Look after your health during rainy season

• Published Jul 5, 2016 4:35 PM KST
• Updated Jul 5, 2016 4:35 PM KST

By Lee Sung-hun

Korean summer is typically hot and humid, almost unbearably so at times.

Rainy season ― usually between late June and July ― marks the beginning of summer and is also when we notice a rise in food-borne illnesses, owing to the rising temperature that requires better food storage.

In Oriental medicine, the high heat and humidity are said to affect the body by making it accumulate “dampness-heat.”

This disrupts proper circulation of qi and blood, hinders the secretion of bodily fluids and adversely affects our digestive system. Examples of illnesses caused by it include diarrhea, stomachache, food poisoning and enteritis accompanied by nausea.

When a disease occurs caused by extended exposure to a humid environment, patients tend to feel sluggish with little strength in their extremities and experience a loose stool.

With regard to body constitutions, those with naturally higher “dampness” qi in their body are more easily affected.

Such constitutions are more frequently observed with those who are overweight and have fair skin and soft tissues. On the outside, they may appear fit, but internally they lack qi and suffer from poor circulation.

Drinking cold water or eating chilled fruits such as watermelon in the hopes of cooling the body temperature, or consuming overly stimulating foods such as fatty and spicy dishes, or drinking alcohol can lead to over-working of the intestines, causing stomachaches and even diarrhea.

Such cases usually apply to those with irritable bowel syndrome who tend to have weak function in their stomach ― those with the proverbial cold stomachs.

Initial treatment for patients with food-borne illness symptoms is to replenish the water loss from vomiting or diarrhea, and correct the imbalance of electrolytes in the body.

Oriental medicine adjusts treatments for diarrhea during the rainy season according to the symptoms, but the general aim is to adjust a weakened digestive function while detoxifying and removing the stagnant “dampness” qi within the stomach.

In case of a fever, treatment brings down the heat, and acupuncture, moxibustion and Korean Oriental medications are administered according to each patient’s constitution and digestive system to minimize long-term effects.

There is a massage technique that you can use when suffering from diarrhea.

About 3 centimeters on either side of the navel, are the “cheon-chu” (S-25) acupuncture points. They are related to nausea, diarrhea, and stomachaches. Repeatedly pressing on those points can help stabilize the intestinal functions.

If you touch your stomach when you have a bad case of diarrhea, you would notice that it is quite cold to the touch. If so, massaging around the navel with your hands after rubbing them together to warm them up can alleviate your symptoms as well.

There are medicinal foods that can help prevent this seasonal diarrhea when taken regularly. Examples include ginger, garlic and Japanese apricots.

Ginger is characteristically warm and spicy in taste. The main components of this spicy taste in ginger are gingerol and shogaol that have known antimicrobial effects.

Owing to gingerol’s antimicrobial potentials against vibrios, eating ginger with tuna or other raw fish can prevent food poisoning.

Also ginger naturally stimulates oral and gastric mucosae to promote secretion of digestive fluids and activate gastrointestinal motility to increase digestion and absorption.

Garlic is also characteristically warm and spicy in its taste. Allicin in the garlic is a very effective antimicrobial and antibacterial agent to prevent food-borne microbes and increase general immunity.

In Oriental medicine, garlic is said to relieve a cold body and strengthen the digestive system while warming the stomach, and thus is used against nausea and diarrhea.

Japanese apricot is said to bring down the qi and relieve heat, and is accordingly used to alleviate indigestion and diarrhea. Japanese apricot products are acidic which can prevent food-borne bacteria and even some pathogenic ones as well.

When food-borne illness occurs with diarrhea, some patients immediately reach for anti-diarrheal medicine in the hopes of stopping it first, but this is not always the right choice.

Vomiting and diarrhea related to food poisoning is our body’s reaction to get the ingested toxins out of the stomach and intestines respectively. Hence, taking anti-diarrheal medicine to treat the symptoms may hinder our body from getting rid of the toxins and bacteria and only aggravate the situation.

Personal hygiene is also key to preventing seasonal stomachaches. Frequently washing hands and cooking food properly is just the start.

As previously mentioned, those who are overweight and fair-skinned are prone to accumulating “dampness” qi in the body. Such folks can help themselves with regular aerobic exercises to sweat out the dampness and help circulation so that it does not accumulate and become an illness.

If food poisoning occurs, foods that can aggravate the intestines (such as raw fruits and fatty foods), and drinks that can irritate stomach walls (such as coffee, soft drinks, and juice) should be avoided.

The writer practices Oriental medicine at the

UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong,

Seoul.