🌿 Folk Prescriptions

After enduring the sweltering summer heat, we’ve now entered autumn. How should one preserve health in autumn? How to do it correctly? Medical experts offer the following advice:
Advice One: Do Not Supplement Randomly in Autumn
According to the TCM principle of "nourishing yang in spring and summer, nourishing yin in autumn and winter," autumn is the season for supplementation. But supplementation must not be random—five taboos apply:
1. Avoid unnecessary supplementation. Without illness, supplementation increases costs and harms the body. For example, excessive fish liver oil causes poisoning; long-term glucose intake leads to obesity, elevated blood cholesterol, and higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
2. Avoid supplementing based on reputation. High-priced medicines are not necessarily better. Ginseng is expensive and considered a top tonic, so many take it. But excessive use can cause overexcitement, agitation, increased blood pressure, and nosebleeds.
3. Avoid confusing deficiency with excess. TCM principle: "Tonify deficiency, not excess." Non-deficient individuals should not take tonics. Deficiency includes yin deficiency, yang deficiency, qi deficiency, and blood deficiency. Correct diagnosis is essential—otherwise, results may be counterproductive.
4. Avoid the belief that more is better. Any tonic taken in excess is harmful. Supplementation must be moderate.
5. Avoid replacing food with medicine. Prioritizing drugs over food is unscientific—food supplementation is superior to medicinal supplementation.
Advice Two: Exercise with Four Precautions
In autumn, consistent physical exercise can not only regulate lung qi and enhance lung function but also boost immune function and the body’s resistance to cold stimuli. However, due to large temperature differences between morning and evening and dry climate, four precautions are essential for optimal fitness results:
Prevent catching colds. Early autumn mornings are cold—do not wear light clothing outdoors. Dress according to outdoor temperature changes. During exercise, do not remove too many clothes at once; wait until body warms up before removing excess layers. After exercising, avoid wearing damp clothes in cold winds to prevent catching a chill.
Prevent exercise injuries. In colder temperatures, muscles and tendons contract reflexively, reducing flexibility, decreasing joint mobility, and weakening nervous system control over movement organs—making injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints more likely. Always perform thorough warm-up exercises before physical activity.
Prevent over-exercising. Autumn is ideal for exercise, but since the body’s yin and yang energies are in a phase of contraction and storage, exercise should follow this principle—avoid excessive intensity to prevent excessive sweating and depletion of yang energy. Opt for light, gentle, low-intensity activities.
Prevent autumn dryness. Autumn’s dry climate requires replenishing moisture after exercise. Consume foods that nourish yin, moisten lungs, and generate body fluids—such as pears, sesame, honey, and silver ear fungus. If sweating heavily, drink salt water in small amounts, frequently, and slowly.
Advice Three: Embrace "Cold Exposure" in Autumn Chill
"Each autumn rain brings colder weather." Autumn winds turn harsh, and temperatures drop. Strengthening cold resistance training enhances the body’s adaptive capacity, helping prevent diseases—especially respiratory illnesses. Winter commonly triggers bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, and rheumatism. Autumn cold exposure training boosts immunity and prevents disease onset. Understanding "cold exposure" should go beyond simply delaying warm clothing until cold. Broadly speaking, it includes cold-resistance training through exercise—enhancing the body’s ability to adapt to cold climates. Choose suitable activities based on age. Regardless of activity, emphasize the "cold" aspect—avoid excessive sweating. Stop when body feels slightly warm but hasn't sweated yet—ensuring yin energy remains stored and yang energy isn’t wasted. Cold baths should be maintained throughout autumn without interruption.
Advice Four: Prevent Obesity in Autumn
Obesity affects appearance and contributes to "civilization diseases" like hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cerebral arteriosclerosis—major threats to human health. Body weight fluctuates with seasons. Experts note autumn is a period prone to weight gain—overweight individuals must pay extra attention to weight control.
During summer, everyone loses some weight—even the obese—due to high temperatures increasing activity, heavy sweating, greater energy expenditure, faster fat metabolism, and partial fat reduction. Long daylight hours and heat also cause sleep deprivation, increasing heat dissipation and metabolic rate, leading to greater heat loss. Meanwhile, summer heat reduces appetite, prompting people to eat lighter, low-calorie meals—resulting in insufficient calorie intake. In autumn, cooler weather increases appetite, leading to unconscious overeating and greatly increased calorie intake. Combined with comfortable weather promoting sound sleep and reduced sweating, and the body’s natural tendency to store fat for winter warmth, calorie intake exceeds output. Thus, slight carelessness in autumn leads to weight gain—especially dangerous for those already overweight.
Therefore, overweight individuals must be vigilant about weight control in autumn. First, regulate diet—consume low-calorie weight-loss foods like red beans, radishes, bamboo shoots, coix seed, seaweed, and mushrooms. Second, increase calorie expenditure through planned physical activity. In the morning, engage in moderate exercise. Autumn’s clear skies and pleasant weather make it ideal for travel—enjoying nature lifts mood and increases activity, aiding weight loss.