 You know in a civilization where right now we have so much access to information and Overwhelmingly conversations that I have from my patients revolve around immune system had a booster immunity You know, especially at a time like this, but in general even during flu season or the seasonal change in the fall Where people start getting tons of colds? People are always concerned with what they can take to boost their immune system I think there's a great quote and a great passage from one of our most ancient medical texts that I think is very important and Very relevant here because rather than running to vitamin C or zinc or airborne There's a more fundamental question and a more fundamental point to know. Hey guys. I'm Dr. Alex Hain Chinese medicine doctor Licensed acupuncturist and author of the health book master the day on Amazon and audible Now included a free download below this video. The download is for daily rituals That can potentially help you add years to life with traditional Chinese medicine So that's based on a case study of a very long-lived man threat history and his four pieces or five pieces of advice So let's begin with the first essential point These are all from the Huangdin a Jing which is one of our fundamental and oldest Books on medicine as well as cosmology and all these influences that affect a person's longevity and their health Now one chapter says the following this chapter 72 is specifically talking about Zheng Qi, which is let's just call it Super generally. Let's just call it your immune strength. All right. Let's just for lack of a better word It's not going to this translation. Let's just call it your innate immune strength That prevents you from getting sick So the translation says that when the Zheng Qi is strong or the character it's in the system store But it's strong on the inside Pathogenic influences cannot invade from the outside But the second part says quote-unquote, but in addition Toxic Qi must be avoided. So the first fundamental point from the Beijing is that when the person's resources are strong They won't get sick from things floating around and I think most of us anecdotally know this to be true Are you more likely to get sick when you're eating well and exercising and you're getting enough sleep or is it? Textbook that the second you get run down and you're not sleeping enough or not sleeping well I have a colicky baby keeping you up at night. Is that the time you start getting colds again? Or maybe you got the flu for the first time, you know some of these are common sense But we often neglect that fundamental aspect. That's so useful in preventing ourselves from getting sick It's much easier to take vitamin C or to take some herbs or to put something in our body Rather than going back to the foundation in Chinese medicine that foundation is considered excess or deficiency This is yin and yang in clinical medicine right when a person's deficient resources below normal Or there's some kind of congestion Causing this excessive pattern like bloating for example eat too much food now There's this excess that's in there that has to get cleared out So when your Jung Chi is strong this kind of righteous Chi is people translated or upright Chi when it's strong pathogenic influences can't invade and A good example of this is a few years ago I got the flu for the first time in my life that I can remember as an adult. I was back home in New York I was visiting friends in New York City around the New Year and I didn't dress warmly enough I didn't have a winter coat at that time because I was living in Portland and doesn't really get super cold So I just had a thick leather jacket and a thin fleece. I'd been traveling. I'd been just finished midterms I was so toasted from my exams exhausted and Then I didn't dress warm now this particular New Year's Eve. It was absolutely freezing It was about zero degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill and the wind was whipping So here I am, you know, I drove into the city So I didn't plan to really be walking around but I got dinner with friends Bumped into an old friend and she said you want to go to this party with me. So I'm there We're waiting to get a taxi. The wind is just tearing through my tiny leather jacket and my fleece and I'm shivering I mean, I'm so cold that I'm actually shivering. I can feel myself getting cold I go home that night. Don't think anything of it and two days later. I'm boarding my flight back to Portland and Suddenly on the flight. I feel like I'm about to project Alvamed or get diarrhea at the same time Maybe both who knows I feel chills. I feel feverish I feel alternating hot and cold and Thankfully, I held it together on the plane and it wasn't the problem But I ended up getting the flu for the first time in my life. So you combine You know, the lack of resources at that time, right? My junkie was weak due to Continual exhaustion of resources being in graduate school working to put myself through this graduate program This doctoral program. But on top of that, you know, it says also this what's called toxic Chee must be avoided. It doesn't mean that just because you're buff you still run into, you know You go into a developing nation and drink water that may have cholera You still avoid it, but the depletion of my resources and then not being smart not dressing warmly enough Made me susceptible to this virus that was going around but nobody else around me caught But I caught it and it was pretty bad. Now. Let's go into point number two which says from chapter 15 that Those who are infected by epidemic disease that are deficient will die So we kind of just did a really morbid turn there But it talks about only if you are deficient Will you die and right now we're in the middle of an epidemic still But it's very important to keep in mind that we know the statistics of the people most susceptible to truly dying Or really really severe adverse events or severe illness related to cove it. They're usually not 22 year olds They're usually not 28 year olds kids are the least susceptible And that's very important because in Chinese medicine children have the strongest young Chi and if you saw my video recently on What young Chi is the role it serves what is storing and keeping your young Chi strong It's not surprising then that is a very strong linear correlation with very low mortality and serious illness in children which have the strongest young Chi and Very serious illness in the elderly which have the weakest young Chi another way to think of this Jun Chi being weak you can think of it also as often the person's young is weak So young Chi is weak young can be weakened through excessive work through bad diet in activity Not in a sleep Excessive emotional stress But in general think of a person who having weak young or weak Jun Chi as being someone who's just generally now that robust not that resilient So it's interesting, but not at all surprising from a Chinese medicine perspective that children with the strongest young and the elderly with the weakest young and I'm just using these almost synonymous with Jun Chi to make it easier clear correlation in who dies or who gets seriously ill versus who basically gets You know almost no symptoms. So longevity practices in the naging and mentions Yangsheng Zhi Dao the Tao's method of longevity or the longevity methods according to the Tao It's a very common. It's a phrase in the naging itself But this idea of Yangsheng the term is translated a little bit more mystical sounding But really what it is is preventative medicine, you know, it's basically what you're doing before you get ill and in Chinese medicine It has some very unique thoughts about that Because remember it said those who are infected with epidemic disease like we have now who are deficient will die So in epidemics almost everyone catches it some are asymptomatic some are seriously ill and die but the aspects of Maintaining strong Jun Chi and strong Yang Chi are really really important now I'm gonna give a very reductionist way of having strong young that is gonna piss off people in my field But in my experience, this is true. So you have Yang and Yin and let's turn them into clinical concepts Yang is basically your ability to generate output your actual vitality Yin is basically your resources. Let's make it really reductionist I have found that the best way to build the young basically to have strong defense is regular moderate exercise and Qigong falls into that category as well people who are excessive Exercisers like bodybuilders Endurance athletes ultra athletes often show impaired immune systems, which means weak Yang Chi weak Jun Chi they are more likely to get sick than even the average person and there's tons of research on chronic cardio And how it decreases immune system functioning, but moderate exercise not heavy sweating Moderate regular exercise the best thing I've seen for building the Yang Chi in addition to a good diet Now the Yin building your resources The number one thing I've seen that's the best is sleep sleep quality sleep duration And I know a lot of you watching this are probably like guess I'm screwed Because sleep is such a big problem for people these days, but strong Yang regular exercise strong Yin sleep Nothing else. So in my mind those are two things that should be really prioritized if you want to be Have a strong Yang Chi and strong Jun Chi when your junkie strong Pathogenic influences cannot invade now. It still means be smart and avoid those things right just because you're young You think is strong your junkie strong doesn't mean go to parties where people have COVID be smart That is it for today I thought these were two very important passages during this time because in a world where Vitamin C sales will go into the billions people still neglect the very basics That are really the thing that make the big difference not the vitamin C All right, you guys now if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine There's a link below this video for my clinic contact And you can reach out there to book a visit with me and before you go there's two related videos that can help you right there