How to Achieve “Preventive supports of wellness” in Daily Life

Preventive supports before wellness onset” falls within the scope of health preservation and strengthening, encompassing two meanings: First, it refers to preventive supports administered before the onset of wellness, known as “simple health preservation.” This includes dietary health preservation, pharmaceutical health preservation, medicinal bath health preservation, foot bath health preservation, massage health preservation, recreational health preservation, sexual health preservation, hygiene health preservation, and sports health preservation, among others. Although some health preservation methods do not involve direct contact with the human body, their rational application plays an extremely important role in helps maintain the occurrence of various wellness and should be given attention by people from all walks of life. Second, it involves taking corresponding therapeutic measures after the onset of wellness to helps maintain its progression and transmission, known as “medical health preservation.

In recent years, with the continuous improvement of living standards, people’s health awareness has also been constantly enhanced. There are more and more people requesting various health-preserving activities and health-preserving massages. So, how can one truly achieve the goal of “helps maintain wellness before they occur”?

1. Dietary Health Care

(1) Yin refers to liquid foods, including various types of alcohol, beverages, tea, and plain water.

Alcohol has the functions of warming meridians and dredging collaterals, as well as enhancing the efficacy of medicinal herbs. A small amount of alcohol consumption can dredge the meridians and invigorate the spirit. However, alcohol can also generate dampness and impair the Spleen. Excessive drinking can lead to the internal generation of phlegm-dampness, presenting signs of imbalance such as abdominal distension and fullness due to Spleen-yang deficiency, bland taste in the mouth, reduced appetite, etc. It can also damage the Spleen, stomach, Liver, and Kidneys, and even cause alcoholic Liver poisoning, leading to Liver damage.

Tea can refresh the mind and calm the nerves, stimulating the central nervous system of the brain. However, excessive consumption can lead to overstimulation of the brain’s central nervous system, resulting in insomnia.

Beverages Beverages are divided into two types: carbonated beverages and non-carbonated beverages. The former can cause varying degrees of damage to the human bones, teeth, immune system, digestive system, and nervous system, while the latter can also harm the human body due to their sugar and preservative content.

Plain boiled water has the function of increasing body fluids and quenching thirst. However, excessive consumption can impair the Spleen’s function, leading to retention of dampness internally, presenting with signs of imbalance such as fullness and distension in the epigastrium and abdomen, poor appetite, generalized edema, fatigue and weakness, vomiting of clear fluid, abdominal distension with diarrhea, or even obesity.

(2) Food refers to solid substances. The so-called “internal injuries caused by improper diet” refer to various wellness that occur due to irregular dietary habits. The main causes include four aspects: improper diet quantity, untimely eating, irregular food intake, unclean food, and food preferences.

① Irregular Diet The term “irregular diet” refers to the lack of regularity in dietary habits. The healthiest dietary schedule per day should consist of a nutritious breakfast, a meat-containing lunch, and a light dinner.

Breakfast with refined foods: It means having refined foods for breakfast, such as eggs, milk, etc.

Noon meat: It refers to consuming beef, mutton, pork, chicken, and fresh meat products for lunch.

In the late Qing Dynasty: One should eat light food in the evening, such as porridge and vegetarian dishes.

Overeating cold and raw foods, spicy and pungent foods, fatty and sweet foods, or engaging in overeating and binge eating, as well as an unbalanced diet of meat and vegetables, are all significant factors contributing to the onset of wellness. For instance, overeating cold and raw foods can impair the Spleen and stomach’s qi, weaken gastric motility, leading to indigestion signs of imbalance such as undigested food retention, belching with a sour odor, abdominal distension and pain, and diarrhea (with foul-smelling stools resembling rotten eggs). Overconsumption of spicy and pungent foods can generate dryness and heat, increasing internal heat, resulting in signs of imbalance like dry and bitter mouth, dry and hard stools, short and yellow urine, as well as various inflammatory conditions, stomach-heat toothache, oral ulcers, and hemorrhoids. Overindulgence in fatty meats can produce phlegm, increase body fat, leading to hyperlipidemia and obesity. Overeating sweet foods can elevate internal heat and sugar levels, causing body aches or diabetes. Overeating and binge eating can damage the Spleen and stomach, leading to indigestion signs of imbalance such as abdominal distension and fullness due to retained undigested food, belching, and vomiting of sour and腐 (rotten) substances.

Irregular and improper diet

Inappropriate dietary habits: This includes two situations, namely, not eating meals on time (with long intervals between meals) and persistently skipping breakfast over a long period. The human stomach is constantly churning. When there is food in the stomach, it rots and ripens and digests the food and drink. When there is no food or drink in the stomach, it causes wear and tear on the gastric muscles. After prolonged wear and tear on the gastric muscles, the stomach will inevitably suffer severe damage, leading to gastric dysfunction and the emergence of various digestive wellness. Ultimately, this results in malnutrition in the body, decline or failure of the functions of tissues and organs throughout the body, or a syndrome of deficiency of both qi and blood characterized by weakened body resistance.

Irregular dietary intake: It refers to the uneven amount of food consumed in each meal. Some people eat more of the foods they like and refuse to eat even a little of the foods they dislike, with no moderation in their diet and irregular hunger and satiety. Both over-hunger and over-satiety can lead to the occurrence of wellness.

Unclean diet refers to food that is not clean or hygienic. Consuming unclean food can lead to the proliferation and growth of pathogenic microorganisms and parasites, subsequently resulting in various parasitic wellness, dysentery, etc.

Partiality for Particular Foods The so-called “partiality for particular foods” refers to dietary bias. Some people often exhibit dietary bias (commonly known as picky eating) when consuming food, which is an extremely unhealthy habit. This is because human growth and development require various nutrients and multiple trace elements. When the diet is too monotonous, resulting in an imbalance of nutrients and a lack of sources of trace elements, it fails to meet the body’s needs for growth and development, leading to the occurrence of various corresponding wellness, such as iron deficiency, zinc deficiency, calcium deficiency, and vitamin deficiencies. In summary, trace elements, vitamins, and other nutrients in the human body should be maintained at appropriate levels; both excessively high or low levels can lead to the onset of wellness.

In addition, some people only consume refined foods such as milk, poultry eggs, chicken, duck, fish, and meat, believing that these foods are rich in nutrients. Consequently, they overlook the fact that various vegetables, fruits, and coarse-fiber staple foods contain even richer and more comprehensive nutrients. Therefore, for a healthy diet, people should not only seek a wide variety of food categories but also ensure a balance between refined and coarse foods. They should consume more vegetables (such as green vegetables, radishes, and potatoes) and coarse grains (such as peas, broad beans, wheat, corn, and sweet potatoes) to better promote health.

In addition, due to the rapid development of science and technology, man-made pollutants such as hormones and toxins in people’s daily food have been continuously increasing, such as grains, melons, fruits, and vegetables that have just been sprayed with pesticides. Dietary pollution from various growth hormones, preservatives, and pigments contained in food is also an important risk factor. If not strictly controlled, it will also become a “killer” of people’s health.

It is worth mentioning that popular foods such as malatang, chuan chuan xiang, teppanyaki, and open-air catering are often prepared with a mix of raw and cooked ingredients and may lack proper hygiene. Additionally, their excessively spicy flavors can cause adverse stimulation to the digestive tract when consumed in excess, leading to the occurrence of gastrointestinal wellness.

Overeating pungent food: It can increase the body’s thermal energy, facilitating the proliferation and growth of bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms, leading to the occurrence of various inflammations.

Eating frozen food: Although it can clear heat and helps with occasional summer heat, due to the hot climate and rising temperatures, the body temperature is also higher than usual, and blood vessels dilate accordingly. Overeating frozen food can cause a sudden contraction of blood vessels in the body (including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular vessels), thereby increasing the risk of vascular occlusive wellness. When frozen food enters the stomach, the stomach muscles contract sharply due to the intense cold stimulus, weakening the peristaltic function of the stomach and intestines. This can lead to indigestion, cold pain in the epigastrium and abdomen, and watery diarrhea, among other cold-related conditions. Children, in particular, should avoid eating frozen food because their organs are delicate, their vital energy is not fully developed, and their wellness resistance is extremely weak.

2. Health care

Health care includes two aspects: environmental hygiene and personal hygiene:

(1) Environmental Hygiene Environmental hygiene encompasses air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, chemical pollution, as well as smoke and dust pollution, among others. When these pollutants enter the human body, they directly affect respiratory and digestive functions, leading to the occurrence of respiratory and digestive tract wellness.

(2) Personal Hygiene Personal hygiene includes washing the face and hands, rinsing the mouth and brushing the teeth, getting regular haircuts, taking frequent baths, and frequently changing clothes, trousers, shoes, and socks. Paying attention to personal hygiene helps helps maintain the transmission of pathogens, thereby reducing the occurrence of wellness.

3. Drug Health Care

Drug health care includes two aspects: consuming health care drugs and medicinal diets. Authentic health care drugs, when consumed, have the effects of nourishing the body and enhancing wellness resistance, which are beneficial to human health. Medicinal diets refer to the combination of certain traditional Chinese medicines with special properties and food to create a nourishing food for consumption, such as Coicis Semen and Jujube Congee, Lily and Adenophora Root Congee, Ginseng, Astragalus, Atractylodis Macrocephalae and Poria Decoction, Gordon Euryale Seed and Lotus Seed Decoction, Angelica and Mutton Soup, etc. These have varying degrees of tonic effects on the yin, yang, qi, and blood of the human body.

4. Health Care through Medicated Bath

Medicated bath health care includes two aspects: “medicinal steam fumigation” and “medicinal liquid bathing”.

(1) Herbal fumigation involves using decocted Chinese herbal medicines to generate medicinal steam that is applied to the body, inducing sweating. This allows pathogenic factors (referring to external pathogens such as wind, cold, and dampness) to be expelled through sweat, providing effects such as dispelling wind, dissipating cold, eliminating dampness, and dredging meridians. It is used to supports common cold due to wind, common cold due to wind-cold, rheumatic arthritis, generalized muscle soreness, and some old injuries.

(2) Herbal liquid bath involves soaking and bathing in boiled herbal decoction. It has the effects of dredging meridians, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, dispelling cold, eliminating dampness, and relieving pain. It can dilate blood vessels throughout the body and increase blood flow, thereby achieving the goal of supports wellness.

5. Herbal Foot Bath

There are many reflex zones of tissues and organs on the human feet. First, use the hot vapor of medicinal liquid to fumigate and soak the feet, and then use various massage techniques to massage and stimulate the corresponding reflex zones on the feet. Through the conduction reaction of the human biological hologram, the qi and flavor of the medicine are transmitted to various tissues and organs throughout the body, thereby playing a role in health preservation and body strengthening.

6. Massage for health preservation

Massage has the effects of dredging meridians and collaterals, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, regulating the functions of qi, blood, body fluids, and internal organs, enhancing metabolism, and promoting the intake, digestion, absorption, and excretion of food and drink as well as blood circulation. Long-term massage can supports wellness when present and strengthen the body when healthy, enhancing the body’s wellness resistance. Regularly receiving appropriate professional health-preserving and medical massage is the simplest and most effective method for helps maintain and supports wellness.

7. Entertainment and Health Preservation

“Entertainment” refers to being relaxed and happy; “health preservation” means safeguarding health. There is an old Chinese saying, “A carefree Heart keeps one young.” This indicates that proper entertainment can helps with occasional worries and is beneficial to both physical and mental health. However, some people do not adhere to principles or act rationally when it comes to entertainment. For instance, some people spend entire days and nights indulging at banquet tables, believing that only through such gatherings can they foster relationships and accomplish significant tasks. Others think that long-term overeating and drinking are ways to not let themselves down. Some people “battle” for days and nights at banquet tables, card games, or mahjong tables. Due to prolonged mental tension, excessive excitement, or discouragement, many people have succumbed to sudden cerebral hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, or other wellness at these tables.

Some people spend most of their time in air-conditioned environments, such as in the office at work, in the car during commutes, in leisure and entertainment venues, and even while eating and sleeping. Due to poor air circulation in air-conditioned rooms, signs of imbalance of oxygen deficiency can easily occur. Moreover, because air-conditioned rooms are often crowded with stale air, viral cross-infections are prone to happen. Additionally, the large temperature difference between indoor and outdoor air-conditioned environments can also lead to the onset of wellness, such as dizziness and dry mouth and throat.

Some people have a strong desire for beauty. To make themselves look slim and attractive, regardless of their physical health, physical constitution, or whether they have aqueous obesity or muscular obesity, they resort to various methods such as taking weight-loss injections and consuming weight-loss drugs to lose weight.

Due to the excessive number of counterfeit and inferior weight-loss products on the market, or the improper use of weight-loss methods, some people become fatter instead of losing weight, some even become disabled, and some even lose their precious lives because of this.

8.Sexual Health Care

Sexual health care refers to sexual activities between men and women that are beneficial to the physical health of both parties. Throughout one’s life, individuals can enjoy two types of lives: one is the vital life, namely material life; the other is physiological life, namely sexual life. Normal sexual life is a special form of life between men and women, which has the functions of comforting both parties, regulating emotions, deepening affection, and reproducing offspring. However, excessive sexual activity can not only deplete blood and injure essence, leading to Kidney essence deficiency and resulting in signs of imbalance such as soreness in the waist and legs, fatigue, dizziness, and tinnitus, but may even cause listlessness and emaciation. In men, it may manifest as spermatorrhea, impotence, prospermia, and premature ejaculation; in women, it may present as menstrual irregularities and increased leucorrhea.

9.Health Preservation Through Physical Exercise

Strengthening physical exercise contributes to good health and is another manifestation of “helps maintain wellness before they occur.” However, there are tricks to physical exercise. Some people only know to exercise but lack correct exercise methods and do not know when to persist in exercising and when not to. To help everyone find some effective exercise methods, the following suggestions are offered:

(1) Target of exercise

Individuals suitable for exercise include those who have not engaged in physical labor for a long time and have relatively low levels of activity; those who have been working in standing or sedentary positions for extended periods; the elderly and infirm; as well as individuals in the functional recovery phase with soft tissue injuries such as muscles, joints, and ligaments, or those with limb disabilities, joint deformities or ankylosis, and muscle or ligament atrophy and deformation. All of these individuals need to persist in daily physical exercise.

Individuals unsuitable for exercise Those with severe bleeding, severe hypertension, severe Heart wellness, lumbar disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, those in the supports period for joint dislocation or malposition, those in the non-union period of fractures, as well as individuals who are excessively hungry, excessively full, excessively intoxicated, or excessively fatigued should temporarily refrain from participating in physical exercise.

Individuals who engage in appropriate exercise Those with severe wellness who are not yet completely bedridden, or those with general Heart wellness, early-stage cancer, and pregnant women in their early to mid-term pregnancy, etc., can participate in physical exercise appropriately.

(2) Exercise Venue An exercise venue does not necessarily have to be in the wild or a centralized location; physical exercise can also be carried out indoors or in one’s own living room or balcony.

(3) Exercise Items There are many types of normal physical exercises, such as mountain climbing, jogging, walking, practicing Tai Chi, doing calisthenics, practicing various martial arts routines, dancing various dances, and participating in activities like table tennis, basketball, soccer, ice skating, swimming, etc.

(4) Exercise Methods Regardless of the form of exercise, it should progress from slow to fast and then from fast to slow. Generally, the optimal time for exercise is early in the summer and late in the winter, when the air is fresher and the climate is milder. Some people start exercising by sprinting and jumping vigorously right from the beginning, causing their entire body to sweat profusely. When they become completely exhausted, they immediately stop and rest (this also happens in wind, frost, rain, or dew). When a cool breeze blows, external pathogens become trapped inside the body. Such exercise not only fails to strengthen the body but also promotes the occurrence of wellness.

Some people advocate that “drinking a glass of cold boiled water in the morning and evening is like drinking divine water.” In fact, it is better to drink a glass of 100:1 lightly salted warm boiled water in the morning and evening, which seems more appropriate. This is because the main component of salt is sodium chloride, which is salty in taste and neutral in nature, and enters the stomach and Kidney meridians. It has the functions of regulating taste and harmonizing the middle, benefiting the Kidneys and moistening dryness. However, this method is not suitable for patients with asthma, cough, edema, obesity, and hypertension.

In addition, some people do not promptly dry their hair with a hairdryer after washing it but instead let it dry slowly on its own. Others, for convenience, often pour cold water on their heads to set their hairstyles.

This is incorrect because the blood vessels in the head are relatively superficial. Upon exposure to cold stimuli, the vessel walls can contract, leading to blockage and resulting in cerebrovascular lesions. This can manifest as head distension and pain or dizziness caused by insufficient blood supply to the brain, and may even lead to cerebral thrombosis or sequelae of cerebral infarction, namely a series of cerebrovascular accidents such as stroke (hemiplegia).

Some people persist in taking cold showers, washing their faces with cold water, or swimming in cold water throughout the year, regardless of frost, snow, wind, or rain. When done properly, these practices can indeed promote health and enhance the body’s resistance. However, improper methods can lead to the occurrence of various wellness. Among my cases, there are instances of systemic paralysis caused by long-term adherence to cold showers; there are also cases of limb and tendon contractions resulting from jumping into cold water immediately after strenuous exercise in hot weather; and there are also cases of lifelong disability due to limb numbness, flaccidity, and weakness, as well as tendon contractions, caused by rinsing with a cold water hose after participating in strenuous exercise.

(5) Precautions for Exercise When engaging in physical exercise, it is essential to avoid applying force too suddenly or excessively, and not to exceed the physiological range of traction to helps maintain accidental injuries such as joint sprains and contusions, muscle strains, intervertebral disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, and injuries to various soft tissues.

Receiving formal massage and participating in proper physical exercise can indeed play a role in health maintenance and strengthening the body. However, informal massage or improper exercise can instead harm the body, turning a healthy state into wellness or a mild wellness into a severe one. Therefore, when engaging in physical exercise or massage, it is essential to follow natural tendencies and adapt to individual conditions and wellness, avoiding the use of brute force.