Activating the Habit of Self-Healing
The father of medicine, Hippocrates, once said: “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” In other words, the real healing power comes from the body itself, and the physician merely assists in the process. The human body’s self-healing system includes several subsystems such as defense, immunity, repair, and the endocrine system. Many of us have experienced accidentally cutting a finger or scraping the skin. If the wound is small, it often heals on its own within a few days—even without medication—leaving no trace. This is the power of the body's innate self-healing ability.
Just like a car, the self-healing system needs regular maintenance. Without proper care, it will gradually deteriorate. When symptoms of illness arise, a physician first diagnoses the condition and may use medication to help control the disease. During periods of stability, efforts should focus on strengthening the body’s self-healing ability to support full recovery. In many cases, simply understanding the nature of the illness, adjusting lifestyle habits, and maintaining proper care can awaken the body's natural healing instincts—and the illness will gradually retreat.
Stay Hydrated and Soak Your Feet or Take Baths
When bacteria or viruses attack, the body's self-healing system rallies the immune cells to fight a defensive battle. A classic example is the common cold. Symptoms such as fever, cough, diarrhea, or sneezing are all ways the body fights off pathogens, eliminates toxins, promotes metabolism, and regulates immunity. Medications for colds primarily relieve symptoms and provide comfort, but most colds resolve on their own without medication.
Experts often say, “The best medicine for a cold is sleep.” For common colds, ample rest and staying hydrated can help the body recover within about a week. Avoid staying up late, drink plenty of water to thin mucus in the respiratory tract, and ease discomfort in the throat and airways. Additionally, soaking your feet or taking warm baths can promote blood circulation, enhance metabolism, warm up the body, and help prevent persistent colds.
Relax Your Muscles and Get Plenty of Sleep
For minor ailments and discomforts, your personal doctor—your immune system—can often find its own natural "prescriptions" through internal regulation and healing. Sometimes, simple actions like stretching your limbs or massaging your body can bring significant relief. Take headaches, for example. There’s a saying: “A headache isn’t deadly, but when it hits, it feels unbearable.” Unless there’s a sudden and severe onset that requires medical attention, most headaches caused by stress or poor sleep can be resolved with proper rest and by releasing tension in the muscles, nerves, and blood vessels.
When you're overly fatigued, it's hard to maintain mental clarity and physical energy. Adequate sleep and rest, along with a regular lifestyle, give the body and brain the time they need to repair and rebuild. This is one of the best ways to restore vitality, boost immunity, and recover from illness.
Moderate Rich Foods and Soak Your Feet Often
After consuming alcohol or heavy meals rich in meat and seafood, many people experience sudden joint pain, redness, and swelling. While it’s not life-threatening, the pain can be intense and may contribute to serious conditions like high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, or kidney stones. That’s why such symptoms should never be ignored.
Gout, often called the “disease of affluence,” is closely related to diet. Once diagnosed with gout, it's essential to begin dietary restraint—avoiding high-purine foods like red meat, seafood, animal organs, sprouted beans, and alcohol. Drinking plenty of water—at least 2000cc per day—is recommended to help flush out uric acid. In addition, regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight can help lower uric acid levels in the blood.
To prevent gout flare-ups, foot soaks using a warm foot bath (around 30 minutes each time) can improve circulation and raise temperature in the extremities, helping to reduce uric acid crystal formation. However, if a gout attack is already in progress, soaking is not recommended as it may worsen the symptoms.
Eye Fatigue: Relax with Acupressure and Massage
Modern lifestyles involve heavy use of digital devices, leading to eye strain, dryness, irritation, soreness, blurred vision, and even vision decline. This overuse may also cause headaches, shoulder pain, or decreased concentration. A great way to prevent eye strain is to develop healthy eye habits—such as following the 30-10 rule: rest your eyes for 10 minutes after every 30 minutes of screen time. During the break, close your eyes, roll your eyeballs in all directions, and gently move your neck and shoulders to ease muscle tension.
In addition, warm compresses and massages can improve blood circulation and relieve eye fatigue. Regularly massaging areas around the eyes, such as the Jingming (BL-1) and Zan Zhu (BL-2) acupoints, can help enhance eye health. If you experience discomfort, avoid using eye drops indiscriminately—consult a physician for proper guidance before applying any treatment.
Ultimately, what causes the self-healing system to "go on strike" is often a buildup of unhealthy lifestyle habits that interfere with its efficiency. On the other hand, a balanced daily routine—complete with proper sleep, nutrition, and physical activity—allows immune cells to work together harmoniously, unleashing the full power of prevention over cure and helping the body maintain optimal health.
The OmQI Team Cares Deeply About Your Well-being