🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Summer brings high temperatures and humidity, making physical fitness challenging. How to exercise effectively is a tough problem. Song Dynasty’s great health expert Chen Zhi wrote in his *Shou Qin Yang Lao Xin Shu* (New Book on Elderly Care and Longevity): "After waking from midday nap, quickly draw mountain spring water, gather pine branches, boil bitter tea to drink. Read freely from the *Book of Changes*, *Guofeng*, poems by Tao Yuanming and Du Fu, essays by Han Yu and Su Shi. Walk leisurely along mountain paths, touch pine and bamboo, lie down with ox and calf in lush forests and tall grass. Sit by flowing springs, rinse teeth and wash feet. After dinner, play with brush pens by window, write dozens of characters of varying sizes. Browse your collection of calligraphy, ink paintings, and scrolls. Step out by the stream, meet village elders, discuss farming, talk about rice harvest, check weather, count seasons, engage in lively conversation. Return to lean on the wooden gate at dusk—sunset on the hills, hues of purple and green shifting in moments, delighting the eye." Chen Zhi proposed numerous summer fitness measures: minor labor like drawing water and gathering pine branches; summer tourism like walking mountain paths and touching pine and bamboo; water activities like playing with streams, rinsing teeth, and washing feet. Besides fitness, reading, writing, tea tasting, poetry recitation, friendly conversations, and scenic viewing in summer are also beneficial to health. What exercises suit summer health preservation?
1. Promote Travel. The main purpose of summer travel is cooling and escaping heat. Based on this, ideal destinations are seaside and mountainous areas. Reasons:
First, both have relatively lower temperatures. Coastal climate, or marine climate, differs significantly from inland due to the ocean’s inherent characteristics. While inland areas are blazing hot, coastal areas enjoy refreshing breezes. Mountain climates feature lower temperatures but large diurnal temperature differences. Generally, temperature inversely correlates with altitude. For every 100 meters increase in elevation, temperature drops by about 0.5°C to 0.6°C. Thus, mountain temperatures are typically lower than at the base, especially in summer. Greater height difference between mountain top and base results in larger temperature differences.
Second, the environments of seaside and mountain areas are pleasant. People living by the sea notice regular wind shifts in a day. During the day, cool winds blow from sea to land, delivering fresh air—especially refreshing in hot summers. At night, winds shift from land to sea, carrying away polluted air. Additionally, seawater air contains higher levels of iodine, sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, and ozone. Iodine content is 40 times that of continental air, not only meeting physiological needs but also having bactericidal properties. Broad, soft beaches provide natural venues for sunbathing and seawater bathing. The combined effects of marine climate coordinate organ functions, offering preventive and therapeutic benefits for many chronic conditions such as neurasthenia, bronchitis, asthma, rheumatism, tuberculosis, cardiovascular diseases, and various skin diseases. Thus, spending about 10 days at the seaside in summer greatly benefits physical and mental health.
Mountain tourism also offers many benefits. Generally, the most favorable altitudes for human health are mid- and low mountains—around 500 to 2000 meters. Benefits stem from mountain climate’s therapeutic effects and longevity factors in mountain environments. Famous mountain health resorts in China include Mount Lu, Huangshan, Moganshan, Jigongshan, and Emei Mountain. These areas feature undulating peaks and valleys, dense greenery, blooming flowers, and aromatic volatile compounds from plants with bactericidal properties. Springs form spectacular waterfalls, with abundant negative ions around splashing droplets, making the air exceptionally fresh. Breathing such air calms emotions, prevents asthma attacks, and improves lung ventilation. Additionally, lower temperature, pressure, higher wind speed, and abundant solar and ultraviolet radiation in mountains aid calcium and phosphorus metabolism and boost immunity. The majestic natural scenery, transparent skies, and ever-changing cloud seas inspire joy. People can utilize mountain natural conditions for short-term recuperation—cooling, hiking, sightseeing, and walking—to exercise cardiovascular function.
2. Best to Swim. Swimming is the best summer sport. Despite scorching sun and hot winds, swimming is most comfortable—exercising the body while cooling down. Swimming offers many benefits.
First, it enhances respiratory system function. Water density is 820 times greater than air. Breathing underwater requires overcoming 13 kg of pressure. To overcome this, respiratory muscles must exert greater force to inhale. Stronger respiratory muscles increase lung capacity. Regular swimmers can reach 5000 ml lung capacity, while average people have only 3500 ml. Thus, after training, oxygen intake increases, carbon dioxide is expelled efficiently, stimulating cellular metabolism, effectively preventing chronic bronchitis and improving emphysema.
Second, swimming enhances cardiovascular function. Water temperature is lower than body temperature, and water conducts heat 26 times faster than air. Contact with water often triggers peripheral vasoconstriction, followed by adaptive dilation. These factors greatly strengthen heart function and reduce metabolic waste deposition on vessel walls.
Third, swimming increases cerebral cortex excitability, enhancing command functions. After working, a brief swim refreshes anyone, eliminating fatigue and making the body feel light. Especially for the elderly, regular swimming aids fat metabolism, preventing fat accumulation in the omentum and subcutaneous tissues, thus avoiding obesity.
These points demonstrate swimming’s many benefits, but it’s not suitable for everyone. Before entering the water, undergo a thorough physical examination. Those with serious internal organ diseases, women during menstruation, those with intrauterine devices, tubal ligation, recent abortion or childbirth, or suffering from certain skin diseases (tinea, athlete’s foot, severe conjunctivitis, fungal vaginitis, trichomoniasis) generally should not swim. Additionally, those with chronic suppurative otitis media or partial deafness due to inner ear disease should avoid swimming. If none of these conditions exist and doctors approve, swimming is permitted.
Moreover, swim one hour after meals. Eating causes gastric pressure, increasing risk of pain and vomiting. Always perform adequate warm-up exercises before swimming to prevent cramps and catching a cold. Don’t jump straight into deep water. First splash face and arms with shallow water, rub chest and abdomen, let the body adapt before moving to deeper areas. After swimming, if water remains in ears, try tilting head and jumping to dislodge it. After swimming, thoroughly rinse the body with clean water to remove dirty water. To prevent eye diseases, use eye drops.
3. Play with Fitness Balls. Fitness balls, mainly produced in Baoding, Hebei, are also called Baoding iron balls. This exercise harmonizes qi and blood, stretches tendons and bones, strengthens internal organs, and enhances brain function. It requires minimal effort and is不受场地 and climate constraints, making it ideal for summer. Regular practice benefits conditions like post-stroke paralysis, cervical spondylosis, shoulder periarthritis, coronary heart disease, and finger functional disorders. Why? The human hand has many acupoints—junctions of several meridians. Meridians link brain nerves and internal organs. Regular practice stimulates these points and meridians, promoting unblocked meridians and balanced qi and blood. Additionally, friction between iron balls and palm skin generates static electricity and thermal effects, enhancing blood circulation and treating various ailments. How to practice with fitness balls?
(1) Single-hand double-ball friction rotation: Place two balls in one palm, use fingers to rotate them clockwise and counterclockwise. Keep fingers tightly pressed against the balls to ensure friction, not collision.
(2) Single-hand double-ball centrifugal rotation: After mastering the above, gradually achieve separation and rotation. Finger movements and directions remain the same—extend fingers, use force to spin the balls rapidly in the palm without collision. Speed should be 150–200 rotations per minute.
(3) Double-hand four-ball exercise: Progress from single-hand to double-hand four-ball movement. Both hands perform single-hand actions simultaneously, requiring full brain engagement. More challenging, higher skill requirement, but better results than single-hand.
(4) Use iron balls to massage, knead, or hammer painful body parts—relieves pain and strengthens hand strength, especially beneficial for elderly with shoulder and back pain, leg aches.
(5) Firmly grip the ball with one or both hands’ palms or thumb-index finger creases, feeling a sensation of soreness and heat. Regular practice improves finger, wrist, grip, and arm strength.
4. Fishing.
Fishing is not just about catching fish but also cultivating temperament and enriching life. Many ancient literati regarded "fishing on misty waves" as an elegant activity. Legend says Jiang Ziya, who assisted King Wen of Zhou, once fished by the Wei River. Today, the site near Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, is said to be his fishing spot. Zhuge Liang fished to shift his mood. U.S. President Roosevelt fished to relax tense nerves. Before Congress debates policies, he often took time to fish.
Summer, when you arrive at reservoirs or ponds, beneath lush shade, with gentle breeze, observe thriving life, hear cicadas in the evening sun, watch white floats leaping on green waves… Find this serene joy, naturally cool your mind, dispel annoyance and agitation—how delightful! Frequently experiencing such pleasure benefits health and longevity. As Chen Junli put in *Fishing Joy*:
Fishing by lakeside, heart tranquil, tender willows hanging on shoulders;
Birdsong pleases the ears, breeze softly brushes the face;
Lake scenery fills the eyes, worries and thoughts cast aside;
Fishing rod bends like a bow, caught carp lively and fresh;
Villagers laugh, ask: "Why fish all day?";
"I catch a spring of endless beauty, a life of happiness and longevity!"
Indeed, regular fishing promotes health. Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty noted that fishing alleviates "heart-spleen dry heat." Summer heat often causes irritability, anxiety, and "fire" symptoms. Thus, fishing is good in summer. Ancient saying goes: "Standing by the lake drives away illness, nurturing the heart and mind surpasses medicine." Fishing nurtures the heart and mind because it involves brain, hands, and eyes coordinating, quietness, intention, and motion aiding each other. During fishing, eyes, brain, and spirit focus on float movements—silent, intent in the dantian, physically still but mentally active. It positively enhances visual and mental responsiveness.
5. Practice Air Bathing.
The above are just examples. Numerous other sports suit summer exercise. As the saying goes: "Train in the coldest winter days, train in the hottest summer days." This shows summer exercise is crucial for health. Experimental observations indicate that those who regularly exercise in summer have better heart function, lung capacity, and digestive function, and lower disease rates. But summer heat consumes the body significantly, so proper methods are essential for effective fitness.
First, eat more alkaline foods to prevent acid-base imbalance. Summer exercise often causes profuse sweating, losing large amounts of salt and potassium ions. Excessive potassium loss leads to muscle weakness, generalized soreness, arrhythmia, drowsiness, and mental fatigue. Also, intense exercise consumes energy, causing accumulation of metabolic intermediates like pyruvic acid and lactic acid, lowering blood alkaline reserve, risking acid-base imbalance. To maintain normal pH, blood alkaline reserve must increase. Alkaline foods are mainly fruits—watermelon, pineapple, apricot, peach, plum, honeydew melon—all rich in potassium salts.
Second, best to exercise outdoors in cool mornings or evenings. After waking, go to parks, lakesides, courtyards—places with fresh air. Activities include broadcast exercises, qigong, tai chi.
Third, moderate exercise intensity—avoid overfatigue. After intense exercise, thirst may arise, but avoid drinking cold food or drinks excessively and quickly. This may cause sudden constriction of intestinal blood vessels, disrupting digestion, leading to abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea. Drink salted water moderately. Best to take a hot shower—eliminates fatigue, feels exceptionally comfortable.