Archive for December, 2010

Cold Started From Thick Socks?

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There is a Chinese proverb saying that: “Cold starts from the feet.”  For this reason, covering the feet with thick socks seems is a usual practice for many people who hate “cold feet” in winter.  Contrary to popular belief, you may get the opposite result in doing so.

“The indoor temperatures are usually relatively high in winter.  If you wear thick socks or even with wool fleece boots, you likely to sweat.  When your sweat is absorbed by your socks and shoes and hasn’t evaporated promptly, once you step outside, your sweaty feet will get cold much more quickly since water has 25 times the thermal conductivity of air,” Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioner said.

Thick socks, furthermore, may create another problem. “If your shoes weren’t bought for wearing thick socks, there will be a lot less room inside the shoes for blood to circulate,” TCM Practitioner warned.  “What happens is your compressed shoes actually prevent the free circulation of warming blood to the feet that causing them even colder!”

Despite the fact that your feet probably can’t get warm immediately when you put on a pair of normal thin socks in chilly winter, they will not be in danger of getting even colder later on induced by poor blood circulation.  The rule of thumb is your shoes should be a comfortable fit and your feet are uncompressed after you put your socks on.

Image by beautyredefined / Kristin

Hold Your Head High To Combat Night Coughs

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You cough, cough, cough, and keep coughing….  You are so familiar with these coughs as they just follow a cold.  Indeed, cold is one of the most common causes of cough.

You also know that in order to combat the coughing, you need to drink plenty of fluids and get plenty of rest.  Unfortunately, when you go to bed, you can’t drink; then when you cough, you won’t be able to rest, so your coughing gets even worse.

“Coughing is our body’s response to an irritant,” explained Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioner.  “In fact, on the mucous membrane in our airways, there are many many little sweepers—cilia—help clean the dust and microorganism that we breathe in.  When we have cold, the respiratory secretions, bacteria, and damaged white blood cells build up, which stimulate our mucous membrane and cause us to produce more coughs to clean the waste.”

Furthermore, when we are in sleeping position, the mucus from the nose and sinuses can drain down our throat and trigger coughs.  That’s why coughing gets worse at night time that compromises our sleep and prolongs the healing.

So, is there anything that we can do to mitigate our coughs during sleeping time besides taking medicine?

“Actually there is,” TCM Practitioner said.  “You can prop up on pillows or sleep on two to three pillows to help ease post-nasal drip, which reducing the need to clear your throat.”

However, we must pay attention to one important thing when we do so.  TCM Practitioner warned that we shouldn’t just lift up our head; our neck and back must also be raised all together in order not to hurt the spine.  We can simply sleep atop a slope created by several pillows, or use two pillows to create a “T” form to support our spine.

“After all, a “pillow slope” can not only ease night coughs, but also help relieve indigestion symptoms as it prevents stomach acid from ascending up into our esophagus, ” TCM Practitioner continued.

Image by congalaconga / Fabiana Boiman