[Health Preservation during the 24 Solar Terms] If your stomach is not in harmony, you will not be able to sleep well. Take care of your spleen and stomach to sleep well.

"My stomach feels uncomfortable when the weather gets cold!" "I've eaten too much meat recently and I have trouble digesting it. My stomach is bloated." "It's cold and I'm greedy. I ate too much at dinner. My stomach feels churning and I can't sleep!"... Look at what this patient said in the outpatient clinic. He has problems with his stomach and intestines and sleep at the same time.

At the beginning of the light snow, the leaves fall and the grass turns yellow. The temperature is getting lower and lower, and many chronic diseases such as respiratory diseases, digestive diseases, and bone and joint diseases are prone to relapse. At the same time, winter is also the peak season for gastrointestinal diseases. In this season, many people feel that their bodies are very cold and have gastrointestinal discomfort. How can the gastrointestinal tract affect sleep?

The reason why people can sleep well at night is that the Qi descends, the Yang Qi is stored, and the Yang enters the Yin, so that the mind can be at peace and people can fall asleep or have a deep sleep. However, if the spleen and stomach are not strong, there will be stagnation in the stomach, the spleen and stomach will not rise and fall normally, the Yang Qi will not be stored, but will float upward, and the mind will be disturbed, so people will either not fall asleep, or if they fall asleep, they will have a shallow sleep with many dreams.

Therefore, people with spleen and stomach problems generally do not sleep well.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the spleen is responsible for transportation and transformation, and for raising the clear, while the stomach is responsible for lowering the turbid. The spleen and stomach functions work together to raise the clear and lower the turbid. They are the hub of the rise and fall of qi and the source of qi and blood. If the spleen and stomach are weak, or if you eat too much, food will accumulate in the stomach, causing dampness and heat, which will be blocked in the middle jiao. The dampness and heat will disturb the mind, causing the stomach qi to be out of harmony, and the rise and fall of qi will be unfavorable, and the yin and yang will be out of harmony, which will eventually affect sleep.

How to avoid "stomach discomfort"?

1. Eat in moderation

First, the amount of food should be controlled. Remember not to overeat fatty and greasy food or overeat, which will lead to bloating. Second, the eating time should be regular, with three meals on time.

Traditional Chinese medicine has long held the theory that "eating in moderation will prolong life." Huangdi Neijing Suwen points out the harm of overeating: "If you eat too much, your stomach and intestines will be damaged... If you eat and drink in moderation and do not have regular daily routines... you will have fullness and blockage, diarrhea, and intestinal diarrhea after a long time."

2. Don’t eat too much or too well for dinner

As the saying goes, "eat a good breakfast, eat a full lunch, and eat less dinner." People need to rest at night, and the stomach is the same. If you eat too much dinner or eat a midnight snack, the stomach will have to work overtime, which will naturally affect your sleep.

In addition, on winter evenings, most people stay at home after dinner and do not move, so stomach stagnation becomes a common problem.

3. Avoid blindly taking supplements

Now that material conditions are abundant, everyone is always worried about malnutrition for themselves and their families, so they like to eat all kinds of meat and fish, hoping to supplement nutrition by eating all kinds of "nutritious" foods such as high-fat, high-cholesterol foods. However, they do not realize that it is often overnutrition, and excess nutrition will turn into pathological products such as "dampness", "stasis" and "phlegm" that remain in the body, affecting sleep and even physical health.

4. Try to eat less spicy and fried food before going to bed

Spicy foods such as peppers, ginger, and various fried foods will, on the one hand, stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, and on the other hand, make the body in a state of dryness and heat. Eating before going to bed is not conducive to calming the mind and falling asleep.

Author: Liu Yang, attending physician of the Massage and Physical Therapy Department, Oriental Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

Scientific Advisor: Yan Yan, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Oriental Hospital