🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Spring is the beginning of the four seasons. From Start of Spring onward, it spans six solar terms: Rain Water, Awakening of Insects, Spring Equinox, Pure Brightness, and Grain Rain. Starting from early spring, all things revive, and nature bursts forth with vitality. Thus, spring health preservation must align with the natural upward and expansive movement of yang energy, making yang nourishment the priority.
(1) Prevent Wind Pathogen Invasion.
Wind dominates spring. Spring breezes turn willows green, bloom flowers, and awaken human vitality. Yet wind is swift-moving and changeable. If excessive, it harms health. First, it damages the lungs (lung qi), causing colds, fever, and cough. Second, it affects other organs, triggering rheumatoid arthritis, facial paralysis, etc. Third, it combines with other pathogens, causing acute gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhea.
(2) Protect Skin and Prevent Dryness.
The skin is the largest organ of the body and most vulnerable to dry spring weather. Strong winds and dry air reduce facial moisture, causing dryness, tightness, peeling, or wrinkle formation. Water is the best beauty agent. Use alternating cold and warm water for washing—removes facial oils while promoting blood circulation, keeping skin smooth and delicate. Stay hydrated in spring: drink 2,500 ml of plain water daily (5 pounds). Drink water before bed and upon waking to dilute blood, benefiting cardiovascular health. Fresh fruit juices, vegetable greens, and tea are also excellent beverages.
(3) Maintain Exercise.
Spring sees lush trees and blooming flowers—ideal for absorbing natural yang energy. Exercise is the best way to nurture yang. Walking is the most economical and accessible method.
(4) Liver Nourishment and Health Care.
The liver corresponds to spring energy and belongs to wood. First, maintain emotional well-being. Emotional frustration or anger easily causes liver yang hyperactivity, raising blood pressure and increasing stroke risk (cerebrovascular disease). Second, nourish the liver by enriching kidney water. The liver relies on kidney water. Insufficient kidney water leads to liver yang hyperactivity, causing hypertension, headaches, and insomnia. Recommended herbs include: wolfberry, polygonatum, ligustrum, hedyotis, lily, rehmannia, white peony, licorice, uncaria, and poria. Boil in water, adjusting dosage and ingredients based on individual constitution (cold, heat, deficiency, excess).
(5) Consume Warm-Nourishing Foods.
Following the principle in the "Huangdi Neijing" that “nurture yang in spring and summer,” eat more warming foods to boost yang energy. Historically, garlic, scallions, and leeks are praised as excellent yang-nourishing vegetables. Li Shizhen wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": “The leaves of leek are hot, roots warm—same function. Raw, they disperse blood; cooked, they tonify the middle energizer—leek is a liver herb.” Eating moderate amounts of warm leeks in spring helps replenish yang energy, enhance liver and spleen-stomach functions. Scallions are medicinal throughout: leaves benefit the five zang organs and reduce edema; white parts open yang, induce sweating, detoxify, reduce swelling; juice detoxifies and relieves pain; roots treat hemorrhoids and bloody stools. Garlic is pungent and warm, detoxifying and resolving stasis. It effectively prevents respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in spring and cleanses blood, benefiting cardiovascular health. Additionally, cook dates (red dates), huai mountain yam, rice, millet, and cowpea (or red adzuki beans) into porridge to strengthen the spleen, nourish the stomach, and moisten dryness. Spring favors more vegetables and wild greens—such as soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts, coriander, bamboo shoots, spinach, celery, and rape—providing diverse vitamins, minerals, trace elements, clearing heat, moisturizing dryness, and aiding in releasing internal heat. Avoid greasy, raw, cold, sticky, or hard foods to protect the spleen and stomach.