What Should the Coronary Heart Disease Patient Mind?
Coronary heart disease falls under TCM's xiongbi (chest-bi) and xintong (heart-pain). What should one with coronary disease mind? This is what every coronary patient most asks.
1. Avoid emotional swings
TCM holds the heart governs blood-vessel and stores the spirit. With emotion smooth, qi-blood is in harmony. With excess emotion — anger injuring liver, thought injuring spleen, grief injuring lung, fear injuring kidney, over-joy injuring heart — heart-blood may stagnate or deplete. So coronary patients should mind emotional steadiness — do not over-excite, get angry, over-strain, or grieve, to avoid heart-disease relapse.
2. Mind the seasons
TCM holds that in winter the body's yin flourishes and yang weakens; cold-congealing and qi-stagnation, blood-stasis blocking the network, easily appear. So coronary patients should keep warm in winter. Outside, wear mask or hat; avoid direct cold wind and walking on snow-and-ice. In sum: spring guard wind; summer guard heat; long-summer guard damp; autumn guard dry; winter guard cold.
3. Regular routine
The Neijing: "With moderate diet, regular living-and-rising, no reckless strain, the form and the spirit together stand." And: "Taking wine for water, taking the reckless as constant, drunk and entering the chamber… without regular living-and-rising — hence half a hundred and one declines." This shows the importance of regular routine for health. Among coronary patients, eating too oily often re-triggers heart pain — so regular living matters.
4. Avoid sex; prevent constipation
Sexual excess injures kidney; kidney-yin deficient brings heart-blood deficient — coronary patients should mind sexual life. Constipation is a common trigger of relapse. Coronary patients with constipation should eat more fiber: celery, jiucai (Chinese chives), spinach. A cup of lightly-salted water on rising helps too.
5. Exercise scientifically and in measure
Life is in motion. Reasonable exercise aids coronary recovery.
In stable phase, all may walk, do daily-exercise, taiji, slow jog — half an hour a day. Do not exercise hungry or fatigued.