Preparing for Cold and Flu Season

Here at Coastal Natural Therapies Gold Coast our qualified acupuncturists practice a style of traditional medicine based on more than 2,500 years of Chinese medical practice. A fundamental tenet of Chinese medicine is that it’s better to take steps to preserve and enhance your wellbeing every day, than to think about your health only when you’re sick, this is particularly relevant to the immune system.

Around 4,500 years ago, the Chinese physician Qi Bo wrote, “To take medicine when you are sick is like digging a well only when you are thirsty…is it not already too late?”

Chinese medicine considers a person to be an intrinsic part of their environment and the weather is considered one major influence on the flow of energy in the body. In fact, it is believed there are six factors comprising the external causes of disease and illness: wind, dryness, cold, moisture, fire and heat. Should any of these be in excess it is said that health can be negatively impacted.

So what can you do to prevent suffering from imbalance, illness, pain or disease as temperatures drop?

The key is in stabilising your body temperature when there are sudden changes: don’t go crazy with the heating or air conditioning in your home or office; wear layers if the weather seems interchangeable; wear cotton clothing and put cotton sheets on your bed. Ensure that your immune and other body systems are in tip-top condition year-round to avoid falling victim to those sudden weather changes. Acupuncture can help with this!

We’re big fans of keeping warm! If you run cold, there are a number of things you can do at home to help stoke your internal pilot light. Among them:

• Warm your core. Use a heating pad, hot water bottle, or heated rice bag to warm the small of your back or your abdomen right below your navel.

• Add some warming herbs to your meals such as ginger, garlic, mustard, cayenne, pepper, and cinnamon are a good place to start. Warm teas like fresh ginger, lemon and raw honey, thyme or chamomile are lovely on a colder day!

• If you have muscle or joint pain that is worse with the cold weather, applying heat can help relieve the pain and loosen it up.

• Dress appropriately when you’re spending time outside in the cold (and wind). Cover your neck with a scarf and wear a jacket that is long enough to cover your lower back and kidneys. When you’re at home, wear socks or slippers on tiles/hard floors.

• Finally, if you are constantly cold to your core, struggle with pain that’s worse in the cold, or seem to catch every cold or flu that’s going around, try acupuncture. We use a number of tools that can help warm you up and strengthen your immunity.

If you are wanting to find out how we can help you, an initial consultation will determine your own personal treatment plan and set you on a path back to health, please give us a call on 5531 6461 or email us on info@coastalnaturaltherapies.com.au

© Coastal Natural Therapies ™ Gold Coast 2022