In fact, no matter cold or hot, water is a natural healer. While cold shower is stimulating and invigorating, hot bath quiets and soothes the body. “Soaking in a hot tub indeed can bring us health benefits in several ways,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners.

Circulation and Blood Pressure
When we immerse in hot water, first it speeds up our heart to send blood to the surface that helps disperse extra body heat. And a few minutes later, the hot water raises our body temperature and causes the blood vessels to dilate, which not only increases circulation, but also lowers the blood pressure.

Muscles
As the warm blood reaches deeper and deeper into our muscles, the vessels expand accordingly and helps relaxing our muscles. Since hot water is capable of easing any pinching of blood vessels and nerves, plus facilitating muscles to get rid of lactic acid, making this muscle-relaxation effect also a muscle pain cure.

Joints
“For arthritis sufferers, hot bath is a safe and effective way to mitigate the pain and prevent the joints from further damage,” TCM Practitioners suggested. In fact, when we are dipping in a hot tub, the buoyancy of the water can support and reduce pressure on the joints, promoting freer movement. At the same time, it also preserves and restores flexibility and strength.

Sleep
“If someone suffers from insomnia, especially caused by pain, he/she may try this simple solution—soaking in hot water about one hour prior to bedtime,” advised TCM Practitioners. Why? Studies have found that when our core body temperature drops, the level of sleep deepens. That means if we immerse in hot water before bedtime, due to a temperature shift after stepping out from the hot bath, it actually hints at the body it’s time to sleep, facilitating insomnia patients get easier to fall asleep.

Indeed, a soak in a hot tub at night is a simple and effective way to wind down ourselves from a hectic and stressful day. To have it more ideally, the water temperature of a hot bath should be around 95ºF/35ºC to 104ºF/40ºC (temperature may be raised a few degrees for the purposes of loosening tense muscles and easing the pain of stressful backaches) and shall last for 20 to 30 minutes.

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Indeed, a shower everyday helps us to maintain good hygiene, as well as provides us enjoyable experience. However, some like it hot, others cold. Is there any different effect that the temperature of the water actually create?

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there is. When we are having cold shower, the blood vessels in our skin will contract, causing the dissipation of the body heat reduced. And due to the contraction of the blood vessels, the blood flow is driven to the internal organs, making the skin blood vessels dilate this time, which draws the blood flow back out to the skin. “As you can see, a cold shower can increase our blood flow in all organs, especially skin, heart and lungs,” TCM Practitioners explained. “In fact, Chinese refer this blood vessels contraction and dilation generated by cold shower a ‘blood vessel gymnastics.’”

Besides, stepping under a cold shower makes us breathe deeper and faster (a big gasp and more when the cold water hits the skin). And deeper breathing means more oxygen for our whole body.

What’s more, cold shower strengthens our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems. And by contracting our muscles, it can eliminate toxins and poisonous wastes, too.

“Having said that, cold shower isn’t for anyone at anytime,” TCM Practitioners warned. For example, if someone has heart problems, he/she shouldn’t have cold shower since extreme temperature not only increases the workload on the heart, it can interfere with circulation, cause breathing difficulty and chest pain, too.

Also, women should avoid taking cold shower during their menstrual cycle as cold water can cause uterine contractions that may lead to menstrual cramps. (Also read Neither Empty Nor Full Stomach Enjoys Cold Shower.)

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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?

According 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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Wait 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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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.

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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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.”

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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Indeed, 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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However, 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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“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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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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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.

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

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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.

In 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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“It is for your stomach’s sake,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners. “And all begin with the temperature difference.”

The truth is, the temperature of cold drink or food is some 20 degrees lower than that of our stomach (in the case of frozen food such as ice cream or shaved ice, the difference is even bigger). And every time when we drink/eat cold thing, our body has to use additional energy to warm the stomach up before the digestion takes place. The colder the beverage/food, the larger the pressure to the stomach.

Furthermore, as the stomach needs to protect itself so as not being broken down together with the food ingested, there is a mucus coating on the mucous membrane in the stomach that prevents the organ from self-digestion. When chill substances enter into the stomach, the blood vessels in the mucous membrane of the stomach will contract abruptly making the blood flow decrease, thus thinning the mucous layer that covers the mucous membrane. With this condition occurs repeatedly over a long period of time, the protective mechanism of the stomach mucous membrane will be undermined by gastric juice and protease, causing poor digestion and more vulnerable to chronic gastritis.

The bottom line is, our stomach requires a warm (body temperature) environment; often treating it cold is not likely to result in good digestive system. So… is there any option that can save us from summer heat without debilitating the stomach? “Besides cool water, due to its high water content, a piece of watermelon is always good on a hot day,” TCM Practitioners recommended.

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Since our feet are the farthest part of our body from the torso and the farthest part of our body that the heart pumps blood to, by the time the blood circulates down to our feet, its the coldest extremity. Moreover, as our feet are a bit more flat, they have more surface area for the volume they occupy (versus our head or torso), it’s easier for the blood to acquire the temperature around them. As a result? feet are the most vulnerable part of the body subject to frostbite.

If we often let our bare feet steep in cold icy water, it may cause a pronounced constriction of the blood vessels in the nose and shut off the warm blood that supplies the white cells for fighting off germs. Consequently, the reduced defenses in the nose offer virus chances to strengthen making common cold symptoms developed.

So, next time when your feet need a dip, you better trade the icy water for warm water.

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The truth is, after an overnight fast particularly in hot summer time, our average blood viscosity measurement is at its highest in the morning hours due to the fluid from the body is removed caused by the evaporation of sweat.

If the blood viscosity is at exceptionally high specially for older people, blood won’t be able to circulate well and may increase the risk for blood clots causing blood vessel blockages and even strokes.

That’s why it is so important to start our day with plenty of fluids, even if we don’t feel thirsty, for blood flow in summer mornings.

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According to TCM, summer is a season that depletes energy and body fluids and we should cater our diet to it. Basically, the key to health during this hottest season is to “cool” and “clear”—cool our mind and clear our body. To begin with, we should stick with this easy but important approach: Opt for a light and bland diet that is effective in clearing heat and reducing sweating, like eating more vegetables and fruits those with cold/cool property. At the same time, avoid high fat, strong flavor, and hot spicy food that are warming in nature bringing extra heat to the body.

In fact, aside from tastiness and nutritiousness, fresh vegetables and fruits such as tomato, cucumber, bitter gourd, winter melon, and watermelon are also good at heat stroke prevention. And for beverage, some flower teas and fruit drinks are exceptionally great at coping with summer symptoms such as clearing heat, slaking thirst, and promoting appetite. Chrysanthemum Tea, Sour Plum Soup, and Lotus Leaf With Honey Water are a few of them.

Let’s allow your diet reflect the vividness and abundance of summer when plants growing fast and strong. At your next BBQ party, why not swap your usual soda for Lotus Leaf With Honey Water?

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According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners, this very first step is exceptionally crucial to our health in three ways. They are nutrition, hygiene, and weight.

Nutrition
First thing first. The whole objective of digestion is to get valuable substances from the food we eat by breaking it down into absorbable nutrients and banish the rest (such as insoluble fiber will continue on through the intestines and help expelling other waste products and cleaning the surfaces of the intestines).

Starting in the mouth with chewing, food is physically broken down into smaller and smaller pieces until they are tiny enough being absorbed into the bloodstream. Which means if we don’t chew properly and swallow the food anyway, our digestive system won’t be able to obtain as much of the available nutrients as possible.

Hygiene
When food is chewed thoroughly—into smaller pieces, they provide more surface area for contact with the digestive enzymes and acids in the stomach making more easily digested. Whilst if food is not chewed well and the large pieces of food can’t be broken down, incomplete digestion takes place. Not only is our body unable to get the nutrients extracted from the food, the undigested food instead becomes “food” for germs in the colon causing bacterial overgrowth, not to mention symptoms of indigestion such as flatulence.

Weight
Once we start eating (chewing), a hormones called Choleocystokinin (CCK) will be released in the gut. These appetite hormones actually can let our brain know when we have had enough food—and of course, stop eating. Unfortunately, so often that many of us eat too fast and don’t give the hormones a chance to function. And by the time the hormones arrives its destination, the brain, we already have been way too full. The bottom line is, the longer we chew, the less likely we are to overeat—the culprit of obesity.

So, reminded by TCM Practitioners, “Chew your food and eat slowly. It’s all for the sake of your good health!”

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Indicating breakfast, no matter in which culture, is the most important meal in a day. “Unfortunately, the importance of eating breakfast has been overlooked for some reason or another by different people,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners.

Skipping breakfast, indeed, may increase the risk of becoming obese and developing insulin resistance syndrome—signs that can lead to diabetes. Actually, it is a metabolic disorder in which the body is unable to use blood sugar (glucose) effectively, raising the risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

The truth is, our insulin level is in its highest in the morning, waiting to absorb essential nutrients from the food to make us being productive during the day. By eating breakfast, we can kick our metabolism into gear giving our hungry body the chance to replenish blood sugar levels, burn calories effectively, and maintain more consistent energy all through the day. While skipping breakfast, it not only puts our body into starvation mode and slows the metabolism, our body also feels lack of motivation and sluggishness early in the morning, winding up having more calories at the end of the day!

So, let’s break your fast with something good, and enjoy!

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In fact, a daily 20-to-30-minute brisk walk not only can stimulate our metabolism, but also improve our breathing and muscle tone, not to mention burn off 150 to 200 calories! The question is, “When is the best timing to walk—before or after eating?”

Many people do have a perception that it’s better to exercise after having food than before. It is because, first, the exercise will help the digestion a lot more, and second, if they work out and then go to eat, it makes them eat more. Thus, to take a walk after having a meal sort of has become a common practice in many cultures. However, in Traditional Chinese Medicine viewpoint, we are better off to go for a walk before eating.

The truth is, our body needs energy for digesting the food. So, if we walk right after feeding our body, the walk will take energy away from the digestive process and may cause gastric problems. Furthermore, having food before exercise, particularly a high-fat meal, puts stress on the cardiovascular system. That’s why anyone who has heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure should avoid eating before exercise.

Then, what is the best time to go for a walk? That is before breakfast. The reason is after the overnight fast, our body has lesser reserves of blood glucose, which is its ideal source of energy for physical activity. Translation? We will use up more fat when we walk before having breakfast than after.

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Yes! According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners, the ethanol contained in alcoholic beverage, whether it is wine, beer, or distilled spirits acts as a stimulant to blood vessels in the heart (reduce blood vessel constriction and platelet aggregation). Strong tea, in the same way, makes the human body exceptionally excitable and can affect the cardiovascular as well as the nervous system. Therefore, for a person (especially someone with cardiovascular disease) who has tea after downing alcohol, his/her heart will have too much pressures to handle due to the increase in heart rate.

What’s more, to have alcohol followed by tea brings damages to kidneys, too. It is because if we drink tea before the conversion of ethanol into acetaldehyde, which is then further converted into harmless acetic acid in the liver completed, the acetaldehyde will enter the kidneys anyway resulting from the diuretic effect (promote the formation of urine) produced by the theophylline contained in tea. Unfortunately, kidney damage is associated with chronic exposure to acetaldehyde!

That’s why tea definitely is not an answer to a hangover prevention or cure neither, warned by TCM Practitioners.

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