What are the four core advantages of traditional Chinese medicine health care?

I have been doing TCM health science popularization and clinical care for 12 years, and have experienced the physical conditions of thousands of ordinary consumers. I have summarized the four core advantages of TCM health care, which are overall balance, syndrome differentiation and adaptation, cost-effectiveness, and prevention is more important than treatment.

Many people’s first impression of traditional Chinese medicine health care is that “fixing one problem will also fix other minor problems.” This is true. Some time ago, a girl in her early 20s came to me to treat recurring acne on her chin. Before that, she had applied anti-acne essences and acid treatments for almost half a year, but to no avail. When I touched her hands, they were as cold as if she had just gotten out of the ice. After taking out the box, I asked my aunt that she still had pain after a week's delay every time. It was not a problem with her face at all. It was because the heat in her stomach was being pushed up by the heat in her stomach. I gave her some tea substitutes to warm her spleen and stomach, and asked her not to drink iced milk tea. She also rubbed her belly for five minutes before going to bed every day. In less than a month, most of the acne was gone, and her aunt's pain was relieved a lot. Of course, some people question that this idea is too general and is not as accurate as modern nutrition in terms of which vitamins to supplement and how many calories to control. But think about it, people are living wholes, not disassembled parts. You can't just care about your face if you have acne, or just care about your feet if your feet are cold, right?

Matching this overall idea is its unique dialectical adaptation logic. Also unable to sleep, some people are so upset that they are tossing and turning in bed, and the tip of their tongue is as red as if it is dripping blood. This is because the heart is too strong. Soak some lotus seeds in the heart and drink it for two or three days, and you can sleep soundly. ； Some people lie down for half an hour and the bed is not warm. The more they lie down, the more tired they are and they feel flustered. This is because they have a deficiency of qi and blood, and they need to drink longan and red date tea. If it is the other way around, people with a deficiency of qi and blood will only get colder and colder after drinking lotus seeds, and they will be unable to sleep. Some people also complain that this "one person, one method" is too troublesome. It is better to buy ready-made melatonin and vitamin tablets and take them. However, it is precisely this kind of "non-standardization" that prevents those who are weak from getting worse and worse, and those who are full of supplements will be more blocked.

What’s even more rare is that this kind of precise maintenance does not require a high cost threshold. I have met many retired aunties who were deceived into buying thousands of yuan of health care products. In fact, most of the really useful methods cost very little: If you have a weak spleen and stomach, rub it for five minutes after eating every day. If you catch a cold, boil a piece of ginger and add some brown sugar to drink. If you have a stiff neck, massage it for two minutes. The Houxi point on the hand can relieve most of the pain. I once had an aunt who suffered from cold legs. After listening to my suggestion, she used pure moxa sticks to moxibustion her knees for 10 minutes every day at home, combined with pepper and ginger foot soaks. It cost less than 50 yuan in a month. It was much more effective than the painkilling ointment she spent thousands of dollars on every year. Of course, many hyped-up TCM health-preserving products on the market are now very expensive, with moxibustion devices and health-preserving teas often costing hundreds of dollars. That is a matter of commercialization premium, not an attribute of TCM health-preserving itself.

The most underestimated value of traditional Chinese medicine health care is actually the idea that prevention is better than cure that has been running through it since thousands of years ago. Nowadays, many people have this feeling: they always feel tired, cannot sleep well, and have sticky stools in the toilet. When they go to the hospital to check that all the indicators are normal, the doctor says that you are not sick, but you just haven't had a good rest. This state of "undetectable but uncomfortable" is precisely the stage where traditional Chinese medicine is best at intervening. There used to be a young man who worked in the Internet industry. He often stayed up late and worked overtime. Later, he became dizzy from time to time. His blood pressure had just reached the critical value of 140, and he was not yet ready to take antihypertensive drugs. I asked him to take 10 minutes a day to do the first two postures of Baduanjin, replace the iced coffee with warm chrysanthemum and wolfberry tea, and stay up less than 1 o'clock. After more than half a year, his blood pressure has been stable at around 120, and he has no more dizziness. Of course, some people say that "treating a disease before it's a disease" is a false concept. There's nothing to cure if there's no disease. But among the chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, which one is suddenly acquired? They are all accumulated from bad habits over the past decade or so. Adjusting the indicators when they are still not abnormal is the most cost-effective way of health management.

Of course, this does not mean that TCM health care is omnipotent. If you encounter acute or severe diseases, you must first go to a regular hospital for diagnosis and treatment. It is more suitable to be incorporated into daily meals and sleep, as a healthy lifestyle, rather than a temporary "life-saving remedy" when you are sick.