A cold may be a minor illness, but for the elderly, it can be a root cause of physical weakness and a trigger for various ailments. How to prevent colds, reduce their frequency, or avoid them altogether is key to improving quality of life and achieving longevity. An octogenarian once told me that he has held a piece of ginger in his mouth every morning for 15 years, and in those 15 years, he has never caught a cold.
Since the Spring Festival of 2003, I have persisted in holding ginger in my mouth every morning. My method is as follows: Every morning after waking up, I first drink a glass of warm water to moisten my stomach and intestines. Then, I wash and peel the ginger, slicing it as thinly as a one-yuan coin, and place 4-5 slices in a bowl. I then pour boiling water over the ginger slices in the bowl for disinfection. I place the ginger slices in my mouth, chewing them slowly, and hold them for 10-30 minutes, not swallowing them at once. Afterwards, I slowly chew the ginger slices until they are crushed, allowing the ginger's aroma to spread and diffuse throughout my mouth. My experience is that holding ginger must be done consistently in the morning. As the ancients said: "Eating ginger in the morning is better than drinking ginseng soup."
Since I started holding ginger, I haven't had a single cold. Occasionally, if I notice the early signs of a cold, drinking a packet of Xiao Chai Chong Jie (a traditional Chinese medicine) resolves it, and there's no need for scraping therapy or other medications.
Daily contact with ginger has also given me much insight into its medicinal properties. For example, I often use ginger to treat migraines. Whenever I have a headache, I cut one or two slices of ginger and apply them to my temples. After leaving them on for several tens of minutes, the headache often subsides, and I feel relaxed all over. Alternatively, when a migraine strikes, I soak my hands in hot ginger water for about 15 minutes, which can alleviate or even eliminate the pain. I also heard the old gentleman say that holding ginger can prevent and treat gallbladder stones and even has anti-cancer properties.
Doctor's Comment: Ginger is a common medicinal herb used for disease prevention and treatment. According to the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic), ginger has a pungent and warm nature, and it acts on the lung, spleen, and stomach meridians. It functions to release the exterior and dispel cold, warm the middle jiao to stop vomiting, and transform phlegm to stop coughing. It is commonly used to treat wind-cold colds, vomiting due to stomach cold, and coughing with phlegm. According to modern pharmacological research, ginger contains various components such as gingerol, zingiberene, and shogaol, and has effects such as antipyretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, sedative, hypnotic, anticonvulsant, and cardiac stimulant properties.
Here, it is important to remind everyone that ginger has a pungent and warm nature, making it more suitable for individuals with a deficiency-cold constitution or for conditions that are性质属寒 (cold in nature). Those with a heat constitution or conditions that are excess-heat or warm-heat in nature must use it with caution or avoid it altogether.