Keeping warm good for blood circulation
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By Lee Seung-hun
The seasons are rapidly changing.
It felt as though spring arrived only a couple of weeks ago, but it’s already too warm to wear jackets outside.
However, in spite of the warmer weather, there are some people who complain that their hands and feet are constantly cold.
Indeed some of these folks would say that they are afraid to even shake hands with others for their cold hands have shocked others in the past.
Some even wear socks and gloves when are go to bed in the middle of summer.
Having overly cold extremities is treated as an illness on its own here in Korea, not just as a symptom of other illnesses.
Cold extremities syndrome (CES) is known to be caused by lack of blood flow to the hands and feet due to overly sensitive sympathetic nerves contracting blood vessels, resulting in the patient feeling cold in the hands and feet.
CES is more common among females than males, and especially so among the middle aged women.
This is due to the more severe fluctuation of hormonal changes in the female body, and also because women are more susceptible to tension.
In Oriental medicine, it is said that people with indigestion are likely to have cold extremities.
If you ever suffered acute indigestion and felt your hands and feet go ice-cold, or if you skipped a meal and felt your extremities go cold as you feel the hunger, those experiences are perfect examples.
Such people also notice that a slight amount of over-eating leads to indigestion, and they have difficulty digesting flour based foods, as well as fatty and oily foods.
They tend to be rather highly strung and experience issues in their digestive system as soon as they come under stress.
If you touch their stomach, in most cases, you will notice that their stomachs feel cold as well.
Fundamentally, having a functionally well operating digestive system means that our body can absorb nutrients properly to have all other bodily organs function at an optimal level, including blood circulation.
However, if for any reason the digestive tract does not function normally, warm-qi cannot travel all the way to the ends of the body (i.e. extremities) and can cause the whole body to be colder.
For such CES patients with digestive issues, treatment aims to normalize the digestive functions and to warm the body at the same time.
Over eating or binge eating should be avoided, and in fact, eating small amounts of food at regular hours is recommended.
Exercises like power walking where the patient has to move their hands feet about can positively affect their digestive function.
Some people experience heat in their upper body while their lower body feels cold.
Such patients will describe that their belly and feet feel cold, but feel slight heat in their chest and face regions.
In Oriental medicine, it is said that such symptoms arise from issues in the qi of the heart and kidney that are supposed to promote the qi circulation between the upper and lower parts of the body.
Normal circulation means that kidney qi should rise upwards from the lower organ, while the heart qi should move downwards.
If the yang-qi within the kidney becomes weak, the colder yin-qi becomes stronger by comparison to make the lower body cold.
Meanwhile, the yang-qi cannot push the yin-qi upwards to prevent normal up-down circulation and thus the yang-qi within heart cannot move downwards causing the upper body to heat up.
In such cases, Oriental treatment aims to supplement the weakened yang-qi within the kidneys to alleviate the symptoms.
Some people complain of pain in the neck and shoulder regions when they feel cold in their hands, and others complain of back and pelvic pain and feel cold in their legs.
In such cases, herniated discs or spinal stenosis can be the culprit. If a disc is herniated or the spinal canal narrows, the blood vessels or the nerves in the spine can be compressed to make the hands feel cold and even numb.
In such cases, the cold or numb sensation is often limited to one side of the body rather than both.
Chuna chiropractic should be administered to correct the misaligned spine and relax the tense muscles around the back.
As home remedies for CES patients, ginger, chives, quince fruit, and mandarin peel are recommended eating.
Ginger’s characteristic warmth naturally protects the digestive system.
Gingerols and shogaols contained in the ginger are responsible for that ginger spiciness, and they promote blood circulation in the peripheral blood vessels to warm the body.
Chives are effective in promoting blood circulation and reduce swelling.
Allyl compounds in chives can whet the appetite and activate the body’s metabolism.
Quince fruits are rich in calcium iron and vitamin c, and can also promote better blood circulation while aiding digestion.
Mandarin peel, which is usually thrown away, is actually a frequently used ingredient for Oriental medicine.
They are characteristically warm and promote better qi circulation while aiding in digestion.
Mandarin peel also helps keep the body’s warmth, meaning that it is ideal for CES patients.
A lot of times, people with cold hands and feet do away with seeking medical help as they just think that having cold extremities is hereditary.
However, Oriental medicine can offer treatment to help such conditions, and many patients have experienced improvements.
Rather than dismissing it as something you just have to live with, visiting your local Oriental clinic could really help you to live a little warmer.
The writer practices oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul.