A complete guide to preventing heatstroke and cooling down in summer

When summer comes, many people feel irritable and have a poor appetite. Now we have entered the "dog days" with the highest temperature in the year, and this reaction will be more obvious. Is there any way to alleviate it? Let's take a look at the suggestions of Chinese medicine health experts.

Too hot to bear

Quietness can cool you down, sleep can relieve your worries

People are easily irritated in summer, which can cause blood pressure and blood sugar to fluctuate, and make people feel hot. Associate Professor Wu Yunquan from the Department of Neurosurgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine believes that the best way to fight this emotion is to remain calm. The saying “calm your mind and you will feel cooler” has scientific basis.

Professor Wu explained that the regulation of cardiac activity is an autonomic neural network, which is divided into sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nerves. When the former is in an excited state (such as restlessness), the heart rate will increase, blood pressure will rise, and body temperature will rise; when the latter is excited (in a deep sleeping state or calm down), the opposite effect will occur. Some people have done experiments and found that when in a deep sleep state, a certain central neurotransmitter is released in the body, affecting the hypothalamic temperature regulation center, reducing the body's metabolism, dilating peripheral blood vessels, and slightly dropping the body temperature by 0.5 to 2°C, thus relieving the feeling of heat.

A reporter from the Medical and Health Center once introduced that ensuring sleep can also relieve irritability and "cool down" your mood. This time, Professor Wu also emphasized the importance of adequate sleep in summer. He said: "For summer work and rest, Chinese medicine emphasizes 'midnight time'. Noon time refers to 11:00 to 1:00 in the morning, and midnight time refers to 11:00 at night to 1:00 in the morning of the next day." The main principle is to sleep deeply at midnight, take a short nap at noon, and maintain 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day.

There are remedies for summer sleepless night owls. For example, the sleeper can bathe the feet with warm water 2 hours before going to bed and massage the Yongquan point on the sole of the foot (the depression in the front of the foot when the foot is curled). As the saying goes, "If the stomach is upset, you will not sleep well." If you have trouble sleeping, you can drink a small amount of light liquid soothing sugar water before going to bed, such as rock sugar lily and lotus seed soup, red dates and lotus seed soup, longan honey water, red bean and mung bean paste, etc.

Not tasty

Make a delicious soup to nourish the stomach and cool down

Regarding the problem of poor appetite in summer, Professor Chen Ruifang from the Health Care Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine explained that in hot summer, the human body's metabolic activity is at its most active stage of the year. Many people have poor appetite, reduced digestive function, and are prone to symptoms such as fatigue, tiredness, and stomach discomfort. Some people are also prone to gastrointestinal diseases. However, the weather is hot at this time, the human body sweats a lot and consumes a lot of energy, so special attention should be paid to dietary regulation.

Generally speaking, summer diet should not be too greasy or spicy, and should be based on the principle of light nutrition. In addition to the basic dietary principles such as simple meals, whole grains, and drinking plenty of boiled water, summer is especially suitable to eat more seasonal vegetables, fruits, and beans.