause the pores that expand due to heat to shrink suddenly, making it impossible for the heat in the body to dissipate, which can easily lead to heat stroke and damage the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.
Air conditioning should be used moderately
The air conditioning should not be blown directly to the head and face, especially the cervical spine, and you should not enter the air-conditioned room directly when you are sweating profusely. It will cause the pores to shrink suddenly and the heat cannot be dissipated in time, leading to heat stroke, headache, etc.
The cold wind can easily make the blood flow blocked or stagnate, causing joint pain.
Good and enough sleep
In summer, follow the season, sleep late and get up early, and take a short nap in the afternoon to nourish the heart and mind.
Go to bed before 11pm, especially enter deep sleep between 11am and 3am, and get up at dawn. Take a 30-minute nap between 11am and 1pm to nourish your heart.
Conclusion: 8 secrets of the effectiveness of moxibustion therapy
People who come to try moxibustion(moxa) therapy will find that the effect on them are different from what they expected. For example, their improvement is not as fast as others, or the improvement effect is not obvious.
They become discouraged and give up halfway, giving up moxa treatment, but they don’t know that they have missed a good opportunity.
The efficacy of moxa is relevant to 8 reasons.
The effectiveness of moxa is related to the depth of the disease
From the inside to the outside, skin, muscles, tendons, blood, bone marrow, the deeper you go, the more difficult it is to regulate.
For shallow diseases, the strength of moxa is easy to reach, and the effect is immediate. For deep diseases, the strength that can reach is not enough, and more time and amount of the energy from moxa are needed. At this time, you should continue to insist the treatment.
The speed of moxa effect is related to the location of the disease
The location of the disease will also affect the effectiveness of moxa.
Diseases on the meridians are easier to regulate than those on the six internal organs, and problems on the six internal organs are easier to regulate than those on the five internal organs.
Generally, if the meridians are blocked, moxibustion will take effect quickly. Some diseases look very serious, but in fact they are only on the meridian level, and moxa may be almost cured in one or two weeks.
Some people do not look seriously ill, but in fact the pathogens have penetrated into the five internal organs, and they need more moxa time.
Diseases that change in quality require persistent moxa
Diseases that change in quality, such as gastric ulcers, tumors, cysts, endometriosis, organ atrophy and aging, etc., require persistent moxibustion. Do not expect to be cured after a few moxa. Be prepared for long-term moxa.
The efficacy of moxa is related to the duration of the disease
Old diseases are often more difficult to treat than new ones. The longer the disease, the more pathogenic factors there are, the deeper it spreads, and the weaker the body’s positive energy, such as chronic diseases, tumor, cancer, ect.
If took western medicine for a long time to treat diseases, the pathogenic factors would be deeply in the body, and moxibustion will inevitably take a longer time to remove the pathogenic factors from the body.
The effect of moxa is related to personal constitution
Moxa is used to treat diseases, which is to mobilize the body’s positive energy. People with strong constitutions can mobilize more positive energy, which can easily expel pathogenic factors from the body and heal quickly.
On the contrary, if the constitution is weak and the positive energy is insufficient, the same disease will heal more slowly. It is necessary to persist in moxibustion conditioning, slowly strengthen the body’s positive energy, and make the body improve little by little to expel pathogenic factors.
Different constitutions have different degrees of patency of meridian acu-points, so the onset time of moxa will naturally vary.
The effect of moxa is related to diet and daily life
During moxa treatment, it is very important to maintain a healthy and reasonable diet. Foods such as cold, greasy, and spicy foods are often in conflict with moxibustion. Because coldness consumes Yang Qi, and phlegm and dampness hinder Yang Qi.
It is like repairing a wall while demolishing it. How can you see the effect and how can your body get better quickly?
Or during moxibustion, staying up late, sleeping late, and eating irregularly, it will be like a leaking bucket, which will leak water while filling it, and the effect will be slow.
The effect of moxa is related to the health of internal organs
Many people try moxa therapy after western medicine has failed.
These people have been receiving infusions, injections, and medications for a long time. Over time, their organs are corroded by the negative effects of the drugs, and their organ health is weakened.
Some people also need to continue taking Western medicine to suppress their condition during moxibustion treatment.
Moxa treatment not only removes old toxins, but also new toxins.
For such a physique, moxibustion therapy requires more time to restore the self-repair function of the organs.
The efficacy of moxa is directly related to the mentality attitude of the person being treated.
A good mentality is a catalyst for physical recovery, which can promote the smooth flow of qi and blood in the meridians, make it easier for the energy of moxibustion to enter the body, mobilize positive energy, and drive away evil energy, thereby indirectly helping to improve the efficacy of moxibustion.
