Delay Physical Aging with Chinese Medicine
An overall health, balanced diet and regular exercise are the premise for optimal physical condition. Besides that, you should also pay attention to weight management, muscle mass, pose or body movement. Our body shape changes naturally with age, the aging process cannot be avoided, but healthy lifestyle choices can slow it down. See "Introduction to Health Maintenance in Chinese Medicine".
According to TCM, physical condition and body movement are mostly associated with the kidney, liver and spleen systems. Body weight is closely influenced by the spleen's transportation and transformation functions. Normal spleen functioning ensures blood and qi (vital energy) are abundant, and the body is muscular and healthy. If the spleen fails in its transportation function, it will lead to phlegm and dampness (fatty tissues) accumulating internally, finally becomes obesity. On the other hand, if the transformation function is improper, there is inadequate source of nourishment, the body will be hard to build muscles. Furthermore, agility and flexibility not only need strong muscles, but also depend on the coordination of bones, tendons and ligaments. Liver blood promotes flexible joints and kidney essence ensures a firm and straight body framework. As we grow older, declining in these three organs causes changes in the physical appearance of the body and limits the physical activities we can perform.
Begin in middle age, essence stored in the kidney starts declining, then follow by functioning in different organs weaken gradually. Physical deterioration such as diminished endurance, gray hair, loose teeth, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, decline in agility and increased susceptibility to health problems appear. Women will slowly lose their slim body curve, while men begin hard to carry vigorous body movements. These changes often make us feel bad and keep us from fully enjoying life, health maintenance then becomes a common concern.
For physical fitness and prevent its aging, TCM management focuses on:
• Weight management
• Ensuring a firm physique
• Enhancing body flexibility and mobility
1. Weight Management
It is unhealthy to be overweight or underweight. For those who tend to be obese, they should limit the consumption of greasy, sweet and spicy food, control their calorie intake. this is said to prevent overloading of the spleen and stomach that will lead to dampness and phlegm accumulation. They should also maintain regular bowel habits, or enhance the frequency if necessary. Exercise promotes fat burn and tone up muscles. Some herbs are beneficial to trim the fatty tissues, such as tangerine peel, hawthorn fruits, cassia seed, fleece flower root, Chinese rhubarb, lotus leaf and radish seed, the prescriptions are usually based on syndrome differentiation. Massage along the Spleen Meridian and Stomach Meridian are also beneficial. See "Obesity and Weight Loss".
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| Radish seed | Coix seed | Poria |
Individuals who are underweight should have a more enriching and easily digested diet, pay attention to the dietary restraints and taboos. In order to prevent further disturbance of digestive functions, they should not eat too much raw, frozen food or foods with cold properties, and they should always keep the abdominal region warm as external coldness can easily induce them diarrhea. Regular exercise promotes the spleen and stomach work more effectively, enhance their appetite and intestinal absorption. Herbs for promoting digestive and absorption functions include pilose asiabell root (dang shen), largehead atractylodes root (bai shu), hyacinth bean, astragalus root, Chinese yam and dates. Moxibustion using moxa sticks to heating acupoints like zhong wan (Cv12), zu san li (St36) and qi hai (Cv6) help enhancing the digestive process, and build body mass.
2. Ensuring a firm physique
The spleen rules the muscles of body, spleen deficiency leads to muscular weakness and even wasting, which fails to keep a straight and flexible physique body. Firm and forceful muscles mainly rely on effective spleen and stomach functioning, the two organs ensure abundant blood and qi activities, and also resolving pathologic phlegm and dampness accumulation.
Signs indicate a spleen weakness are a sallow face, poor appetite, bloating after meals, loose stools, flabby limbs, drooping eyelids, sagging body and loose skin. Remedies for fortifying the spleen and promoting qi (vital energy) production are necessary. Some enriching soft extracts or pill are recommended for relief. Traditionally, people would consult a physician for a customized prescription, commonly selected herbs are ginseng, astragalus root, poria, Chinese yam, largehead atractylodes rhizome and coix seed. A considerable amount of ingredients (at least two-month's dosage) are selected and prepared as a concentrated decoction for regular consumption, in which certain amount of honey, rock sugar or sugar are added and make into a syrup or gel-like extract. Alternately, just ground the ingredients and made into pills. They are taken regularly, in small amounts over a long period.
- Prepare Solomon's seal rhizome (huang jing), poria, astragalus rose and angelica root (150g of each), millet wine (450ml) and honey. Cook the ingredients with water to make a concentrated liquid, then add honey to make into a syrup; pour in a container and put in the refrigerator. Each time, eat 15~30ml every day, twice a day.
- Chinese yam (15g), black sesame (120g), rice (60g), milk (200ml), rose bud (3g) and rock sugar (120g). Stir-fry the black sesame, yam and rice over low heat for about 5 minutes; grind them with 1/4 cup of water and the milk in a blender or food processor. Pour the mixture, sugar, rose and add 1/2 cup of water into a saucepan, cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the mixture turns thick, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Take 50 ml of this delicious dessert each day.
3. Enhancing body flexibility and mobility
Straight and firm body figure and coordinated movements are supported by strong bones and tendons. Constant muscle training, tai chi, yoga, aerobics or dancing improve the body shape, and can greatly delay the aging process in physical body.
Since the liver and kidney rule the bones and tendons of the body, protecting the two organs are important. Living habits like physical exhaustion, staying over-night, long term stress can harm the organs directly. The liver stores blood and the kidneys store essence; the two organs are correlated with each other both in physiology and pathology. They are also responsible for major aging signs like blurred version, diminished hearing, gray hair, joint stiffness, menstrual problems, clumsy movements, low hormone levels, fragile bones, shrinkage of the sexual organs, and an overall decrease in energy and vigor. Anti-aging remedies should always consider these two organs; the usual tonic ingredients include processed rhemannia rhizome (shu di), Chinese yam, Chinese wolfberry, dodder seeds, flatstem asgragalus seed (sha yuan zi), acorus (chang pu), schisandra, hairy deerhorn, Solomon's seal rhizome (huang jing), largehead atractylodes rhizome, walnut and cordyceps. Appropriate remedies are usually tailored to individual conditions, also known as syndrome differentiation, the following are sample prescriptions:
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| Dodder seed | processed rhemannia rhizome (shu di) | Solomon's seal rhizome (huang jing) |
- Dodder seeds and cistanche (rou cong rong) (90g each), schisandra, Japanese teasel root (xu duan), Chinese senega (yuan zhi), cornus fruit (shan yu rou) and oriental water-plantain root (45g each), ledebouriella root (fang feng, 60g) and morinda root (30g). Grind into powder, add honey and make into pills. Every morning before breakfast, take 30g with a small cup of wine or mild salty water. This promotes physical vigor and vision, and delays physical aging.
- Walnut (250g), psoralea, seven-lobed yam rhizome (bi xie) and eucommia bark (120g each). Grind and make into pills. Each time, take 15g with a small cup of wine or mild salty water, twice daily. This strengthens bones and tendons, and promote skin beauty.
- Poria (1500g) and white chrysanthemum (500g), grind to a powder and add some pine resin to make into pills. Each time, take 10g to mix with a small cup of wine, serve twice daily. This improves skin texture, promotes hearing and vision and strengthens bones and tendons.
- Chinese wolfberry and Siberian solomonseal rhizome (600g each), crushed and mixed with honey to make into pills. Each time take 20g, serve daily. This nourishes the kidney and liver.
Some individuals develop dark age spots, purplish lips, nail deformity, dull complexion, blood capillary dilatation and excessive throat secretions. TCM regards these signs of aging as disharmony of blood stasis and an accumulation of phlegm; physicians will pinpoint these problems by activating blood flow and resolving phlegm for a period of time. The following is a sample prescription:
- Processed rhemannia rhizome (24g), cornus fruit (12g), Chinese yam (12g), peony root bark (9g), poria (9g), oriental water-plantain root (9g), processed aconite root (5g), cassia bark (5g), red sage root (10g), motherwort herb (10g), acorus (10g) and belvedere fruit (10g). Decoct and serve once a day.
- Hawthorn fruit, peach kernel, and unibract fritillary bulb (9g each); lotus leaf (half piece), poria (powdered, 15g), coix seed and rice (30g each). Boil the first four herbs to make a liquid, then use the liquid to cook with the poria, coix seed and rice, heat until the liquid turns thick. Serve as porridge in the morning.
It should be noted that engaging in an exercise program is crucial, even simple stretching or other traditional exercises. Exercise not just leads to fewer physical problems, but also provides more energy for accomplishing daily tasks.
