There are steps you can take to protect your health when the seasons change and temperatures range widely during the day.
As with all ailments, prevention is better than a cure.
How do our bodies change when morning and evening temperatures vary widely?
The body temperature drops and blood pressure rises easily, and with just a one degree drop in temperature, blood vessels change, blood pressure rises, and the metabolism slows.
When this happens, the body's immunity weakens which makes it easier for viruses to replicate, which readily leads to respiratory ailments like cold, flu, and other forms of nasal inflammation, as well as to itchy skin.
Accordingly, it's good to eat foods that support the immune system and activate metabolism to keep the body warm. This is truly a shortcut to preventing sickness.
1. Boosting Immunity
Red Ginseng is prepared by steaming and drying ginseng. This process increases the number of saponins present in the food and creates ginsenoside, which has antioxidant and anticancer effects, promoting immunity and supporting blood circulation.
2. Maintaining Body Temperature
In the East, there's a long-established rule for maintaining good health: "Keep the lower belly warm and the head cool." It's the principle of Suseung Hwagang (水昇火降, Water rises, fire sinks).
As we consume ice and drink cold beverages throughout the summer, our bodies' temperature cools, causing various diseases.
Now let's look at ways to keep our bodies warm.
3. Heat a Dahnjon Herbal Pack in the microwave for two minutes and place it on your lower belly. Or warm up and use a Heat Stone. Concentrate, breathing with your lower abdomen as you feel the soothing heat. With 10 minutes of this, you can feel your whole body growing warmer.
4. When you're under a lot of stress or working at a desk for a long time, the place where your muscles knot up most easily and where energy stagnates is your shoulders. Gently massage your shoulders, relaxing your muscles, and use a Shoulder Pack until they feel loose and more comfortable.
5. Keeping the Neck Warm
Thick blood vessels that rise to the brain are concentrated in the neck. It's a place where the body's temperature regulation is less efficient. So using a scarf to keep your neck warm is a good way to manage your body temperature.
6. Regulating Body Fluid
The human body is 70 percent water. Your blood becomes thicker and stickier if you drink too little water, leading to blood circulation problems. Consequently, it helps to frequently drink warm water or warm, immunity-boosting tea.
These teas are full of benefits for warming the body: Hwangchil Tea, Mago Healing Energy Tea
7. Gargling
If weakened immunity causes you to catch a cold or the flu, your throat may swell and hurt. Bamboo salts alleviate a sore throat because of their anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial action, which helps eliminate problem-causing viruses and bacteria in the mouth.
8. Meditating and Breathing
Meditative breathing promotes good energy and blood flow by creating heat in the body through conscious focus. Lie down comfortably and place one Mago Stone about an inch and a half below your belly button, one in each of the palms of your hands, and one on your chest.
Breathe from your lower abdomen. If you have trouble breathing from your lower abdomen, breathe deeply so that your breath sinks down into your chest.
Colds and the flu are not a “season” as we call them, but a state of imbalance in the body which can be prevented and alleviated through the natural remedies above and paying close attention to the body.