Spring Health: A Chinese Medicine Perspective

Here we are in Spring, nature's new year. The energy in this season rises up again from the earth after a winter of storage and rest: plants sprout up and out, buds force out leaves, sap rises up to nourish branches and twigs. The energy is moving, bright green and tangible. And we are not immune to the effects of this energetic shift that makes us, too, want to get up and out. After a winter of hibernation and inactivity we crave movement and sun. Internally our bodies are at work, processing all of the accumulations due to winter's inactivity and rich foods.

There are shifts like this with every seasonal change. As spring moves into summer the energy intensifies even more and the earth heats up. This is the season of the fire element and the energetic direction is up, like how flames rise up from a fire. The sun is high, the temperature is high, and daylight dominates the 24-hour cycle. As fall arrives the energy returns down into the earth once again. Leaves fall and mulch into earth. The leafy plants die back and retreat underground, concentrating their energy in their roots, tubers, and bulbs. The sun drops down earlier and earlier until the stillness and cold of winter descends. The energy is lowest in the winter with animals in hibernation and early nightfall. This is the natural time for rest, for sleeping more, and for introspection.

The Spring Equinox falls this year on Wednesday, March 20th.

Color = Green: eat wild, seasonal greens like chickweed and dandelion.

Organ = Liver: drink detox teas, fast, do a juice cleanse.

Timing = Beginnings: start a new project, watch the sunrise.

Quality = Growth: learn something new, plant a garden.

Sense = Vision: envision future goals, make a plan to get there.

Element = Wood: hike in the woods, burn some sandalwood incense.

Direction = Up and Out: climb up a mountain, get outside.

Climate = Wind: embrace the winds of change.

Tissue = Connective: gather with friends, reach out to others.

10 Reasons Why Your Neck and Shoulders Hurt

1. Stress: Over time stress can cause tension to build up in the body, especially in the tissues of the neck and shoulders. Because of this, we call the acupuncture points in this area of the body "accumulation points."

2. Stationary Activities: Spending long hours in a fixed position doing activities like driving or working on the computer can cause our tissues to become rigid and fixed.

3. Not Moving Enough: Sitting around a lot in general is just as bad as spending long hours doing stationary activities. Lack of movement causes the chi and blood to stagnate.

4.Dehydration: Dry muscles are stiff muscles. More than denser tissues like bones, muscles are spongy and rely on fluids for movement and elasticity.

5. Injuries: Unfortunately, even minor injuries cause irreversible damage to our body. Nothing quite lines up right again, interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses, blood circulation, and the flow of chi.

6. Exposure to Cold: Cold contract tissues, making them tighter. Bracing against the cold by hunching our shoulders up can also make us stiff and achy.

7. Poor Posture: Tissues get pulled and stretched when things get out of alignment. This strain itself can cause pain but will also make the tissues less flexible and, therefore, more prone to injury.

8. Overuse: Without adequate time for recovery and repair, repetitive stress activities like sports can cause strain and lead to inflammation in the long run.

9. Holding Things In: Keeping things in, especially things we feel compelled to express, can cause both energetic blockages and actual physical constraint in the body.

10. Aging Process: As we age our body generally gets stiffer and drier. This is why it is so important to start young and make a habit out of exercise and adequate hydration your whole life through.

Happy Chinese Earth Pig New Year!

February 5th marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Earth Pig. These zodiac signs are determined by your birth year, not your birth month, and always come in the same order, with the pig as the 12th and final sign of the series. Each time your zodiac sign rolls around it cycles through a different symbolic element in a certain order as well: metal, water, wood, fire, and earth. Since the Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, the date moves around a bit. If you were born in January or February especially, you will have to double check your sign. Click here to find your Chinese zodiac sign.

This New Year it is time to leave behind 2018’s Dog Year, a period that was characterized by territorial behavior and blind loyalty to the pack. As the year of the Pig, a carefree, fun, and easygoing animal that gets along well with all sorts of other barnyard species, we can look forward to the return of a more socially open and welcoming time. Pigs also represent good fortune and wealth, so this is great time to start a new venture or invest some money. This is also an Earth year. Just as the earth literally breaks down and absorbs whatever falls to the forest floor, Earth years are a good time to pause, process, and integrate past events. Earth is also stabilizing and grounding, so this is an excellent time to set down new roots or start a garden. Happy New Year!

Heat or Cold for Pain?

People with pain often ask me whether they should be applying heat or cold. In Chinese medicine neither is universally appropriate and, in fact, their are times when the incorrect treatment can even be detrimental. The basic idea is to choose whatever will neutralize your symptoms.

1. Warm cold pain. Cold pain is subjectively cold in nature, is generally aggravated by cold weather, and improves with the application of heat. Since cold contracts, this type of pain is more likely to be cramping or spastic in nature than hot pain. Circulation may be inhibited so there may be swelling, but there will definitely not be any redness, and the tissue will be cold to the touch.

2. Cool hot pain. Hot pain is subjectively burning in nature, is generally aggravated by hot weather, and improves with the application of cold. Hot conditions correspond with inflammation in that symptoms include pain, swelling, redness, and tissues that are hot to the touch.

3. Swelling does not necessarily indicate inflammation. Please note that pain and swelling can occur when there is an accumulation of stagnant fluids, as seen in edema. Signs of heat must be present as well for cold to be applied. Since cold contracts, inhibiting circulation, applying cold to edema will actually further constrict circulation, aggravating symptoms.

4. Never use ice! Chinese medicine considers ice to be too extreme, especially when it is used to numb pain. The numbness that ice induces is actually an early warning sign of frostbite and indicates that the tissues are being damaged. Though it is good to cool hot pain, the recommendation is to use a cold compress, a cloth that has been run under cold water and rung out, instead of ice. Using ice on cold pain can be especially detrimental, temporarily numbing it but ultimately prolonging recovery time.

5. Not sure? Go with what feels good. It you have either a preference or an aversion to using either heat or cold, go with it! Listen to your body, it is wise and knows what it needs.

33 Amazing Medical Facts About You

Simply put, you are amazing! Your body is unbelievably complex, yet operates as a cohesive, coordinated whole. It is incredibly resilient and strong, and can perform thousands of tasks without you even having to think about it. Below are just some of the amazing medical facts about the you!

1. Your nose can remember more than 50,000 scents.

2. Your lungs exhale more than two quarts of water per day.

3. A sneeze can exceed 100 miles per hour, coughs over 60 mph.

4. The stomach’s digestive acids are strong enough to dissolve razor blades.

5. Laid end to end, the blood vessels in the lung would stretch 1,500 miles.

6. Human bone is as strong as granite in supporting weight.

7. Each one of your kidneys contain 1,000,000 individual filters.

8. Nerve impulses travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.

9. The heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet.

10. The surface area of your lungs is equal to the size of a tennis court.

11. Your liver has over 500 different functions.

12. You use 200 muscles to take one step.

13. You have about 32,000,000 beneficial bacteria per square inch of skin.

14. Humans shed and regrow an entire new layer of skin about every 27 days.

15. The total number of cells in the body is about 10-50 trillion.

16. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells.

17. Your brain is 2% of your body weight but it uses about 20% of your oxygen.

18. The heat released by your body in 1 hour can boil 5 liters of water.

19. Your salivary glands produce about 2 to 4 pints of spit every day.

20. The Achilles tendon is your largest tendon and can withstand more than 1,000 pounds of force.

21. A typical human gut contains about one hundred trillion bacterial cells.

22. Your heart will beat about 3 billion times over the course of your lifetime.

23. Your brain has over 100 billion nerve cells.

24. There are 3 times as many bacterial cells in your body as human cells.

25. Each cell in your body contains about 6 to 8 feet of DNA.

26. A newborn baby has 350 bones, but a fully-grown adult has only 206.

27. The total length of your circulatory system is 60,000 miles.

28. In one day your blood will travel a total of 12,000 miles.

29. Your eyes can distinguish up to 1,000,000 different colors.

30. Your marrow produces 100 billion red blood cells every day.

31. Your body has over 600 muscles.

32. We contain enough carbon to make 900 pencils.

33. You can lose up to 2/3rds of your liver and grow it back within 4 weeks.

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"When the heart is at ease, the body is healthy." ~Chinese Proverb

Dr. Nancy Hyton

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

By Appointment M to F, 9:30 to 6:00

26 Fairfax Avenue, West Asheville, NC 28806

Text or Call (828) 606-6791

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