5 Ways To Prepare Your Liver For The Spring
5 Ways To Prepare Your Liver For The Spring
IS YOUR LIVER READY FOR A SPRING CLEANING?
In Chinese medicine, each season corresponds to an organ in the body and an emotion. The Spring season corresponds to the liver and the emotion is ANGER!
If you are someone who is sensitive to the way your body feels, you may notice the subtle changes during the seasons shifts. When the Winter comes in, there is a natural slowing down. We are more sedentary, we eat more, we exercise less, and usually, we gain weight (not much different than what happens in nature and to animals in the wild). This rest is necessary so that we can emerge healthy and strong when spring arrives. During transitions into Spring, there is a rising up that happens within us. It’s what drives us to “Spring Clean” that closet. We have the desire to get moving, get back outside, and purge that which no longer serves us. However, if your liver is not functioning optimally, you may notice more headaches/migraines, irritability, muscle twitching, eye twitching, bowels that alternate between constipation and diarrhea, anxiety, panic attacks AND….
If you are a woman, PMS symptoms can ramp up, with increased breast tenderness and more painful menstrual cycles.
THESE ARE ALL SYMPTOMS OF LIVER QI STAGNATION, OR IN LAY TERMS, A CONGESTED LIVER.
Seasonal allergies also ramp up at this time of the year. In Chinese medicine, there are a few different ways to treat seasonal allergies, and that depends on your particular presentation. Where are your allergies? How do they present?
- Watery, burning and red eyes? treat the Liver
- Sneezing, itchy throat, and runny nose? treat the Lungs
- Headache, heavy body, fatigue symptoms? treat the Stomach
THE LIVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CLEANING DETOXIFYING THE BLOOD. THIS HAPPENS DURING OUR SLEEPING.
HERE ARE A FEW TIPS TO HELP SUPPORT YOUR LIVER ENERGY AS SPRING ROLLS IN..
- Become aware of your breathing patterns, especially during times of stress. Slow, deep breathing can bring clarity to ever the most intense of situations.
- Give your liver a 72-hour break. In that time, refrain from meat, dairy, alcohol, coffee, wheat, recreation drugs, fried foods, and soy products. Instead, opt for green leafy vegetables,
- Start your day with room temperature water, with a squeeze of lemon.
- Support your liver’s job by getting to bed between 10-11pm every night. Lights out. TV off. Phone down. Horizontal.
- Poop at least once a day. If you aren’t eliminating at least that much, then your body is reabsorbing parts of that waste back into your circulation. Help yourself out be staying hydrated, eating plenty of fiber, and taking a good probiotic supplement.
- Get regular acupuncture. Acupuncture can support the Liver by removing the road blocks in the circulatory highway.