Below text from Life Cultivation and Rehabilitation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2000.
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Life Cultivation in Summer
In summer, the scorching sun shines everywhere and the ground is burning.
As yang qi grows, it gradually supersedes yin qi.
This climatic environment is very beneficial to the growth and development of all living things.
All living things grow luxuriantly and many plants blossom and bear fruit.
The feature of this season is “growing.”
The yang qi inside the human body tends to release outwards.
Therefore, people should pay attention to the protection of yang qi and conform to the feature of “growing” during the summer life cultivation.
Daily Life
People should go to sleep late and rise early and should not be averse to the long daytime and high temperature of summer.
As the night is shorter and the heat affects sleep quality, people should take a nap after lunch to eliminate fatigue and maintain vigorous energy.
They should have the physical training outdoors facing the rising sun in the early morning every day.
For convalescence, people should go to the mountains, forests, and seashores.
They may take a sun bath and receive a proper amount of fresh air so as to conform to the principle of growing in summer.
Bathing with warm water once a day is a keep-fit measure which is worth advocating under the intense heat of midsummer.
Taking a bath can not only wash away sweat and dirt as well as cool the skin, refresh the body, and prevent sunstroke and diseases, but also to exercise the body.
Benefits of bathing: pressure of warm water and massage calm the sympathetic nervous system, dilate the superficial blood vessels, accelerate blood circulation, improve the nutrition of the skin and tissues, reduce muscle tension, eliminate fatigue, improve sleeping, and enhance body resistance.
For clothing, people should select light, soft, light-colored, well-ventilated and hygroscopic material.
Wide and loose clothes for scorching weather and profuse sweating.
Ideal materials include silk and linen.
Pure cotton absorbs water well, but is poor in heat dissipation, thus not suitable for summer.
Regulating Emotions
Summer controls fire and the heart is the organ of fire which governs emotions.
Summer-heat easily acts upon the heart to cause uprising of heart fire which gives rise to restlessness of the mind, irascibility, anxiety, uneasiness, insomnia, etc.
Old people have the poor ability to endure the climatic variations.
They are often in an anxious state of mind.
This affects their health and even induces diseases.
Classics state that in summer people should “cultivate the temperament peacefully and avoid being restless in the mind” and “Cultivation of temperament is more important than health preservation.”
In summer, people should tranquilize the mind, treat people and deal with things calmly, avoid anger and vexation so as to cultivate temperament in a quiet state.
Regulating the Diet
Summer-heat acts upon the heart.
The heart is the organ of fire and the cardiac fire easily rises.
Therefore, in summer it is advisable to eat foods that clear away heat from the heart, purge fire, clear heat and summer-heat, such as: bitter gourd, chrysanthemum leaf, towel gourd, watermelon, musk melon, mung bean—all top choices.
Health beverages, medicated gruel, and medicated food such as: baihe ludou soup, bohe ludou soup, bitter gourd tea, juemingzi soup, jinyinyua distilled medicinal water, suanmei decoction (fructus mume), heye gruel, huaishanyao bian dou gruel, and juhuya gruel.
Should NEVER over-ingest cold drink, iced water, unripe and cold melon and fruit to prevent splenogastric injury from excessive cold.
In late summer, dampness is more excessive and dampness often intermingles with heat.
This may often affect the digestive function of the spleen and stomach.
When selecting foods, people should follow the principle of being bland and light.
They may eat wax gourd, yiyiren, cucumber, love pea, etc.
Should abstain from fat, greasy, pungent, and hot-natured foods in order to prevent yang from transforming into fire as well as the generation of dampness and heat.
Food variety is important, emphasize color, smell, taste, and appearance to activate the spleen, promote gastric function, and improve the appetite.
Physical Training
Adjust training to compensate for external scorching environment and the physical consumption in summer.
Better to have physical training in the morning and evening with more indoor activities.
Large amount of exercise is not suitable.
Especially in midsummer, people should not select activities that consume physical strength.
Avoid profuse sweating due to strenuous exercise.
Excessive perspiration both impairs the yin and makes the yang qi release outwards.
In this case, people violate the principle of “nourishing yang in spring and summer.”
Select training activities that are moderate in amount of exercise and prevent sunstroke with lower temperatures such as: swimming, jogging, taking a walk, setting-up exercises, taijiquan, billiard ball and bowling.
Select on basis of personal taste and hobbies.
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Above text from Life Cultivation and Rehabilitation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing University and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2000.