Did you sleep well after the Great Cold?

This is the 4750th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

This poem "Dahan" is a poem by Lu You, a writer in the Song Dynasty, describing the cold and closed environment during the Dahan season. With the Dahan season as the background and the poet's own situation as the starting point, it expresses the poet's thoughts and feelings. The poet shows his inner loneliness by describing the cold environment, the closed state and his daily activities. The whole poem describes the author's state of mind and his thoughts on the current social situation in concise and clear language, allowing readers to experience the coldness from the inside out.

Dahan is the last solar term among the 24 solar terms, which falls on January 20 every year. "Collected Explanations of the 72 Solar Terms of the Lunar Calendar" states that "Dahan is in the middle of December. See above for explanation." "Minor Cold is the twelfth month. The cold is still mild at the beginning of the month, so it is said that it will be severe in the middle of the month." "Dahan" is relative to "Minor Cold". The cold is weak in the beginning of December and is called "Minor Cold", while the cold is strong in the middle of December and is called "Dahan". "The Book of Filial Piety" states that "Fifteen days after Minor Cold, the sun's ecliptic longitude is 300 degrees, and the handle of the Big Dipper points to Chou, which is the Dahan, and it is extremely cold at this point." "Tongkao of the Time: Tianshi" quotes "Three Rituals and Meanings" that "Dahan is the middle one, and it is above Minor Cold, so it is called Dahan. The cold is extremely cold, so it is called Dahan", which explains that Minor Cold represents the weak cold at the beginning of the month, while Dahan represents the extreme cold. Dahan is in the period of the 39th and 49th days, when cold waves frequently move southward, and it is the coldest period of the year. After the Great Cold, insomnia and nightmares occur due to insufficient Yang energy and invasion of cold evil.

Traditional Chinese medicine adheres to the Taoist philosophy of adapting to nature, and advocates that people should adjust their work and rest patterns and physical and mental activities according to the changes of yin and yang in the four seasons. It also summarizes the four-season spirit-regulating principles of "spring for growth, summer for growth, autumn for harvest, and winter for storage" to achieve synchronization and harmonious resonance with heaven and earth, which is the so-called "harmony between man and nature."

Winter is all about "hiding". The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine states that "the three months of winter are called closure and hiding. The water is frozen and the ground is cracked. Do not disturb the Yang. Go to bed early and get up late, and wait for the sun. Keep your mind hidden and concealed. If you have any private thoughts or have already obtained something, get rid of the cold and warm up. Do not expose your skin, which will cause your Qi to be lost. This is the response of winter Qi and the way to nourish and store. If you go against it, you will hurt your kidneys, and in spring you will suffer from paralysis and fainting, and few people will live." The ancients realized that in the three months of winter, the weather is cold and the ground is frozen, and all things are cold and hidden. In order to adapt to the cold environment, people should reduce the chance of going out and do not disturb the Yang in their bodies. They should go to bed early and get up late, and work in the sunlight to avoid the internal disturbance of cold evil. Hiding good essence is like protecting it as if you cannot reveal the secrets of heaven. Keep warm in winter, do not expose your skin, open it, or sweat, which will affect the hidden Yang. In short, it is a word of hiding, winter storage, storing energy for the body, and laying a solid foundation.

1. Keep a regular schedule

"During the three months of winter, go to bed early and get up late, and wait for the sun to come out." This means that in winter, you should have a regular routine, go to bed early and get up late to follow the trend of the Yang energy between heaven and earth, conserve your energy, maintain your Yang energy, and adjust your work and rest according to the rise and fall of the sun.

2. Exercise at the right time

In winter, people are in a state of "yin is strong and yang is weak". It is necessary to wait until the sun rises to exercise. It is not suitable to exercise too early or too late. It is not suitable to do strenuous exercise. You can do some low-intensity aerobic exercise such as walking, Tai Chi, Ba Duan Jin, etc. Get more sun and keep your back warm, which will help the yang rise, thereby achieving the purpose of strengthening the body and improving sleep.

3. Pay attention to your diet

Dietary nourishment focuses on nourishing the kidneys. Eat more black foods, such as black beans, black fungus, black sesame, etc. There are also medicated winter tonics such as stewed lamb with angelica and ginger, stewed chicken with ginseng, and stewed pigeon with astragalus. However, do not overeat hot and dry things. Be sure to warm and nourish properly to avoid internal heat disturbance. You can also choose light and moisturizing foods, such as lotus roots and radishes, to adapt to the upcoming spring climate characteristics. In addition, avoid overeating raw and cold foods to prevent damage to the spleen and stomach yang. Everything has two sides. Excessive consumption of so-called "sleep-aiding" foods in order to get a better sleep will not only affect digestion, but also affect sleep quality, and increase the risk of other diseases.

Author: Shi Yang, deputy chief physician of Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic time: Saturday afternoon (Clinic Room 10, 3rd Floor, South Building, No. 44 Qinghai Road)