Prevention and Health Care for Wind-Heat Cold
Wind-heat cold is common in midsummer, and prevention is key. Here are some simple lifestyle tips to help you easily prevent it.
Ventilate: After waking up in the morning, open the windows promptly to breathe fresh outdoor air and maintain good indoor air circulation.
Wash: Wash your face with cold water in the morning and soak your feet in hot water at night. Persisting in this habit can promote blood circulation and improve your body's resistance.
Move: Every morning after waking up, jog slowly for a quarter of an hour or do morning exercises to strengthen your physique and boost your immune system.
Gargle: Insist on gargling with light salt water and tea water every morning and evening to kill cold viruses in your mouth and maintain oral hygiene.
Dress: Add or remove clothing promptly according to the seasonal climate and weather forecast; do not tough it out.
Sniff: Prepare a bottle of aged vinegar or liquor in the summer. Smell it frequently with the cap off to refresh your mind and effectively prevent colds.
Drink: Drink plenty of hot water before going to bed at night, and drink tea steeped with fresh ginger slices, which is very effective for preventing colds.
Fumigate: Heat aged vinegar, close the doors and windows, and fumigate once every two weeks to effectively kill cold viruses and microorganisms.
Three Soups for Treating Wind-Heat Cold
Wind-heat cold is characterized by aggravated fever, headache, red, swollen, dry, and sore throat, nasal congestion with yellow discharge, cough with sticky or yellow phlegm, thirst, and aversion to wind. Looking in a mirror, you may observe a red tip and edges of the tongue with a thin, white, slightly yellow coating.
It can also worsen acne on the face and head, as well as constipation. The treatment principle should focus on expelling wind and clearing heat with pungent and cool herbs.
First Soup: Mint Congee (from "Song Yu Lu")
Boil 15 grams of mint to extract its medicinal juice, let it cool. Take 60 grams of japonica rice, add water to cook it into a congee. When the congee is almost done, add the mint juice and an appropriate amount of rock sugar. Serve it slightly warm; sweating is the best outcome.
Mint is a key herb for dispelling wind-heat. When made into a congee with japonica rice and rock sugar, it promotes sweating and also protects the stomach. This soup is most suitable for those with a new onset of wind-heat cold.
Second Soup: Mulberry, Chrysanthemum, and Mint Drink
6 grams of mulberry leaf, 6 grams of chrysanthemum, 3 grams of mint, 15 grams of bitter bamboo leaf, a little honey, and an appropriate amount of water are brought to a boil. Drink it frequently as a tea substitute. Mulberry leaf clears lung heat; chrysanthemum dispels wind-heat, brightens the eyes, and pacifies the liver; mint is a key herb for dispelling wind-heat and can quickly relieve symptoms like fever and headache. This is also quite suitable for patients with hypertension, headache, or blurred vision.
Third Soup: Steamed Snow Pear with Fritillary and Glehnia Root
Take one snow pear, peel and core it. Fill it with 6 grams of fritillary bulb, 10 grams of glehnia root, 2 grams of mint, and an appropriate amount of rock sugar. Close the pear, place it in a bowl, add water, and steam until cooked. Eat it in the morning and evening for several consecutive days. This soup moistens dryness, stops coughing, transforms phlegm, and ventilates the lungs. It is especially suitable for the elderly and children who, after a cold, have symptoms caused by injury to body fluids by heat, such as a dry cough, yellow phlegm due to lung heat, or thirst and dry stools.