Heatstroke, commonly known as "summer stroke," is a disease prone to occur in hot summers. There are many causes of heatstroke, such as high summer temperatures, high air humidity, difficulty in sweat evaporation, and excessive heat accumulation in the body. Heatstroke can cause headaches, nausea, difficulty breathing, and coma, which seriously harm physical health. In this issue, we have specially invited experts to introduce a series of wonderful remedies for relieving summer heat.
Nourishing Yin and Clearing Heat: Imperata Cylindrica Root
Specific method: 5 grams of Imperata Cylindrica root, 2 grams of chrysanthemum, and 3 grams of dark plum. Place the three herbs in a cup, add 350-450 ml of boiling water, cover and steep for 30 minutes. Drink as a tea substitute. This remedy clears heat and generates body fluids, suitable for people working or living in high-temperature and high-heat environments.
Comments: Symptoms of heatstroke include profuse sweating, thirst, limb weakness, dizziness, blurred vision, chest tightness, nausea and vomiting, and elevated body temperature.
In this remedy, Imperata Cylindrica root is sweet in taste and enters the lung, stomach, and bladder meridians. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" states: "Imperata Cylindrica root, its sweetness can eliminate hidden heat and promote urination." Because of its nature of being cold without damaging the spleen and stomach, and its diuretic effect without damaging yin fluids, it has become one of the common folk medicines for preventing summer heat, generating fluids, and quenching thirst. Summer heat is the main qi of summer, transformed from hot fire. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, fire nature is ascending, so people with "internal heat" often experience symptoms like dizziness, blurred vision, and tinnitus. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" has a detailed record of the medicinal effects of chrysanthemum: "Its nature is sweet and its taste is cold, with the effects of dispersing wind-heat, pacifying the liver, and brightening the eyes." Chrysanthemum not only clears heat and detoxifies, but for office workers and those who use computers for long periods, it can also clear the liver and brighten the eyes, and has anti-radiation effects.
Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that summer heat is a yang pathogen, its nature is ascending and dispersing, and it can easily damage qi and fluids. Because summer temperatures are high, people's pores are in a dilated state, and the body's fluids can easily be excreted through the pores in the form of sweat. At this time, nourishing yin and generating fluids is particularly important. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" states: "Plums are picked when half-ripe and smoked to become dark plums." Dark plum is sour, astringent, and neutral in nature. It enters the liver, spleen, lung, and large intestine meridians, and has the effects of generating fluids to quench thirst and astringing the intestines to stop diarrhea.
The combination of Imperata Cylindrica root, chrysanthemum, and dark plum as a tea substitute can not only clear heat and detoxify, but also relieve dryness and reduce fire. It is sweet, sour, and refreshing, making it an excellent remedy for dispelling summer heat.
Strengthening the Spleen and Harmonizing the Stomach: Agastache Rugosa
Specific method: 3 grams of Agastache rugosa, 6 grams of raw malt, 3 grams of fresh ginger, and 1 jujube (broken open). Wash and slice the fresh ginger, place it with the other three herbs in a cup, add 350-450 ml of boiling water, cover and steep for 30 minutes, and drink as a tea substitute. Suitable for people working or living in air-conditioned environments, as well as those who overindulge in coldness or cold drinks.
Comments: In summer, people often use various iced foods to cool down and stay in air-conditioned environments for long periods, so symptoms such as dizziness, sneezing, and a runny nose often occur.
In the "Summer Heat and Stomach Harmonizing Drink," Agastache rugosa is pungent in taste and slightly warm in nature, entering the lung, spleen, and stomach meridians. The "Tu Jing Ben Cao" (Illustrated Classic of Materia Medica) mentions: "It is the most important medicine for treating vomiting and nausea due to spleen and stomach disorders." Raw malt can move qi to promote digestion, strengthen the spleen and whet the appetite, and is used to treat loss of appetite and epigastric abdominal pain caused by cold-dampness obstructing the spleen.
There is a folk saying, "Three slices of ginger in the morning, no need to see a doctor." Ginger is warm in nature and can effectively treat abdominal pain and vomiting caused by excessive consumption of cold foods. Among the five flavors, ginger is pungent, and pungent promotes dispersion, so it can induce sweating and expel wind and cold. After eating ginger, you will feel a sensation of warmth because ginger can accelerate blood flow. While sweating, it expels cold and toxins from the body. Jujube is warm in nature. As early as in the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic), jujube was listed as a superior-grade herb, believed to have the effect of tonifying qi and strengthening the spleen.
Relieving Summer Heat and Quenching Thirst: Mung Bean Soup
Specific method: 30 grams of mung beans, 10 grams of reed rhizome, and 10 grams of Imperata Cylindrica root. Wrap the reed rhizome and Imperata Cylindrica root in a gauze bag, cook with an appropriate amount of water until the mung beans are tender, then remove the herb bag. Can be served cold or hot.
Comments: In the unbearably hot summer, people all know to drink mung bean soup to clear heat and relieve summer heat. The health proverb "A bowl of mung bean soup in summer is better than a fairy's prescription for detoxifying and dispelling summer heat" is widely circulated among the people. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" records mung beans as follows: Eating mung beans can reduce swelling and promote qi downward, clear heat and detoxify, relieve summer heat and quench thirst, harmonize the five organs, calm the spirit, and replenish original qi. Mung bean is sweet and cold in nature, entering the heart and stomach meridians, and has the effect of relieving summer heat and promoting urination, making it an excellent product for summer to calm the heart, soothe the mind, clear heat, and detoxify. Reed rhizome has the effects of clearing heat and purging fire, generating fluids to quench thirst, eliminating vexation, stopping vomiting, and promoting urination. It is often used for summer heat diseases with vexation and thirst, or stomach heat with vomiting. When used together with reed rhizome and Imperata Cylandrica root, they work together to generate fluids and quench thirst, and expel summer heat and promote diuresis.
However, it should be noted that mung bean is a cold food. People with a weak or cold constitution or a weak spleen and stomach should not drink it excessively, otherwise symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea may occur. Those with yin deficiency should also not drink it in large quantities.
Cooling Blood and Detoxifying: Purslane
Specific method: Choose one from fresh purslane, fresh Houttuynia cordata, fresh Andrographis paniculata, fresh Gynura bicolor, fresh perilla leaves, fresh mint, or fresh Schizonepeta tenuifolia. Wash, blanch in boiling water, and then eat as a cold salad.
Comments: Fresh purslane, fresh Houttuynia cordata, fresh Andrographis paniculata, etc., are both Chinese medicines and delicious dishes on our dining table, but their effects are different. Purslane is called the "longevity vegetable" by the people. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes it has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling the blood to stop dysentery, and is especially effective for preventing intestinal infectious diseases.
"Houttuynia cordata" is also called "Zhe'ergen" and is a Chinese medicine that is both food and medicine. It is the best wild vegetable for clearing the lungs, especially for clearing lung heat and resolving phlegm-dampness in the summer.
Andrographis paniculata has a certain effect of clearing heat and detoxifying. Eating it in summer can effectively avoid heatstroke.
Fresh perilla leaves are pungent in taste and slightly warm in nature. The "Tu Jing Ben Cao" records: "It penetrates the heart meridian and benefits the spleen and stomach." The "Ben Hui Yan" also records that when eaten with papaya, it has the effect of dispersing dampness and relieving summer heat.
Fresh mint is pungent in taste and cool in nature, with the effects of dispersing wind-heat and clearing the head and eyes. Schizonepeta tenuifolia was originally named "Jia Su," it is warm and non-toxic, a diaphoretic and antipyretic medicine, and one of the commonly used medicinal herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine.