Summer Health Preservation Must Avoid Fire
In hot summers, failing to pay attention to health preservation easily leads to “internal heat,” so special caution must be taken to prevent “fire.”
(1) Prevent “external fire”—high ambient temperatures. Prevention measures include avoiding direct exposure to intense sunlight, wearing sun hats when outdoors or working; maintaining a quiet, clean indoor environment with proper ventilation and cooling to prevent external heat from invading internally.
(2) Prevent “internal fire”—internal heat resulting from imbalance between yin and yang within the body. Main types include:
1. Heart fire—heart fire has two forms: deficiency and excess. Deficiency fire manifests as low-grade fever, night sweats, palpitations, irritability, insomnia, forgetfulness, dry mouth, red tip of the tongue. People with deficiency fire can drink lotus seed rice porridge regularly or brew herbs like raw rehmannia and ophiopogon for tea. Excess fire presents as recurrent oral ulcers, dry mouth, short yellow urine, irritability, anger, red tip of the tongue. Those with excess fire may use Dao Chi San or Niuhuang Qingwei Wan to clear heat.
2. Zang fire—dry cough with little sticky phlegm, occasionally blood-tinged sputum, tidal fever, night sweats, hot palms and soles, insomnia, flushed cheeks, dry mouth and tongue, hoarse voice, red tender tongue. Individuals with zang fire may eat porridge made from jujubes and rice or drink tea brewed with adenosma and winter wheat.
3. Stomach fire—also divided into deficiency and excess. Excess fire manifests as increased appetite, hunger, discomfort in upper abdomen, bitter taste and dry mouth, hard stools. For excess stomach fire, drink tea made from gardenia and bamboo leaves. Deficiency fire shows mild cough, reduced appetite, constipation, bloating, red tongue with little coating. Consume nourishing fluids like pear juice, sugarcane juice, honey, etc.
4. Liver fire—commonly presents as high blood pressure, severe headache, dizziness, tinnitus, dry eyes, bitter taste and bad breath, irritability, pain in both flanks, restlessness, red edges of the tongue. Use Longdan Xiegan Tang or pills.
Those suffering from internal fire should, in addition to medication, drink plenty of water to cool the body and reduce heat, eat more fruits to fight inflammation and cool off, maintain a calm mind, avoid haste and anger, thereby achieving the effect of “calm mind brings natural coolness” and preventing self-generated internal fire.