🌿 Folk Prescriptions

The transition between summer and autumn brings intense sunshine, combining lingering summer heat with autumn dryness. After excessive release during summer, people often lack body fluids and exhibit dryness symptoms such as dry mouth, bitter tongue, nasal congestion, and throat dryness. A minor lapse can easily trigger colds, coughs, bronchitis, and other illnesses. Thus, the key to health preservation during this period is preventing dryness. Eat more fruits and vegetables, reduce spicy foods to moisten and clear dryness; drink plenty of water, plain tea, and soups to quench dryness; maintain calm emotions and ensure adequate sleep to pacify dryness; increase physical activity to counteract dryness.
“From White Dew to Autumn Equinox, each night grows colder.” During White Dew, summer heat has subsided. Although days remain hot, nights often bring chill. A folk saying warns: “Do not expose your body at White Dew, or you’ll catch cold and diarrhea”—a reminder to practice self-care.
Autumn is a transitional season from summer to winter. After entering autumn, temperatures gradually drop, diurnal temperature differences widen, humidity decreases, and weather changes rapidly—dry and variable conditions cause discomfort. Especially at the end of summer and beginning of autumn, residual summer fire remains, leading to dry mouth, dry tongue, and cracked skin. Additionally, cooling weather easily triggers gastrointestinal issues. Thus, autumn health preservation is crucial. People should adjust clothing timely with weather changes, prevent external wind-cold invasion, mist indoor air regularly to maintain humidity, pay attention to dietary regulation, and strengthen physical exercise. (September)
Currently, we are in autumn—a transition from summer to winter. Temperatures cool down, yang energy gradually diminishes, yin energy increases, scenery turns bleak, air becomes dry, and people are prone to catching colds, leading to headaches, dry throat, coughing, and other illnesses. For autumn health preservation, diet should be moistening rather than depleting, to prevent damage to lung qi from autumn dryness. Clothing should be light and simple, allowing moderate exposure to cold to enhance cold resistance. Sleep schedules should be early to bed, early to rise, to mitigate the impact of climate change. Of course, the most important thing is strengthening exercise and enhancing physical strength to adapt to ever-changing climates. (October)
Autumn is a transitional period from summer to winter. Weather changes often catch people off guard. Modern medical meteorologists believe that after entering autumn, people should scientifically arrange their clothing, diet, housing, and movement to avoid adverse health impacts from weather changes and safely navigate “a troublesome autumn.” Due to large diurnal temperature differences—hot days, cold nights—one should dress warmly in time. Diet should be clear and moist, drink plenty of water and plain tea, eat more fruits to relieve autumn dryness. Autumn skies are high and windy, yang energy gradually retreats; sleep should be sufficient, with early bedtime and early rising to accommodate yang’s expansion, allowing lung qi to spread freely. Keep indoor air circulating; develop habits of opening windows for ventilation and sleeping with uncovered heads. (October)
In deep autumn, diurnal temperature differences are large, and cold air masses occur frequently. Weather alternates between cold and warm. Irregular changes often trigger various diseases—most commonly stroke, bronchitis, asthma, recurrence of gastric problems, and colds. Prevention hinges on staying warm during every cold front invasion. (October)
In deep autumn, cold air masses from northern China move frequently, creating extreme diurnal temperature differences. Weather alternates unpredictably—cold one moment, warm the next—making it a peak season for various diseases. Common ones include stroke, bronchitis, asthma, and recurrence of gastric issues. The root cause lies in cold air stimulating the sympathetic nervous system, raising blood pressure, promoting thrombosis formation. Meanwhile, increased histidine in blood raises gastric acid secretion, causing gastrointestinal spasms. Thus, autumn health preservation is extremely important.
As the saying goes: “Cold resistance training begins in autumn.” During autumn, to prepare for harsher winter conditions and resist severe cold, one should continuously improve the body’s cold resistance. Avoid dressing too warmly too early—focus on cold-hardening exercises.