National Safe Medication Use Month | Floral fragrance is refreshing and good for healing emotions - these flower tea substitutes can put you in a good mood!

The COVID-19 pandemic has been going on for three years. Affected by the pandemic, people's emotions are more likely to fluctuate. According to a data given by Academician Lu Lin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in "Science and Technology Innovation in China·Academician Lectures", since the outbreak, more than 70 million new depression patients, 90 million anxiety patients, and hundreds of millions of people have sleep disorders. A report released by the World Health Organization also showed that in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global incidence of anxiety and depression increased by 25%. December 7-Three years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing the Implementation of COVID-19 Prevention and Control Measures", which optimized and adjusted the division of risk areas, nucleic acid testing, and isolation methods. With the promulgation of this "new ten" policy, epidemic prevention measures in various places have been further adjusted. Faced with new changes, people are inevitably anxious and uneasy.

In addition to common anti-anxiety/depression drug treatments, Chinese medicine is widely used in regulating and treating emotions. Commonly used Chinese medicines include bupleurum, mint, curcuma, fructus aurantii, cyperus rotundus, angelica, calamus, polygala, albizzia, etc. There are also many classic prescriptions used by doctors of all dynasties to regulate emotions, such as Sini San, Xiaoyao San, Yueju Wan, Chaihu Shugan San, Baihe Dihuang Tang, etc. Today, Yaowa will share with you some flower-based Chinese medicines that can be used as tea to regulate emotions.

Understanding the Seven Emotions and Five Wills

Emotions are the manifestation of human instinct. When people come into contact with things around them or other people, they are not indifferent or unresponsive to anyone, anything, or anything. Instead, they show some corresponding emotions, such as happiness or sadness, like or dislike, surprise or fear, etc. These emotional expressions are summarized as the emotions in traditional Chinese medicine, including the seven emotions and the five wills.

The description of the seven emotions and five wills first appeared in the book "Huangdi Neijing": "The liver is anger in will, the heart is joy in will, the spleen is thinking in will, the lungs are sad in will, and the kidneys are fear in will", that is, anger, joy, thinking, sadness, and fear are the five wills, and joy, anger, worry, thinking, sadness, fear, and shock are the seven emotional changes. Under normal circumstances, emotions have little effect on human health and will not cause any diseases, just like the climate changes in nature, sometimes raining, sometimes sunny, and sometimes cloudy, which are all normal phenomena. But everything has a degree. Excessive will bring adverse consequences, and emotions are no exception. In the accumulation of thousands of years of traditional Chinese culture, a rich Chinese medicine psychology thought has gradually formed. It believes that people's mental illness is mainly caused by the seven emotions. Excessive excitement or excessive inhibition of emotions will cause the body's qi and blood to be disordered, and the yin and yang of the internal organs to be unbalanced, thus causing illness, which is the so-called "seven emotions internal injury".

Flower-based Chinese medicine for treating emotional disorders

The name of emotional disorder was first seen in Leijing, which refers to a type of disease caused by dysfunction of internal organs due to various emotions. It covers the categories of "depression", "lily disease", "visceral mania", "madness" and "insomnia" in traditional Chinese medicine, which are equivalent to modern medicine's mental and psychological diseases such as anxiety and depression, and psychosomatic diseases such as insomnia and tension headache.

Ancient doctors believed that flower-based Chinese medicines are mostly used in the liver meridian, which can relieve liver qi and depression, improve anxiety and depression, and have a good therapeutic effect on emotional diseases. As one of the special treatments of traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine tea drinking borrows from the way of tea drinking, and directly brews some Chinese medicines to prevent and treat diseases, which can achieve the effects of treatment, health care and conditioning.

The following are some of the traditional Chinese medicine flowers that can be used as tea to regulate emotions.

【Albizia Julibrissin】

The flower of Albizzia julibrissin, also known as night primrose, is mild in nature, sweet in taste, and enters the heart and liver meridians. It is an important medicine for treating depression, irritability, and insomnia caused by liver qi stagnation. The flower of Albizzia julibrissin has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for calming the mind and relieving depression for thousands of years. The ancients used the method of analogy to understand things. They observed that the Albizzia julibrissin opened during the day and closed at night, which is similar to the work and rest pattern of people who work at sunrise and rest at sunset. Therefore, they believed that the Albizzia julibrissin has the function of relieving depression and calming the mind. The "Shennong Bencao Jing" records that "Albizzia julibrissin calms the five internal organs, harmonizes the mind, and makes people happy and worry-free"; "Zhonghua Gujin Zhu" says "If you want to relieve people's anger, give them Qingshang. Qingshang is Albizzia julibrissin"; "Health Preservation Theory" also says "Albizzia julibrissin relieves anger, and daylily forgets worries."

【Rose】

Rose is warm in nature, sweet and slightly bitter in taste, and enters the heart and liver meridians. It has the effects of promoting qi and relieving depression, removing dampness and harmonizing the middle, and promoting blood circulation and dispersing blood stasis. It is used for liver-stomach disharmony, abdominal pain, menstrual disorders, traumatic injuries, bruises and pain, etc. Rose has a very mild medicinal property and is a good food with the same origin as medicine. Drinking it as a tea can relieve the depression in the body, improve sleep quality, regulate emotions, and make the body and mind feel comfortable. However, women during menstruation should use it with caution to prevent excessive menstrual flow caused by promoting qi and blood circulation. Roses with purple color and strong fragrance are preferred.

【Daidaihua】

Daidaihua, also known as Daidaihua, sour orange flower, and Huiqing orange flower, is the flower bud of Daidaihua, a plant of the genus Daidaihua in the Rutaceae family. It is a product of both medicinal and edible origin, and was first recorded in the Kaibao Materia Medica. The origin of "Daidai" is because its fruit is dark green at first, and turns orange-yellow when ripe. If it is not picked and left until the spring and summer of the second year, it will turn green again, and the cycle will repeat. The fruit will remain the same in the third year, so it is named "Daidai". Daidaihua is flat in nature, spicy, sweet, and slightly bitter. It belongs to the liver and stomach meridians, and can soothe the liver and regulate qi, harmonize the stomach and stop vomiting. Modern medical research has shown that Daidaihua contains a variety of volatile oil compounds, and the content is relatively high. These substances can calm the mind and relax the mood, and can effectively reduce the occurrence of symptoms such as depression and neurasthenia.

【White plum blossom】

Plum blossoms are the dried flower buds of the rose family, and their use as medicine was first seen in the Compendium of Materia Medica. The medicinal plum blossoms recorded in successive dynasties mainly include white plum blossoms, green-calyx plum blossoms and red plum blossoms, among which green-calyx plum blossoms are often classified as a type of white plum blossoms. At present, white plum blossoms are the main type of medicine in most parts of the country. White plum blossoms are flat in nature, slightly sour in taste, and belong to the liver, stomach, and lung meridians. They can soothe the liver and relieve depression, regulate qi and harmonize the middle, and are used to treat liver and stomach pain, depression, and irritability. The ancients often used plum blossoms in medicinal meals or diet therapy because they can help to be elegant and clear the mind. The "Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica·Flowers" says that it "opens the appetite and relieves depression... helps the clear yang qi rise."

Jasmine

Jasmine flowers bloom continuously in summer and autumn, and the rich fragrance makes people feel happy. According to Chinese medicine, jasmine is warm in nature, spicy and slightly sweet in taste, and enters the spleen, stomach, and liver meridians. The "Chinese Medicine Dictionary" records that jasmine has the effect of "regulating qi and relieving depression, eliminating filth and harmonizing the stomach". Modern medical research has confirmed that jasmine has a significant anti-depressant effect. Its fragrance is elegant and it is best used in tea. In addition, it can also be used to make porridge or made into sachets.

【chrysanthemum】

Chrysanthemum is slightly cold in nature, sweet and bitter in taste, and enters the liver and lung meridians. It can dispel wind and heat, soothe the liver and improve eyesight. According to the different origins and processing methods, chrysanthemums are divided into "Boju", "Chuju", "Gongju" and "Hangju". Due to the different colors of the flowers, chrysanthemums are divided into white chrysanthemums and yellow chrysanthemums. The effects can dispel wind and heat, soothe the liver and improve eyesight, and clear away heat and detoxify, but they have different focuses. White chrysanthemums tend to soothe the liver, clear the liver and improve eyesight, while yellow chrysanthemums tend to dispel wind and heat. It should be reminded that both yellow and white chrysanthemums are cool in nature, and those with spleen and stomach deficiency and loose stools should not use them for a long time.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the medicinal power will weaken when the flower blooms, so when using flower-based Chinese medicine as medicine, the flower buds should be selected instead of the blooming petals. It is best to rinse the water before brewing with boiling water to remove impurities and dust. In addition, flower-based Chinese medicines are mostly loose in texture, easy to brew, and have a fragrant smell. Generally, it only takes 5-15 minutes to brew. It is best to drink it immediately after brewing, and do not drink overnight tea.

Most of the above-mentioned flower-based Chinese medicines are both medicinal and edible, and are relatively safe. However, tea substitutes are still medicines, and medicines are three-point toxic. Therefore, when choosing Chinese medicine tea substitutes, it is best to choose them reasonably under the guidance of a doctor, taking into account the constitution and the medicinal properties of Chinese medicine. In addition, tea substitutes are generally suitable for mild diseases. If there is no effect or the disease worsens, seek medical attention in time. For emotional diseases, tea substitutes only play an auxiliary therapeutic role. What is more important is physical and mental health care. You must learn to self-regulate and relieve yourself, and at the same time develop good work and rest habits, insist on proper exercise, and a reasonable diet.