Spring health care liver care first

Spring health care liver care first

Tongling Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine says: "The third month of spring is the time for renewal." Spring is a time for renewal and vitality. In the five elements, spring belongs to wood, and in the five internal organs, it belongs to the liver. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "spring should be for the liver and health preservation." Spring is a good time to nourish the liver.

Spring is the season when everything grows. At the same time, liver qi rises faster in spring, and patients with liver disease always have relapses at this time. Therefore, patients with liver disease should pay more attention to nourishing the liver in spring. In addition, various pathogenic microorganisms are active at this time, and various infectious diseases such as influenza are prevalent. Chronic liver disease patients have low resistance, so they should avoid "adding insult to injury" to the liver and making the condition worse.

In response to the vitality of spring, the original discomfort symptoms of liver disharmony are often aggravated. In traditional Chinese medicine, the following are common syndromes of liver disharmony:

1. Liver Qi Stagnation

The liver is responsible for dredging the qi and regulating emotions. Stagnation of liver qi can cause fullness in the ribs or stomach, foreign body sensation in the throat, breast pain, and depression.

2. Excessive liver fire

The liver belongs to wood, and wood easily produces fire. In spring, Yang energy is generated, and the liver fire is strong. In addition, improper regulation of emotions and diet can easily induce liver fire, resulting in symptoms such as red face and eyes, headache, irritability, insomnia, dry mouth and bitter taste.

3. Liver and spleen imbalance

Among the five elements, the liver belongs to wood and the spleen belongs to earth, and wood overcomes earth. If the spleen and earth are originally weak, and the liver becomes strong in spring, it will fail to dredge and release, and take the opportunity to overcome the spleen and earth, which can cause the spleen and earth to stagnate and fail to transport and transform, resulting in symptoms such as abdominal distension, poor appetite, abdominal distension and loose stools.

4. Insufficient liver blood

"Suwen" says, "The liver receives blood and can see, the feet receive blood and can walk, the palms receive blood and can grasp, and the fingers receive blood and can take." The liver stores blood and is the soul in the mind. Insufficient liver blood can easily cause numbness of limbs, blurred vision, dry and easy-to-break nails, and delayed menstruation. If the liver does not store the soul, palpitations, fear, insomnia, and dreaminess can occur.

In spring, we should take care of our liver and maintain our health. What should we do specifically?

1. Don't stay up late. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine says that "when a person lies down, blood returns to the liver." Good sleep helps nourish liver blood. 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. corresponds to the liver and gallbladder meridian time. You should ensure that you have sufficient and high-quality sleep during this time period. After 11 p.m., human cells, including liver cells, begin to repair themselves. Staying up late is extremely detrimental to liver health and recovery from liver disease. Especially for patients with active liver disease, rest is also one of the means of treatment. Lying still can increase liver blood flow and facilitate liver cell repair and regeneration.

2. Prohibition of alcohol. According to traditional Chinese medicine, alcohol is a damp-heat evil that first harms the spleen and stomach, followed by liver qi stagnation, leading to disease. Ethanol, the main component of alcohol, is mainly metabolized in the liver. Long-term drinking can lead to alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis and other liver diseases. For patients with existing liver disease, drinking alcohol can easily induce liver disease or cause liver disease-related complications, such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, etc., which aggravates the condition. Not drinking is the "code of conduct" for patients with liver disease.

3. Keep your mood happy

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine says, "When the liver qi is deficient, fear will occur; when it is full, anger will occur." Liver qi stagnation can easily lead to anger, and vice versa, anger can easily damage the liver, causing liver qi disorder and inducing the occurrence and recurrence of liver disease. Therefore, in spring, we especially emphasize a peaceful and optimistic mentality, and we should vent unpleasant things in time to avoid liver qi stagnation.

4. Eat less acidic foods and hair-raising foods

The taste of the liver is sour, and the liver qi is rising in spring. If you eat too much sour food and irritating foods, it will easily make the liver qi too strong, causing symptoms such as emotional agitation, irritability, dry mouth, bitter taste, dizziness and headache. It can also easily damage the spleen, causing the spleen to fail to function, resulting in loss of appetite, bloating, diarrhea, etc.

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5. Exercise in moderation Appropriate exercise can help the body's qi and blood flow smoothly, relax the muscles and tendons, strengthen the body, and soothe the liver. But be careful not to do strenuous exercise, otherwise it will easily damage the body's yang energy. For patients with chronic liver disease, they need to pay more attention to rest and not be too tired. They can do some more soothing exercises, such as Tai Chi, Ba Duan Jin, etc.

Special reminder for patients with chronic liver disease to keep healthy in spring

(1) Take medicine on time and have regular checkups, conduct basic liver disease examinations regularly, keep abreast of changes in the condition, and deal with problems promptly. (2) Use foods and drugs that irritate the gastric mucosa with caution, especially for patients with cirrhosis. Avoid eating too sour and spicy food to reduce gastric mucosal irritation and avoid inducing upper gastrointestinal bleeding. (3) Keep warm and avoid catching cold. At the same time, take precautions to avoid infection with common diseases in spring, such as influenza.