Looking After Ourselves in Summer

Health advice in summer: wild flower meadow near Robin Costello's acupuncture clinic, Exeter. May began unsettled weather-wise, but it’s now warmer and drier, and the days are rapidly approaching their longest. If you love the great outdoors or tending your garden, you can put in a full day at work, then still enjoy two or three hours outside. The sun in south-west England now takes on a more brilliant, overhead quality, and you can see why artists are attracted here to paint.

Chinese health advice in summer: south Devon coast near Bigbury. In ancient China, summer was seen as “Heaven on Earth”, when the full splendour of heaven’s energy is manifest around us. This is nature at its zenith, and the time of year when our energy and activity levels peak. As regards health advice in summer, it is considered wise to rise earlier in the morning, and it’s fine to stay up later into the evening. Spend time outside and soak up the sunshine and fresh air, as if you are charging your battery ready for the eventual return of winter. If you have been contemplating beginning an exercise program, then now is the moment, especially if it’s an outdoor sport you would like to take up; if you are short of time, you could start walking or cycling to work.

Strawberries grown at Robin's acupuncture clinic, Exeter It is easier also over the next few months, to adhere to the traditional Chinese dietary advice of eating produce which is locally grown and in season. (“Food miles” is a recently introduced term, often invoked to draw attention to the cost to the environment of putting say, kiwi fruit on the UK shelves in December, but in energetic medicine, food which has travelled vast distances is also considered slightly denatured and less wholesome for the body.) Health advice in summer from Exeter acupuncturist Robin Costello. Because summer weather is more favourable, and our bodies are not struggling so hard to maintain a warm, dry internal climate in an energetic sense, you can sample the full variety of salad vegetables and all the health-giving berries on offer.

Traditional Chinese health advice in summer from acupuncturist Robin Costello in Exeter. Finally, if you are very physically active, and still up and about late on a summer’s evening, consider a short siesta on days when it’s practical. Just twenty minutes lying horizontal somewhere between around 1.00 and 3.00pm, is considered very replenishing.