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Keeping Healthy with Good Living Habits

LIU ZHANGWEN

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that good living habits, which aid the human organism in adjusting to changes in natural environments, are important in preventing disease and maintaining good health.

Morning Principles

Ge Hong (284-364), a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, wrote in his classic medical book that “people should not get up before the cock crows nor after sunset.” This means that people should get up early and not oversleep. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that vital energy starts to accumulate in the morning and so advises people to do massage or other excises in the morning to adjust the human organism.

The easiest way to do this is when you are still lying down. Before you get up, pat your chest several times. Then sit up, expel your breath sharply to let out the bad gas. Then rub your hands. When they become warm, “wash” your face with them. Use the back of your thumbs to rub the sides of your nose up and down 35 times. Then softly rub your upper eyelids 35 times. Embrace your head with your hands, palms covering your ears. Use your index and middle fingers to flip your head back 24 times. Swing your body right and left 35 times. Stretch each arm 35 times. Then stretch each leg 35 times. Finally, close each eye 35 times.

After getting up it is good to go to a park or riverside where the air is fresh to do some mild exercises such as qigong, taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan), strolling or running. The negative ions of the fresh air help invigorate the metabolism and expel the harmful substances accumulated in your breathing during the night. Mild exercises also help achieve this effect. Old people should put on enough clothes to avoid being hit by cold or wind.

Proper Balance Between Work and Rest

In our daily life we must maintain a proper balance between work and rest. The Chinese people’s ancestors suggested that we should harmonize the proportion between work and rest. Work leads to a healthy body. Sun Simiao, a noted Chinese doctor of ancient times, pointed out that proper manual and mental labor is important in building up the body and preventing disease. He advised old people to continually use their brain and to do physical exercises. But they should not be done to excess, otherwise they will ruin health.

However, to be too much at leisure can also damage health. More than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese classical medical book, Yellow Emperor’s Manual of Internal Medicine, pointed out that excessive idleness harms health. This is because just idling away every day does not exercise the body and brain, hinders blood and vital energy circulation and produces flaccid muscles and indigestion. To balance work and rest one should first fix a regular time schedule for study, work and exercises. Then rest should consist of sleep and recreational activities. Try to develop different hobbies to enrich your life, such as listening to music, watching films or TV shows, enjoying poetry, painting, playing chess, and growing plants.

Bath Principles

Taking baths is one of the signs of civilization. They clean the skin, stimulate the blood circulation, expel fatigue and prevent disease. Many people who live long have the habit of taking frequent baths. Lukewarm or cold water is best. It’s better to have cold water in the morning or at noon than at night. Don’t take a bath when you are hungry; it sometimes produces faintness from a decrease in blood sugar. On the other hand, if you take a bath when you are too full, your digestion will be affected.

Bathing time should not be too long nor the water too hot. Do not go into a breeze after a bath, for it is easy to catch a cold at this time. Those with coronary heart disease, angina pectoris or high blood pressure should be even more careful with a bath. Do not take a bath if you have a high temperature or have just been doing intense sports exercises. Menstruating or pregnant women should not take cold baths.

Sleep Principles

Sleep eliminates fatigue and restores energy. A Chinese saying claims that “to sleep well is better than to eat well.” Nourishing food and tonics cannot replace the role of sleep. Traditional Chinese medicine advises people to go to bed early and get up early. Good sleep at night should be a habit. Don’t often break this habit and work late into the night. The bed should not be too hard or too soft,  and the pillow should not be too high. The best sleeping position is lying on your right side, supplemented by lying on your left side or back. Don’t lie on your stomach. The bedroom should be clean and cosy.

If you are in a bad mood or unhappy, go out for a walk or do qigong or massage before going to bed. If conditions don’t allow you to take a hot bath, washing your feet in warm water can also help sleep. Don’t eat food, drink strong tea or coffee, or smoke before going to bed. While lying in bed don’t talk, lie in a breeze, or face the light. Don’t open your mouth, cover your face with the blanket, lie in a damp place or in the open. In short, good sleeping habit is important to your health.