Interpretation of winter health preservation concepts in Huangdi Neijing

Regarding winter health preservation, the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine: The Great Treatise on the Four Qi and the Regulating the Spirit has already discussed it in detail: "The three months of winter are called closed storage. 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 to come out. Make your mind hidden and concealed. If you have any private thoughts or have already achieved something, get rid of the cold and warm up. Do not leak the skin, which will cause the Qi to be lost. This is the response of the winter Qi and the way to nourish and store. If you go against it, you will hurt the kidneys, and in spring you will be paralyzed and have few children." The focus of this passage is closed storage, which is reflected in not disturbing the Yang Qi, keeping warm and resisting the cold, and nourishing the kidney Qi. The so-called spring is for growth, summer is for growth, autumn is for harvest, and winter is for storage. This is the great principle of the way of heaven.

The "Four Qi to Regulate the Spirit" in Huangdi Neijing Suwen refers to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, which are the seasons of birth, growth, harvest and storage. Regulating the spirit is how people adapt to the seasons to nourish their spirit.

The key to health preservation in winter is to preserve the body, and the key to preserve the body is to "not disturb the Yang" .

Do not disturb the Yang, which means that the Yang energy is already in storage in the winter and March, so do not disturb it. The Yang energy of heaven and earth experiences the spring, summer, and autumn. In winter, the Yang energy of heaven and earth weakens and is in a storage stage, preparing for the growth of the next spring. So how can "do not disturb the Yang" be reflected in daily life?

First, adjust your work and rest schedule. In the winter, you should "go to bed early and get up late, and wait for the sun to rise." In winter, the days are short and the nights are long. People should follow the changes in the weather and go to bed earlier and get up later. This is what the ancients said: work at sunrise and rest at sunset. Sleeping itself is a good way to hide. Nowadays, many people are used to working at night and sleeping during the day, which violates the law of correspondence between heaven and man, and the yin and yang are reversed, which is not good for health in the long run. You may not feel it when you are young, but you will feel it as you get older.

Second, the regulation of emotions. The emotions in winter should be "hiding, hiding, having private intentions, and having achieved something". The "will" here has two meanings. One is the mind, which is the ideal and goal in the heart. The "Kangxi Dictionary" says: What the heart wants is the will. The second is emotions, which are anger, joy, thinking, sadness, worry, fear, and shock. Even if you have goals and ideas in your heart, you should not be too tired, which will hurt your energy and spirit. Just do your best. After all, the body is the capital of the revolution. In terms of emotions, avoid excessive seven emotions. Excessive seven emotions will disturb the yang energy and dissipate people's spirit. In a word, you must grasp this degree.

Third, keep warm. In winter, we need to “get rid of the cold and keep warm”. In winter, especially in the north, people wear thick down jackets, gloves, hats and scarves. This clothing reflects the concept of “hiding”, which means hiding the whole body and preventing excessive contact with the cold and yin air outside, so as not to dissipate the body’s yang energy. In summer, people go shirtless outdoors, following the rising yang energy of heaven and earth, and often sweat. In winter, it is the opposite.

Fourth, the adjustment of exercise. Winter exercise should follow the principle of "no leakage of the skin, which will cause the Qi to be lost". No leakage of the skin simply means that the intensity of exercise should be low, the total amount should be controlled, and no sweating should be done. Excessive exercise or excessive sweating in hot springs will open the pores of the skin, which can easily lead to the invasion of cold air. When the Yang energy grows in spring, the cold air is blocked, which will cause some physical problems. For ordinary people, "making the Qi be lost" means avoiding high-intensity anaerobic exercise, such as 100-meter and short-distance racing swimming. In short, winter exercise should be mainly mild aerobic exercise, combining movement and stillness, which is conducive to nourishing the body.

Fifth, dietary adjustment

Winter diet should be mainly warm and nourishing. Winter is also a time to nourish the kidney essence. Stews and soups are good. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine has a theory that less fire generates qi, and strong fire consumes qi. The so-called less fire mostly refers to warm foods, such as ginger, yam, yam, angelica, mutton, beef, etc. Strong fire mostly refers to very spicy and hot foods, such as peppers, garlic, aconite, dried ginger, etc.