[Solar terms health care] Here is a guide to the grain in ear health care for you, follow it to avoid getting sick in summer

Grain in Ear, also known as "busy planting", is the ninth solar term of the 24 solar terms and the third solar term in summer. The Big Dipper points to Si, and the sun's ecliptic longitude reaches 75°. The festival falls on June 5-7 of the Gregorian calendar every year. Grain in Ear means "grain crops with awns can be planted". During this season, the temperature rises significantly, the rainfall is abundant, and the air humidity is high, which is suitable for planting late rice and other grain crops.

The climate characteristics of Grain in Ear solar term are significantly higher temperature, abundant rainfall and high humidity. During this period, high temperature weather occurs frequently, and the humidity is high and it is often hot and humid. Whether in the south or the north, high temperature weather is possible.

During this period, the southeast monsoon rain belt in southern my country is stable, and the Jiangnan region has entered the plum rain season. However, the northern part of my country has not yet entered the rainy season.

The Grain in Ear solar term is of great significance in farming, and it guides farming. During the Grain in Ear period, the temperature rises significantly, and the rainfall is abundant. Such unique climatic conditions are suitable for both sowing and transplanting. Farming is divided by the Grain in Ear season, and the survival rate of sowing after that will be lower and lower.

Grain in Ear Folk Customs

Send flower god

In ancient times, the Flower God was welcomed on the Flower Festival on the second day of the second lunar month. Grain in Ear is close to May, when all flowers begin to wither and fall. People often hold a ceremony to worship the Flower God on this day to send the Flower God back to his place, express gratitude to the Flower God, and look forward to meeting him again next year.

Boiled plums

Legend has it that the custom of boiling plums originated in the Xia Dynasty. In the south, plums mature in May and June every year. Green plums have many nutritional and health functions, but fresh green plums are sour and astringent, so they need to be processed before consumption, which is called boiling plums. The most famous story about boiling plums is the "Discussing Heroes Over Green Plums and Boiling Wine" in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Ploughing Festival

Some areas in Zhejiang have a "Plowing Festival" held on the day of Grain in Ear. There is a local legend that the ox is the grass official in heaven. Because he sympathized with the famine on earth, he secretly sowed grass seeds, but the result was that weeds grew wildly and the farmland was flooded with weeds, making it impossible for farmers to cultivate. In order to punish the ox, the heaven ordered it to come down to earth to plow the fields, and it has been doing so until today.

The focus of health preservation during Grain in Ear should be based on the climatic characteristics of the season.

In terms of mental care, you should keep your mind relaxed and happy, and avoid anger and depression. This way your qi can flow smoothly and be discharged freely.

In daily life, we should get some sunlight (avoid direct sunlight and take precautions against heat stroke) to conform to the abundance of Yang Qi, facilitate the circulation of Qi and blood, and invigorate the spirit. In summer, the days are long and the nights are short, so taking a nap at noon can help eliminate fatigue and is good for health.

After Grain in Ear, it is hot at noon and people tend to sweat. Clothes should be washed and changed frequently. To avoid heat stroke, you should take a bath frequently after Grain in Ear, which can loosen the skin and make it easier for "yang heat" to vent. But one thing to note is that you should not take a bath immediately after sweating. There is an old Chinese saying, "Sweat does not show moisture", if "sweat shows moisture, acne will occur."

Here are some methods of medicinal bathing. The so-called medicinal bathing is to add medicinal decoction or infusion to the bath water, or directly use the decocted decoction to steam bath or fumigate the whole body or the affected part to achieve the purpose of fitness and disease prevention. The use of medicinal bathing has a long history in my country. It is recorded that it has been popular to use fragrant soup bathing to cleanse the body since the Zhou Dynasty. During the Song and Ming Dynasties, this kind of fragrant soup bath was introduced to the people, and the "perfume business" for people to take aromatic baths appeared, which gradually formed a custom.

People choose different dates to take medicinal baths to cleanse themselves and prevent diseases. For example, taking a bath with five-spice soup on the Spring Festival will make people fragrant and invigorated after the bath; the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is called "Zhonghe Festival" by the ancients, and the folk day is "Dragon Head-raising Day". Taking a bath with wolfberry decoction can make people's skin shiny and prevent aging and disease; Wuzhi soup is often used for bathing in summer to dispel wind and air, expel evil poisons, and nourish blood. In the Qing Dynasty, medicinal baths were not only used as a way to keep fit and prolong life, but also widely used to treat and recover from diseases. In the process of medicinal baths, in addition to the physical and chemical effects of water itself (mainly warming effects), the main effect is the effect of drugs on the human body. The active ingredients of the drug aqueous solution enter the body through the body surface and respiratory mucosa. According to the formulation of different drugs, it can play the role of relaxing meridians, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, dispelling wind and cold, clearing heat and detoxifying, and removing dampness and relieving itching.

There are many ways to take medicinal baths, the most commonly used ones are immersion baths, fumigation baths, and hot compresses. As a health care method, immersion baths are the main method.

The specific method of Mangzhong bathing is to take Wuzhi Decoction (cinnamon twig, sophora twig, peach twig, willow twig, hemp twig) as an example: first wrap equal amount of medicine with gauze, add ten times the amount of water as medicine, soak for 20 minutes, then boil for 30 minutes, then pour the medicine liquid into the bath water, and then you can bathe. If conditions permit, you can do it once a day. This medicinal bathing method is suitable for whole body bathing and can also be used for local soaking.

Female friends can choose a beauty and skin care recipe: 10 grams each of mung bean, lily, and borneol, 30 grams each of talc, white aconite, angelica dahurica, white sandalwood, and rosin. Grind them into coarse powder, put them in a gauze bag and boil them in water for bathing. It can make your face and skin white, smooth and delicate, and your body odor can drive away evil spirits.

Don't expose your back, and practice more breathing exercises. During this solar term, some people start to bare their backs in the streets and alleys, thinking that this is cool, but it is not true. As we all know, the skin covers the surface of the human body and has multiple functions such as protection, sensation, regulation of body temperature, secretion, excretion, metabolism, etc. There are millions of sweat pores on the human skin, and the evaporation of sweat on the surface of the skin every day can take away a lot of body heat. When the outside temperature exceeds 35℃, the body's heat dissipation mainly relies on the evaporation of sweat from the skin, which accelerates the heat dissipation and prevents the body temperature from rising too much. At this time, if you bare your back and don't wear clothes, your skin will absorb heat from the outside, and it will not be able to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation by evaporation, so you will feel stuffy.

Health tips

Although the Grain in Ear season is busy

But be careful to have a good rest schedule

Take a nap at noon

Pay attention to heatstroke prevention and cooling

Keep a happy mood and avoid anger and depression

Exercise properly

It is advisable to walk, jog, swim, etc. in the morning and evening.

Eat a light diet

Eat more fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits

Fitness class During the Grain in Ear season, we recommend an action

V-shaped support

Tighten your abs and keep your back straight

Bend your knees and raise your legs, curl your toes

Hands and knees

Keep Still

The entire abdomen is always tight

The stronger the hands and knees

The stronger the tension

Source: Comprehensive Science Popularization in China, Famous Doctors’ Heritage, Outpatient Department of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences