Staying healthy through winter

Lee Sung-hun

By Lee Sung-hun

The cold of winter seems to have arrived in full swing.

With the chilly air outside in contrast to the well-warmed indoors, it is increasingly more difficult to take care of your health as it gets colder.

News reports expect that this year’s winter will likely see a high number of influenza patients.

Also during winter, patients who have joint and muscle aches are likely to experience aggravated symptoms.

In the oldest Oriental medical text, it is written that to maintain our health through winter, we must preserve our life energy within our body and prevent it from leaking.

Plants persevere through winter by preserving themselves as winter buds and animals do so through hibernation.

As such, we humans need to conserve our own life energy through the winter season so that we are well prepared to expand that energy when spring arrives with its abundant life energy.

To achieve this, we need to be careful not to overspend our yang-qi, which can be exasperated with severe motions or fluctuating emotions.

Going to bed early at sunset and waking up after the sunrise is recommended.

Cold food and cold air should naturally be avoided and we should keep ourselves properly warmed. However, excessive perspiration must be avoided as our body’s yang-qi spills out through sweating.

Having summarized the old text, we must be reminded that this advice was written for agrarian life patterns when there was no electricity. Adopting the principles to our modern life, the following should apply to most of us.

Winter clothing options to keep warm are aplenty, but rather than one thick padding, multiple layers of thinner clothes are not only more stylish as many fashion columns would say but they also help our bodies develop tolerance to the cold to better cope with it.

One of the better-known health mantras in Oriental medicine says “keep the head cold, but the feet warm.”

Hence, wearing socks with proper insulation for the feet and thermals for the legs is a good practice.

Although we can leave the head to the cold, wearing scarves is a must as exposing the neck makes it more likely to catch a cold. In Oriental medicine, the small bumpy bone in the back of the neck is where the cold-qi enters our body.

It is our natural tendency to curl and contract our body when exposed to cold. In the same manner, the tendons and muscles around the joints of our body tend to contract in the cold, resulting in high tension. In turn, the tension can aggravate the aches in the joints while increasing chances of an injury.

Therefore, stretching and light exercises are preferable in winter than intense workouts that induce heavy perspiration.

For the elderly, winter can be a hazardous season for vascular diseases such as stroke and angina as exposing the body to the cold weather can make the blood vessels stiffen and increase the likelihood of vascular disease.

Although it is common for many elderly people to wake up early, outdoor activities in the early morning should be avoided, and adequately warming up the body with light exercises prior to going outside is recommended when the occasions arise.

While it may seem obvious, it needs to be reiterated that warm foods are better for keeping our body warm, and the same goes for properly heated water. Leaf teas are characteristically warm, and thus having a physically hot cup of tea is just the right beverage for the cold winter days.

I wish all the readers good health to cope with the wintry cold, and a fit start to the New Year.