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Previously on Facebook, we have shared some tips for preventing pneumonia and flu, such as wearing masks when going out, washing hands frequently, ventilating often, and avoiding crowds. We encourage everyone to understand the transmission routes and cut off the sources of infection. Many readers felt this was "unsatisfactory" and hoped to discuss protective measures from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine health preservation. Below, we will focus on this aspect.

1. Keep warm and avoid the cold

Protect yourself well, do not cough due to catching a cold. During special times, avoid ordinary colds causing unnecessary psychological pressure on yourself and those around you. For people who usually fear cold, special attention should be paid to keeping the feet and back warm. The feet are farthest from the heart and have less blood supply; when cold, blood vessels constrict, causing cold to originate internally, triggering diarrhea, cough, and respiratory diseases. Those who have cold hands and feet should especially pay attention to keeping their hands and feet warm at this time. Additionally, the back is in the upper part of the body and is easily invaded by wind and cold, inducing heart and lung diseases. It is recommended that people who fear cold wear an extra wool vest.

2. Maintain a regular daily routine to avoid damaging Yang Qi

"The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon" says: "If you do not store essence in winter, you will surely suffer from warm diseases in spring... Essence is the foundation of the body."To maintain good health, it is crucial to nurture and conserve essence. Therefore, try to go to bed early and get up late, and avoid overexertion. In fact, everyone has felt that after a night of poor sleep, they feel lethargic the next day; this is a sign of insufficient kidney essence storage. Clinically, it is common to see elderly people with kidney essence deficiency and decline, leading to marrow sea emptiness, causing symptoms such as dizziness, tinnitus, loose teeth, hair loss, memory decline, osteoporosis, and difficulty moving—these are also manifestations of kidney essence deficiency. Why do elderly people have a high morbidity and mortality rate? Because many of them have underlying diseases such as hypertension, cardiopulmonary insufficiency, and renal insufficiency. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, kidney essence deficiency, kidney yang insufficiency, and spleen and stomach weakness are also related to these diseases, weakening their disease resistance.

3. Diet: Eat light and moderate food, and take tonic food according to body type

Diet should be light and easy to digest, reducing the intake of meat and sweets to avoid affecting the spleen and stomach's function, which can lead to phlegm and dampness; dampness provides a breeding ground for viruses. Except for those who suffer from constipation, bad breath, irritability, or mouth ulcers prone to heatiness, try to avoid bitter tastes, especially heat-clearing foods like bitter melon and bitter chrysanthemum vegetables, to prevent the bitter cold from harming the spleen and stomach yang energy and worsening dampness, which would reduce the body's disease resistance. All food should be cooked thoroughly and eaten while hot, with less fried food, and eat until about 80% full. Usually, you can drink more water, but personally, I think the amount per intake should not be too much. According to the principles of "Shang Han Lun," one should "drink little by little," meaning only a small amount each time, which keeps the mouth and throat moist and prevents damage to the stomach from excessive drinking.

4. Exercise appropriately to improve your ability to resist cold

Appropriate exercise can promote the circulation of qi and blood, relax muscles and activate the meridians, refresh the mind, and also enhance the body's ability to resist cold.

Recently, indoor exercise is encouraged, such as Tai Chi, Baduanjin, and aerobics. Exercise until the body feels warm and is about to sweat but has not yet started sweating. Looking at the phone40 minutes, need to get up and move for 10 minutes to let the eyes and body rest.

"A small reminder: After prolonged use of electronic products such as mobile phones and computers, the screens will inevitably get dirty, dust will enter the gaps, and there are also a large number of germs invisible to the naked eye. During special times, it is recommended to clean and disinfect the screens and shells of electronic products in a timely manner!"

(V) Don’t take medicine randomly. A good attitude is the “foundation”

First, health preservation must rely on diet, and treatment of illness depends on medicine. Medicine has its biases; normally, if not taken properly, it can cause illness. For example, during the SARS period, many people took heat-clearing medicine which led to persistent diarrhea, thus causing illness artificially.

Second, rather than blindly taking medicine on your own, it's better not to take any. Nothing is more important than regular living habits. Taking traditional Chinese medicine should follow the principle of syndrome differentiation.

Ventilate morning and evening, avoid being in the draft during ventilation, and especially do not ventilate while sleeping at night, as colds and coughs caused by ventilation are often seen. "Calm and void, true qi follows, spirit is kept inside, how can illness come?" "Spirit is focused, will is concentrated, the five organs are not affected by evil." Before the epidemic arrives, scientifically and properly carry out personal protection, pay great attention to behavior, remain calm in mind, a good attitude is better than any preventive medicine.

6. Prevent illness before it happens and take the initiative to practice it regularly

During this period, everyone is praying not to have a cough or fever. If you do have a cough or fever, recall whether you have had contact with any infection sources (if there is contact history, you can go to a designated hospital's fever clinic for screening), and whether you have a history of catching a cold, especially sweating and then being exposed to wind. Distinguish well between the common cold and the novel coronavirus, do not confuse them. Although this pneumonia is highly contagious, any pathogenic microorganism is conditionally pathogenic, which also proves the traditional Chinese medicine concept of "when the body's vital energy is intact, evil cannot invade" is not without reason. Therefore, I hope friends around you, and those who may have been exposed to infection sources, do not panic. Besides normal and necessary protection, it is more important to nurture your vital energy, which requires ensuring good and sufficient sleep. This is especially important!

Treatment methods for susceptible populations

** Acupuncture treatment

By acupuncture at specific points to relax muscles and activate collaterals, regulate the circulation of qi and blood, thereby enhancing the body's resistance. Moxibustion treatment can achieve the effect of tonifying yang and replenishing qi.

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** Chinese medicine conditioning

Using traditional Chinese medicine to regulate the body allows it to heal itself, which means restoring "zhengqi" (vital energy). When zhengqi is sufficient, a person is less likely to get sick. As emphasized in the "Huangdi Neijing": "When zhengqi is preserved inside, evil cannot invade."

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Daily diet conditioning

Today's recommendation is a dish that boosts immunity, suitable for both adults and children,which can be served as a regular soup with meals or used as a hot pot broth!

【Astragalus, wolfberry, red dates and vegetable hotpot】

Ingredients: 15 red dates, 20g astragalus, 20g goji berries, half a head of cabbage, 20 dried shiitake mushrooms (you can add other vegetables, meats, or mushrooms according to personal preference)
practice:
1⃣Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms until soft, drain and set aside. Rinse the astragalus, red dates, and goji berries with water.
2⃣Rinse the cabbage, and cut it into shreds or slices according to personal preference for later use.
3⃣After heating the pan, pour in cooking oil, sauté the garlic until fragrant, then add the shiitake mushrooms and stir-fry until the shiitake aroma is released.
4⃣Pour an appropriate amount of water into the pot, add the washed astragalus, goji berries, and red dates, andadd chicken essence drops, cover and simmer over medium heat.
5⃣After the water boils, add the cabbage and reduce to low heat to slowly simmer the broth for about 20 minutes. (If used as a hot pot base, you can add other meats or mushrooms according to personal preference and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.)
6⃣ Add appropriate seasonings before removing from the pot to serve.

Efficacy: Astragalus tonifies qi and raises yang, strengthens the body and consolidates the exterior; red dates tonify the spleen and harmonize the stomach, benefit qi and generate fluids, harmonize the nutritive and defensive qi; one supports the exterior, the other supports the interior, together resisting external pathogens, making it harder for them to invade the body. Goji berries tonify the liver and kidneys and also moisten the lungs, protecting and nourishing our respiratory tract. It is recommended that the soup mainly consists of vegetables, as vegetables are light and easy to digest,which can reduce the digestive burden on the spleen and stomach, working together to fight the flu!