🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Traditional Chinese medical sayings include “Winter tonification, spring strength,” but if one properly tonifies in spring, the results are no less effective than winter tonification. This insight was shared recently by Dr. Zhao Zhi Fu, head of the Psychosomatic Medicine Department at Guang’anmen Hospital, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Spring tonification has unique advantages. Based on the theory of spring growth, summer flourishing, autumn harvest, and winter storage, spring is when natural temperatures rise and yang energy gradually increases. According to the TCM principle of “human beings correspond with heaven and earth,” human yang energy also rises and spreads outward during spring. Thus, timely tonification in spring offers the best opportunity for strengthening constitution throughout the year. Additionally, many spring illnesses—such as pneumonia, hepatitis, meningitis, measles, mumps, allergic asthma, and myocardial infarction—are linked to inadequate nourishment during winter. Timely tonification in spring can serve as an effective remedy.
Those prone to depression and irritability are key targets for spring tonification. Dr. Zhao explains that depressed individuals are typically introverted, often showing symptoms such as abdominal distension, poor digestion, emotional suppression, poor appetite, pale tongue, and white coating—classified in TCM as "liver qi stagnation." Conversely, irritable individuals are usually extroverted, often exhibiting obesity, restlessness, red tongue, and yellow coating—classified as "liver fire rising." For these groups, herbal decoctions are preferred: "soothing liver and regulating qi" for the former, and "soothing liver and clearing heat" for the latter. In addition, those prone to depression should consume aromatic, qi-moving foods like fennel, radish, and citrus. They may also brew a tea with 10 g Huangqi, 3 slices of ginger, and 5 jujubes. Those prone to irritability should favor bitter and sour foods like bitter melon and hawthorn. They may also brew a tea with 10 g chrysanthemum, 10 g cassia seed, and 3 g licorice.
TCM wisdom holds: “Spring corresponds to the liver and nourishes growth; summer to the heart and fosters flourishing; late summer to the spleen and promotes transformation; autumn to the lung and nurtures harvest; winter to the kidney and fosters storage.” Thus, spring tonification should center on “nourishing the liver.” The primary step in liver nourishment is emotional regulation—maintaining a cheerful mood and avoiding anger. Furthermore, spring dietary therapy should follow the principle of balanced tonification, avoiding excessive use of warming tonics, which could exacerbate internal heat due to rising spring temperatures and damage vital energy.