In the season when cold drinks are delicious, only your stomach and intestines are experiencing winter

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Hello everyone. This is Yuyu Kampo.

The hot days continue, don't they? Coming home, opening the refrigerator first, and gulping down a well-chilled drink. I think the comfort of that moment is one of summer's small joys. Spending time in an air-conditioned room is also essential in this season.

However, as you go through your days like that, have you noticed changes like a loss of appetite, your stomach feeling gurgly, or finding yourself choosing only cold foods like somen noodles or chilled Chinese noodles? You might be thinking, 'It's just summer fatigue' or 'It can't be helped because it's hot.'

But perhaps that has more to do with something else happening inside your body than the heat itself. Today, I will talk from the perspective of Oriental medicine about the state of 'it's midsummer outside, but only the stomach is in winter,' which is common in this season.

There is a small 'hearth' inside your stomach

In Oriental medicine, the function of digesting food and turning it into body energy is called 'Pii' (Spleen-Stomach). It is a bit different from the stomach and spleen in Western medicine; it is a concept that groups together the functions related to digestion and absorption.

It is easier to imagine this Pii as a small 'hearth' inside your stomach. It cooks ingredients like food and turns them into a form the body can use. If the fire in the hearth is burning well, the food you eat will properly become energy.

However, when you pour down cup after cup of cold drinks, the same thing happens as pouring water on that hearth. If it's just one cup, the fire will return quickly, but what happens if you keep pouring water from morning till night, day after day? The firewood gets damp, the fire gets smaller, and eventually, only smoke comes out, and you can no longer cook properly.

Furthermore, in summer, 'cold from the outside' like air conditioning is added. When you spend a long time in a cool room, heat is quietly taken away from the surface of your body. Even if the outside temperature is 35 degrees, the inside of your body is in a state like midwinter. This is one of the reasons why many people have stomach and intestinal problems in summer.

Is the fire in your hearth getting smaller?

If any of the following apply to you, it might be a sign that your Pii hearth is cold.

• You drink many cups of cold drinks a day

• Even though it is midsummer, your stomach and limbs feel cool to the touch

• Your appetite has dropped, and you only choose cold noodle dishes

• Your stomach gurgles after eating, or you have persistent soft stools

• When you are in an air-conditioned room, you feel a chill coming from around your stomach

• You feel relieved and comfortable when you drink a warm beverage

The last point is a surprisingly important clue. The fact that you feel better when you warm up means that your body is telling you it is "cold".

These signs do not mean you lack motivation or are being lazy. It is simply that your "hearth" is honestly letting you know its current state.

Kampo Wisdom: Prescriptions to rekindle the fire in the hearth

For a spleen and stomach that have become cold and sluggish, Kampo approaches the issue with the mindset of "do not let it get cold, and warm it up."

Ninjin-to (Ginseng Decoction) is a prescription aimed at warming a cold and weakened stomach from the inside. Imagine putting dry firewood into a hearth to rekindle a dying fire. This is a prescription that often comes up when discussing gastrointestinal distress after consuming too many cold things.

Goshaku-san (Five Accumulations Powder) appears when considering a state where external cold and internal cold overlap. It is often mentioned when thinking about health maintenance for those who spend long periods in air-conditioned rooms.

Anchu-san (Calm the Middle Powder) is a prescription often mentioned in consultations for those who experience pain around the stomach when their abdomen gets cold.

What is interesting here is that all three of these prescriptions use "members of the ginger family" to warm the body. However, the ginger used in each is different. Ninjin-to uses Kankyo (dried ginger), Goshaku-san uses Shokyo (fresh ginger), and Anchu-san uses Ryokyo (galangal root).

Even though they are all members of the ginger family, why are they used differently? It is because they are thought to warm different "locations" and "depths." This difference is exactly where the subtlety of Kampo is expressed. Tomorrow, I will talk slowly about Kankyo, which is considered to warm the deepest parts among them.

*Kampo medicines vary from person to person depending on their constitution (sho) and symptoms. To choose the right Kampo medicine for yourself, please do not rely on self-judgment and be sure to consult a pharmacist or doctor who is knowledgeable about Kampo.

Today's small health practice: Do not pour too much water on the hearth

I will share two things you can start doing today. Neither is difficult.

The first is to incorporate one warm drink a day; just one cup is enough. This is not to say you should stop all cold drinks. Enjoying cold things in summer is one of the joys of this season. However, just by replacing your morning cup with hot water or warm tea, you create a "time to light the fire" in your hearth.

The second is not to let your stomach get cold directly. Choose a seat so that the air conditioning wind does not hit your stomach directly, or keep a thin belly warmer or towel nearby. Just doing that makes a big difference in the heat lost from the outside. It is believed that cold enters from the feet and the stomach.

Rather than being tense about "having to cut back on cold things," it is easier to continue in this season if you think about "adding one thing that warms you up."

This week, with the theme of "summer cold and the stomach/intestines," we will look at crude drugs, prescriptions, and daily tips one day at a time. Let's spend the height of summer in good health, starting from the stomach.

May your every day be a little more energetic and comfortable.

Yuyu Kampo

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