Archive for June, 2008

Exercise Keeps Your Mind Healthy And Happy

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If you have been trying hard to look for reasons not to exercise, this article is for you.

Don’t mistake that you are advised not to sweat your body. On the contrary, after reading the following information, you will realize that you actually need/have no more excuse. Even if you may not wish to have strong muscles or a lean body, but you do want to have a healthy brain and mind. Don’t you?

Exercise Keeps Your Mind Healthy And HappyAccording to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), our mental health includes brain’s physical health as well as emotional status which both can be contributed by staying physically active. “When we are exercising, oxygen and blood will be transporting to our brain, making it more favorable to reaction, memorization, and reasoning,” TCM Practitioners explained. “And this is about the brain’s physical health.”

As for our emotional status, a growing number of researches have demonstrated that exercise can mitigate symptoms of mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Why? When we are engaging in physical activity, our brain automatically releases endorphin, a chemical acted as our body’s natural painkiller that is able to increase our feelings of happiness.

At the same time, exercise not only brings down levels of the stress hormone cortisol and helps raising our body temperature that carries calming effects, it also has the ability to boost our energy, as well as release muscle tension which leads to better sleeping quality—both are the common symptoms of anxiety and depression patients who often have low energy and poor sleep.

Of course, we don’t have to be suffering from depression or anxiety to get benefits from exercise. In reality, who doesn’t have worry, irritation, or grief in daily lives? “In fact, even short workout of 10 to 15 minutes in length can help us reduce psychological conditions like pressure and fear—and feel better,” TCM Practitioners added.

So, let’s say no more “no” to exercise. Get physical to maintain overall mental health by making your brain both physically and emotionally fit today!

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Don’t Treat Your Feet With Icy Water

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Aren’t you tempted to put your sweaty feet into cold icy water during hot sunny day with temperature reaches 95ºF/35ºC?

Don't Treat Your Feet With Icy WaterWait a minute… . Of course you sweat all over, especially the most perspiring parts of the body—your feet. Nonetheless, since your feet have more sweat glands per inch of skin than any other part of the body (with more than 250,000 sweat glands each), all the sweat pores will close abruptly as the feet are suddenly put into cold icy water. And when it happens repeatedly, your sweating function will be disturbed and impaired.

Therefore, as advised by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, you should resist the temptation to soak your feet into cold icy water even when the thermometer hits 100ºF/38ºC!

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Let Stress Work Out Your Immune System

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While your are dreaming about removing stress from your lives, have you ever thought that stress, actually, is not all bad?

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), stress can be good for your health. “We do need some levels of stress. The point is, just as if eating, ‘portion’ does matter. Moderate amount of stress indeed is beneficial to our health,” TCM Practitioners said.

Let Stress Work Out Your Immune System

In fact, researches and studies have found that those short spurts of stresses, like giving a speech in public or having an exam, can help people enhance memory, perform tasks more efficiently, and even strengthen immune system. In a nutshell, these kinds of stresses are considered to be “good stress”—stress that activates our “fight or flight” hormones and helps us survive.

The truth is, when our brain feels either psychological or physical stress, it begins releasing epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol into our body, making our blood pressure and blood glucose higher, heartbeat faster, and senses sharper. “You may call this type of stress a burst of energy that facilitates us do the best,” TCM Practitioners explained.

While stress in short sharp burst can stimulate us and is too good to be eliminated from our lives, some continuous stresses like caring for someone with chronic sickness, or other damaging experiences such as losing a partner can just have the opposite impact. Figures showed that people suffer from stress that lasts for weeks or months are at high risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and even depression. Obviously, this kind of stress is bad stress.

Indeed, life with stress, good and bad, is an unavoidable reality and no one can choose only the good one. “Although we can’t choose, we can control,” TCM Practitioners suggested. “It’s a matter of perception and attitude. Rather than feeling overwhelmed, we may transform the stress energy into a productive action, making it a positive situation. Furthermore, some techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, and exercise also can assist our brain to cope with stress.”

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That’s When Emotional Is Too Emotional

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You may have heard Chinese saying, “Let’s don’t be too sad; it’s bad for your health.” Well, then laugh is good… wait a minute, but laugh too hard too long may not be good for your health neither.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, human beings in general have seven kinds of sentiments and reactions, namely, joy, anger, anxiety, pensiveness, grief, fear, and fright. It is called “Seven Emotions.”

That's When Emotional Is Too Emotional

TCM Practitioners consider that the variation of the seven emotions has a close relationship with the function of our internal organs and circulation of “Qi” (essential energy) and blood, and each of seven emotions corresponds with our five organs individually. While heart is related to joy, liver to anger, lungs to anxiety and grief, spleen to pensiveness, the kidneys to both fear and fright.

So, what does that mean? “Under normal circumstances, our seven emotions are the physiological responses of the human body to environmental stimuli and are not pathogenic causes,” TCM Practitioners explained. “Nevertheless, if the emotional stimuli are too sudden or too intense or too lengthy, the functional activities of our organs will be disrupted, causing disharmony of “Qi” flow which leads to illness eventually.”

Let’s take a look at how the “Seven Emotions” in excess impair the corresponding organs:

Joy
Joy relaxes “Qi.” Under normal situations, joy is capable of promoting the flow of Qi and blood, therefore it can relax mental strain. Excessive joy, yet, makes “Qi” to flow too fast to be controlled, resulting in poor concentration of the mind, or even mania.

Anger
Anger encourages “Qi” to flow upward. Which means excessive anger can bring liver “Qi” going up excessively and give rise to the blood flow as well. In such case, angry person not only experiences red face and eyes, he/she may also shows symptoms of dizziness, vertigo, and headache.

Anxiety and Grief
Anxiety and grief consume “Qi.” That’s when we are in deep anxiety or grief, we are likely to cry or weep for an extensive time, hence lung “Qi” is consumed. In addition, when we are in a state of anxiety or grief, we will experience discouragement as well as a depressed feeling in the chest, both caused by the deficient of lung “Qi.”

Pensiveness
Pensiveness stagnates the flow of “Qi.” It is because when we are thinking, we must concentrate and “Qi” will remain in place to support the activity. Therefore, intense and extended thinking will cause stagnation of “Qi” (specially the “Qi” of spleen), making it to accumulate. People who are in this state will suffer from poor appetite, abdominal distension, and constipation.

Fear and Fright
Fright leads to a disturbance of the flow of “Qi.” It is because when we get frightened suddenly, our circulation of “Qi” will be interrupted, leading to a distressed mind and palpitation.

Fear, on the other hand, makes “Qi” to flow downward. That means when excessive fear takes place, it can impair the kidney “Qi,” causing incontinence of feces and urine which mainly depends on the controlling effect of kidney “Qi.”

In conclusion, our sentiments and reactions are the physiological responses of the human body to environmental stimuli that normally do not cause pathogen. However, if our seven emotions change in excess, there will have adverse impact on the functional activities of our organs and the flow of “Qi” and blood, worsening or causing an illness to deteriorate.

Take patient with hypertension as an example. Since hypertension is a disease caused by excessive rising liver “Qi” plus the liver is related to anger, this patient may have high risk of sudden syncope, coma, or even paralysis in the case of being stimulated by abrupt and powerful rage resulting from further excessive rising of liver “Qi.”

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Melons Capture The Health Of Summer

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June 21 is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the first day of the season of summer. Though it may not be the hottest day in the year, it definitely is the longest day of the year when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky and takes the most amount of time to cross the sky… seems dropping a hint to us—eat melons!

Melons Capture The Health Of SummerIndeed, Chinese in particular consume many melons in terms of variety and amount in summer and even call it the season of melons. Stuffed Bitter Melon, Cucumber Salad Tossed In Housing Dressing, Stir-Fried Loofah, Fuzzy Melon Soup… are only a few household dishes. What makes melons so popular in summer not just because they are in season, they actually are very good for the season, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners. Let’s take a look at three of them:

Winter Melon
Despite winter melon may seem unfamiliar to many Westerners, it has received so much praise from the Chinese. In TCM theory, winter melon is considered being able to promote urination, reduce swelling, clear heat, remove toxic substances, and mitigate high blood pressure.

In fact, from nutrition perspective, the potassium content in winter melon is proved to be capable of facilitating the body to eliminate excess sodium, which helps reduce swelling and lower blood pressure. Moreover, because of its extremely high water content (approximately 96%) and 0% fat properties, winter melon is often used in dieting and has become an ideal weight-control food for dieters specially in hot summer months.

Bitter Melon(Gourd)
While many people may just have one reason to enjoy bitter melon: the unique bitter flavor, TCM Practitioners would tell us plenty of health benefits that we should fall in love with this particular gourd. For example, according to TCM, although bitter melon is bitter in flavor, it actually can improve our appetite and spleen function those usually are our trouble spots in summer thanks to the bitter principles content. While alkaloids, another compounds found in bitter melon, are capable of diminishing inflammation and relieve fever.

Furthermore, it is reportedly that an element called hypoglycemic principle contained in bitter melon has the same effect of insulin that helps lower the blood sugar levels, making it an ideal food for diabetes patients. What’s more, research studies learned that bitter melon extracts have shown anti-cancer activities which can decrease tumor significantly when used in short and long-term treatment.

Watermelon
From TCM perspective, watermelon is cold/cool in nature which can clear heat and relieve summer heat, regenerate body fluid and quench thirst, and promote urination. Indeed, with a water content of 92%, watermelon has the highest water content among all fruits, making it the perfect treat on a hot day.

Besides water, watermelon contains many essential and beneficial mineral nutrients such as Vitamin C, sucrose, glucose, organic acid, amino acid, calcium, phosphorus, iron, etc. that we humans need. People who suffer from kidney inflammation, high-blood pressure, and constipation are especially beneficial from eating watermelon. Talk about the watermelon rind that we usually throw away, its diuretic effect in fact is even higher than the flesh. (Try out this recipe: Watermelon Rind Porridge.) And for ladies, watermelon rind can also be used as a natural beauty aid.

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Good Sleeping Posture Counts

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Sleeping is vital not mere for the reason that we sleep approximately one-third of our life away, it is because during that sleep time our body has an opportunity to replenish itself and get ready for the next day.

Good Sleeping Posture CountsHowever, people for the most part only think about posture while sitting, standing, walking, but not sleeping, overlooking the importance of letting our spine to align in a healthy position—end up waking up in the morning with a stiff neck and back pain.

So, back, side, stomach, which is a good/bad sleeping posture? Let’s hear what Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners say about them.


Back Sleeping
Sleeping on our back provides the most natural position for our spine to be in. When we are in this horizontal sleeping posture, it reduces the curve in the neck and lower back, letting our spine achieve the maximum ability to align itself naturally. Lying on our back, on the other hand, causes our respiration to be through the mouth instead of nose, which makes us prone to colds (as our nose has dense blood vessels that can warm the entering air) as well as increase snoring.

Side Sleeping
When we sleep on our side, it allows the air passage way to open, which helps to reduce snoring and sleep apnea. And for pregnant women, side-sleeping is the best posture for the fetus. Yet, when we are sleeping on the left side, our heart will be under the pressure of the right lung (the biggest of the two), which affects the heart’s contraction. While the pressure on the heart will be fewer when we are sleeping on the right side.

Stomach Sleeping
Sleeping on the stomach is the worst position to be in! Why? When we are sleeping on our stomach, our head turns in an extreme rotation because we have to turn our head one way or the other simply to breathe. This actually can hinder the oxygen flow and blood flow from and to our brain, which leads to all kinds of health problems. Not to mention stomach-sleeping posture also can damage our spine and nervous system.

“While sleeping on the stomach always is not a recommended posture unless someone has a medical condition and is instructed by his/her doctor, both back-sleeping and side-sleeping is just fine with its own advantages and disadvantages. So, an important notion is we shouldn’t take the same position for granted for a long period of time,” TCM Practitioners suggested.

Tips:
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, despite that the pressure on the heart will be less when we sleep on the right side, if you are a side sleeper, you must not sleep on the right side all through your lifetime and should change sides from time to time especially if you have wide shoulders. It is because if you don’t do so, your chest will be pushed to the side and leads to a shift to the spine.

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Don’t Wash Down Food With Liquid

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Drinking water is vital to health. However, when to drink is also worthy to note and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Don't Wash Down Food With Liquid“For example, if you drink plenty of liquid during the meal, like wash your dry cake down with tea, it really isn’t a healthy practice,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners. The truth is, if we drink great amount of water with meal, the water will dilute the hydrochloric acid in our stomach as well as the digestive enzymes that needed to digest carbohydrates, proteins, and fats effectively, resulting in poor quality of digestion.

In fact, some people experience symptoms of bloating and abdominal distension when they drink substantial amount of liquid with meal, especially for those who already are deficient in digestive acids.

Having said that, drinking moderate amount of water during meal shouldn’t cause digestive problem since the concentration of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes would only be affected by a large amount of liquid consumption.

“If you feel thirsty, drink water regardless while you are eating,” TCM Practitioners suggested. “After all, the thirst reflects a degree of dehydration and it should be responded to—drink water as needed.”

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You Have Something To Loose

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If you have been following the Hollywood fashion trend, you will have noticed that corsets are back, again—corset dress, corset pants, corset belts… which are known for creating an hourglass figure.

You Have Something To Loose

Indeed, don’t women love to have a curvy body by just wearing an apparel without dieting or exercising? “Unfortunately, though this seems effortless act may enhance your appearance, it can bring many damages to your health in different ways and you should caution,” warned Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners.

On Stomach
The truth is, the moment we put on a corset, it starts laying pressure on the abdomen that can drive the contents of our stomach into the gullet resulting in indigestion, flatulence, and heartburn.

On Breathing
When breathing, we normally use our lower lungs and our diaphragm moves up and down. While wearing a tight corset, however, we have no choice but to breathe in the upper part of the lung, which constrains our breathing and can cause dizziness and headache.

On Abdominal Muscle Tone
To slim the body and make it correspond with a fashionable silhouette may be most people’s purpose to wear a corset. Ironically, as soon as we have a corset on, our body stops exercising our wall muscles in the abdomen. And when we take the corset off, we may end up flabbier.

In fact, a misused and prolonged wear of corset can lead to serious health problems such as breathing difficulty, compression of chest, downward pressure on the abdomen, and even visceral displacement. The bottom line is, aside from corset, clothing (especially for waistband) that is too tight creates obstruction of blood circulation and decreases the amount of heat that reaches our farthest parts—feet and hands.

“A good rule of thumb is if you can’t fit two fingers inside your waistband easily, yours is too tight,” TCM Practitioners advised.

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Salt And Ginger To Fight Food Poisoning

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In summer, high temperature and high humidity provide favorable environment for bacteria propagation, which may pose the risk of food contamination and can cause food-borne illness. Furthermore, as the large amount of water we drink due to heavy sweating will dilute our stomach acid that has antibacterial property, we are more vulnerable to food poisoning.

Therefore, it is especially important to practice safe food handling during the summer months. However, if precautions unfortunately seem fail and you suspect you might have food poisoning given the food has been eaten within two hours, you can use the following approaches advised by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners when professional medical care is not around:

Vomiting Induction

  • Add 20 grams salt into 200ml hot water. Drink the water all at once after it cooled down. Repeat one to two more times if vomiting doesn’t take place.
  • Similarly, you can smash 100 grams ginger, use the juice to mix with 200ml warm water and drink it.

Salt And Ginger to Fight Food Poisoning

Both approaches should be able to provoke vomiting to remove the poison from the stomach before it gets digested.

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Contrast Shower Makes Your Summer Fun And Healthy

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You are staying in a hot climate imagining how revitalizing a cold-water shower would be…. Well, it should be, yet only lasts for a short moment.

The truth is, when we are having a cold shower with the whole skin exposed to cold temperature, the nerves in our skin will contract its blood vessels that control about two million sweat glands—meaning, sweating diminishes.

Contrast Shower Makes Your Summer Fun And HealthyIn other words, although a cold shower is able to wash away our body surface heat, it can’t reduce our body’s core temperature through sweating. That explains why we feel so cool and ultra refreshed right after a cold shower, but will experience even hotter in a while.

“What would be more effective, actually, is to take shower that alternates between hot water and cold water, namely, contrast shower,” Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners recommended.

In fact, contrast shower not only cools down our body surface and internal body heat, but also increases blood vessels’ elasticity and tenacity through the movements of dilation and contraction, and reduces the risk of the deposition of lipid within the blood vessel wall. What’s more, it is fun.

After all, as our skin is the largest organ we possess, it is important to understand how it works to maintain health—with a little fun.

Tips:
If cold shower is your only option, do it neither with an empty nor a full stomach, suggested by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners. It is because a cold shower consumes you more energy and may cause you having low blood sugar reaction if your stomach is empty.

And while your stomach is full, the cold water will weaken your gastrointestinal motility and the production of digestive juice, increasing the risk for abdominal pain and diarrhea.

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