An Autumn Prescription to Nourish Lungs and Strengthen Immunity

Coughs, colds, and the blues that accompany the transitional fall season can be alleviated with care.

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Autumn can bring on symptoms of dryness in the lungs, causing coughs and colds. Josep Suria / shutter stock

10/4/2023Updated: 10/4/2023

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As we transition into the cool, dry weather of autumn, many people experience symptoms such as cough, phlegm formation, atopic dermatitis, or nasal allergies. How can we make use of what are known as “solar terms” in the Chinese culture to keep ourselves healthy? Dr. Guo Dawei, director of Fuyuan Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic in Taiwan, provides different health-preserving options and dietary formulas for each solar term in autumn.

What Are Solar Terms?

There are twenty-four “solar terms” in Chinese culture. each year has four seasons, and each season has six solar terms, which reflect the gradual transformation from one season to another as well as its gradual changes in weather. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that the physiology and pathology of the human body are influenced by nature. If one can adjust their lifestyle according to the solar terms, it will result in many health benefits.

Common Illness Accompanying Autumn

Dr. Guo said that the dry weather of autumn is a favorable breeding season for atopic dermatitis and can cause irritations, coughing, phlegm, dryness of skin, mouth, nose, and throat, and other dry phenomena typical of the season. Autumn dryness also makes the lungs more vulnerable to damage. Therefore, moistening the lungs, resolving phlegm, nourishing yin, and keeping oneself moisturized become the prime focus of health care during autumn. Ways to avoid lung damage and preserve yin fluid are to drink ample water, eat plenty of nourishing food, and avoid excessive sweating at noon.

Autumn is a season often associated with sadness and melancholy. Patients suffering from mental illness or menopausal women experience greater fluctuations in emotions during autumn, and the increase in incidence may trigger cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, autumn is a time to pay more attention to guarding against cardiovascular diseases.

People suffering from anxiety and depression are also prone to insomnia which can affect immunity, causing recurrent colds, immune disorders, and increasing the chances of shingles and cold sores.

TCM believes that the lungs are the body’s first line of defense against the hazards of the outside world. What should we do to nourish the lungs, remove dryness, and strengthen the body during the autumn season? Dr. Guo explains the way to maintain health through the six different solar terms in autumn.

Autumn Solar Terms Health Regimen

The six autumn solar terms are Li Qiu (Beginning of Autumn), Chu Shu (Limit of Heat), Bai Lu (White Dew), Qiu Fen (Autumnal Equinox), Han Lu (Cold Dew), Shuang Jiang (Frost Descent).

At Li Qiu, although one starts to feel the coming of autumn, the summer heat still lingers. At this time, spicy food should be avoided, because it will consume much lung energy. As autumn is also the season of astringency, you can take more honey that nourishes the lungs, loquat that reduces phlegm and nourishes yin and the lungs, and glutinous rice that promotes body fluid and invigorates the stomach.

At Chu Shu, there is more autumn flavor and a sense of coolness and dryness. At this time, you can eat more lotus root to clear heat from the lungs, and honey to moisturize the lungs. Honey can also moisturize the intestines and relieve constipation. Drinking pear juice can relieve coughs, and the mucus of white fungus can moisturize the skin and lungs. White fungus dessert soup is good to prevent autumn dryness.

At Bai Lu, one experiences the largest temperature difference between day and night among all the solar terms in the four seasons of the year. TCM practitioners often prescribe certain medicines at this time to strengthen children’s kidney qi, and regulate their spleen and stomach, to help them grow taller and stronger. You can add snow fungus, lotus seeds, lily, wolfberry, or even white radish to your diet, or consume large amounts of soy products, such as tofu. As calcium carbonate is added to tofu during its production, it will help improve osteoporosis suffered by menopausal women.

At Qiu Fen, autumn dryness begins to change to cool dryness, and the cold air feeling is getting stronger. The diet can now be changed to consume warmer and moist foods, such as sesame seeds and walnuts. In addition, apples, grapes, and sugar cane can also moisturize the lungs. During this period, the body is prone to a lack of water, so be sure to drink plenty of it. It is advisable to drink more than 2 liters (4.2 pints) a day.

At Han Lu, those who tend to overthink will start to experience anxiety and depression and may even suffer from problems such as insomnia. It is recommended that these people go out and bask in the sun, increase the endorphins and serotonin in the brain through exercise, and enhance their sense of pleasure. At the same time, they should consume more foods rich in tryptophan, such as nuts and dairy products.

At Shuang Jiang, it is the crossover between autumn and winter, with even lower temperatures. At this time add lung- and yin-nourishing ingredients, such as radish soup, yam soup, lotus root juice, lotus root soup, and chestnuts. You can also choose persimmons, or soup with snow fungus and lotus seeds, millet porridge, barley porridge, and other desserts. People who like to make soup can add medicinal materials such as barley, Fritillariae cirrhosae, ginkgo, and almonds to the soup. These have the effects of moistening the lungs, reducing phlegm, clearing the intestines, and serving as mild laxatives.

Autumn Regimen to Nourish the Body and Rest

In addition to the above-mentioned solar terms diet therapy, Dr. Guo recommends achieving three goals in your daily diet.

1. Invigorate body fluid and moisten dryness

Choose white ingredients, such as yam, lily, white radish, pear, lotus root, and Adenophora stricta, all of which are good for nourishing and moisturizing the lungs. It is not recommended to eat spicy, grilled, fried, cold, or raw foods, such as kimchi, pickled cucumbers, and salad. If you cannot avoid them, you can add cooked foods such as marinated eggs or boiled eggs to balance the raw and cold foods.

2. Nourish yin and moisturize dryness

Go to bed early, get up early, and learn to exercise proper breathing. Inhale through the nose, exhale slowly through the mouth, and exhale till the end. This can stabilize our sympathetic nerves and allow the parasympathetic nerves to come into play slowly, allowing the autonomic nervous system to reach a balance of yin and yang in the process.

3. Clear the intestines and moisten the bowels

This can prevent cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure.

Massaging the Yingxiang acupoint (LI-20) on both sides of the nose or pressing the Tanzhong acupoint (CV-17) between the breasts can prevent lung diseases. Tapping the Baihui acupoint (GV-20) can help improve qi. As the weather gets cooler, you need to follow that closely by slowly adding more clothing to allow the body to gradually adapt to the changing temperature. People with a cough can eat more Fritillaria, almonds, and tangerine peel.

Those with dry mouth and tongue can add ingredients that nourish yin and moisturize dryness, such as Adenophora stricta, Ophiopogon japonicus, Pseudostellariae heterophylla, pear, and water chestnut strips. Smokers usually have blood stasis symptoms as chronic diseases after catching the flu. You can add sugar cane to the diet, some Imperatae rhizome, and raw Rehmannia glutinosa, which nourish yin and moisturize dryness, as herbal medicines to help move the bowels.

People with thrombosis need to activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. They can take more Panax notoginseng or use common food items, such as carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, and vegetables such as spinach and kale, or animal liver, milk, and egg yolks. They are all effective in nourishing and moistening the lungs.

For tea, Dr. Guo recommends wolfberry, red date tea, and honey lemon juice. When you have a hot cold, put add some honey to warm water, which can moisten the lungs and resolve phlegm. For fruits, the natural polymerized phenol contained in grapes can prevent colds, and the resveratrol content can enhance antioxidant capacity and increase immunity.

Note: Some of the herbs mentioned above may sound unfamiliar, but many can be found in health food stores and Asian grocery stores.

Because everyone’s constitution is unique, individual’s treatment methods are also different. Please consult a professional physician for specific treatment plans.