🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Although traditional Chinese medicine folk wisdom states "tonify in winter, be strong as a tiger in spring," if one appropriately tonifies during the vernal season when all things revive, the effect is no less than that of winter tonification. This was revealed recently by Dr. Zhao Zhifu, Chief Physician at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
There are unique advantages to tonifying in spring. According to the theory of "spring growth, summer flourishing, autumn harvest, winter storage," spring is precisely when nature's temperature rises and yang energy gradually strengthens. Furthermore, based on the TCM principle of "human beings correspond with heaven and earth," human yang energy also follows nature’s rhythm, manifesting upward and outward dispersion. Thus, appropriate tonification during this period represents the optimal season for enhancing constitution. Additionally, many springtime illnesses—such as pneumonia, hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, measles, mumps, allergic asthma, and myocardial infarction—are related to inadequate nourishment during winter; thus timely tonification now can serve as an effective "corrective measure."
Those with contrasting temperaments—“depressed and repressed” or “irritable and easily angered”—are key targets for spring tonification. Dr. Zhao explains that individuals prone to depression are typically introverted, often exhibiting symptoms such as abdominal distension, poor spleen-stomach function, emotional suppression, poor appetite, pale tongue, and white coating—conditions classified in TCM as "liver qi stagnation." In contrast, those who are irritable and easily angered are usually extroverted, commonly presenting with obesity, restlessness, irritability, red tongue, and yellow coating—classified in TCM as "liver fire ascending." For these two groups, herbal decoctions should first adopt methods of "soothing the liver and regulating qi" or "nourishing the liver and clearing heat," respectively. In addition, during spring dietary therapy, those prone to depression should selectively consume aromatic, qi-moving foods like fennel, radish, and orange, while also taking 10 grams of Astragalus root, 3 slices of ginger, and 5 jujubes, boiled into tea. Those prone to anger should prefer bitter and sour foods such as bitter melon and hawthorn, and may take 10 grams of chrysanthemum, 10 grams of cassia seed, and 3 grams of licorice, boiled into tea.
TCM says: "In spring, nourish the liver; in summer, nourish the heart; in late summer, nourish the spleen; in autumn, nourish the lung; in winter, nourish the kidney." Therefore, spring tonification should center on "nourishing the liver." The primary step in liver care is emotional regulation—maintaining a cheerful mood and avoiding anger. Moreover, spring tonification through medicinal diets should follow the principle of moderate tonification; one must not solely rely on warm and hot tonics, as this could exacerbate internal heat due to rising spring temperatures and damage vital energy.