05 MAR 2021
What is Acid Reflux?
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the symptoms of stomach acid, heartburn, and acid reflux are related to soreness, stomachache, noise, and chest pain. The TCM ideology believes that this is closely related to the liver, spleen, and lungs.
The stomach is responsible for receiving, allowing passage, and descending. The spleen governs transportation, transformation and also promotes clearness of the system!
How does the health of our spleen and stomach get deteriorated?
This can be caused by an improper diet, emotional disorder, and/or invasion of external evils, which ultimately weakens the spleen and stomach.
An irregular diet will cause an emotional disturbance in the body, resulting in poorer liver functioning. Hence, the liver will not be able to properly regulate evacuation within the body. In other words, liver “wood” inhibits “soil” and invades the stomach, which stagnates the movement of “Qi” in the body. This will result in illness in the body.
Pathological factors are associated with heat, fire, phlegm, “Qi”, and stasis. In the treatment of this disease in Chinese medicine, on the basis of differentiation of symptoms and signs, the principle of treatment is to invigorate the spleen and stomach, and to reconcile “Q”. Commonly used clinical drugs are: “chen pi”,”fu ling”,”bai shao”,”wu zhu yu”,”fo shou”, “duan wa leng”,”wu zei gu” and etc.
To prevent and regulate your body, it is very important to nourish the stomach! Here are some tips:
Consider working and resting regularly as part of your routine. Do not overwork yourself.
Exercise regularly or moderately whenever possible. Take a nice walk after a day of work or follow a simple workout video to destress and relax.
You should also eat regular meals that are not too filling, which may cause you to bloat up. Eat less cold and fatty foods as well! Avoid lying down immediately after eating.
In addition, our mental well-being has a great influence on the spleen and stomach. Excessive emotions such as anger, sadness, negative thoughts, or anxiety can also damage the spleen and stomach. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, take a step back to regroup and calm yourself down.
Authored by Physician Guo Yuan
