Since Jul 12, we have officially been in the 三伏天 Sān fú tiān or “dog days in summer” season, which lasts until Aug 20 and coincides with the year’s highest temperatures and humidity levels. It’s also peak season for related illnesses such as heat-stroke and diarrhea. Fun!

While there is no magical cure to protect you from being a hot, sweaty mess most of the time, there are a few pearls of TCM wisdom that can help. Follow these golden rules, and you’ll get through the dog days like a pampered pooch instead.

Keep your exercise indoors and at a lower intensity than usual
Don’t stay outdoors for too long, and focus on less intense, indoor workouts like swimming and yoga. Remember to drink plenty of water before you exercise, and keep up your energy levels with light and healthy snacks such as bananas and small handfuls of nuts.

Watch out for the dreaded “AC disease”
The air conditioning is cranked to the max in most Beijing offices right now, creating significant temperature differences between indoors and outdoors. If possible, try to keep the room temperature around 26 degrees, and dry off any perspiration before entering office spaces, so that your body does not react badly to the stark temperature difference. Oh, and avoid sitting directly in the stream of cold air in the office.

Stay hydrated
This sounds like very basic advice, but many of us fail at staying hydrated in the hot weather. While the ‘drink eight glasses of water a day’ adage has been disproven, you do generally need to up your water intake in hot weather quite significantly, and even a desk jockey office worker can easily get through a liter or more. Avoid caffeinated drinks as they are diuretics, and if you do get dehydrated, take small sips of water rather than chugging it down all at once, as this may prove too much for your system.

Get enough sleep
During summer, your body metabolism is actually more active than in cold weather, which means more energy consumption, which can lead to you feeling tired. Getting enough sleep is always important, but you have to be even more vigilant in the summertime when the long, bright days can lead to you staying up well past your bedtime.

Consume more protein
When you perspire heavily, the protein decomposition in your body is increased, so you need to continually replenish your protein intake. While it’s common to experience a decreased appetite during the hot weather, you should still make an effort to consume more protein-rich food such as beans, milk, and eggs.

Get a boost with TCM 
Even if you’re following all of this advice, it can still be hard to stay on top of your health at this time of year. This is where a 三伏贴 sānfú tiē comes in handy. This is a special kind of herbal patch that is designed to target typical hot weather ailments like headaches, neck and shoulder pain, insomnia, and gastrointestinal discomfort. These patches are available at most local pharmacies, and also available on Taobao here.

Photos: Pixabay; Giphy

Is Beijing water safe to drink?
According to Environmental Engineering students from Tsinghua University, Beijing water as it leaves the treatment plant has been tested and was found to be safe and adequate for human consumption. In the line before it reaches your home it could possibly pick up contaminants from the pipe line or breaks in the line. If you filter the water at your home, you can remove pollutants that may have gotten in on the way.

Many people are afraid of the pollutants tap water may have and choose to drink only bottled water. Bottled water is not necessarily different from filtered tap water. It is most convenient to install a good quality water filter at home. Filtered tap water should be as safe for cooking and drinking as bottled water. If you have a filter, make sure you change the filter cartridge periodically to insure the water quality is maintained.

Why is water important?
As you have probably heard more than 60% of the human body is made up of water, and it is responsible for many body functions such as the transportation of nutrients and oxygen, moistening and cleaning several surfaces such as eyes, mouth, nose and lungs, lubricating the movement of the joints, controlling body temperature and helping remove toxins from our body.

How much water do we need to drink per day?
The amount of water needed per day varies with the amount of physical activity, food intake and environmental temperature; in dry climates such as Beijing it is important to drink more. As a baseline we should try to stay above 8 cups of liquid per day. For someone who is pregnant it should be at least 10 and for a breastfeeding mother at least 13. If you are eating abundant juicy fruits and veggies you may be supplying up to 20% of your daily water requirement. Some fruits are greatly hydrating. You should not consider black tea and coffee to be hydrating drinks. Caffeine actually takes water away from the body, so for each cup of tea or coffee you drink take at least one cup of water.

If the color of your urine is clear or light yellow this means you’re getting enough fluids. Lack of water causes dehydration which drains your energy and makes you feel tired.

Can you drink too much water?
Yes, people diagnosed with heart conditions or low salt levels must restrict their daily water intake.

When is the best time to drink water?
It is best to drink water all throughout the day, but not at meals. When you are eating a meal your stomach is full already and adding volume will distend the stomach, dilute the gastric juices, delay digestion and increase the probability of gastric reflux (heart burn).

Once you have gone to sleep avoid getting up to drink water. During the night your body including your kidneys should rest and if you develop a full bladder will make it more difficult to maintain your sleep until morning.

If you feel intensely thirsty it means that you have fallen behind in the hydrating process. You are already late. You must anticipate and drink water before you become thirsty.

Water is not only important to keep us healthy, energetic, and looking young and beautiful, it is also important in the healing process of many illnesses such as coughs and nasal congestion. It is an excellent expectorant, it helps clean and relieve urinary tract symptoms when there is an infection or kidney stone, and it will also help relieve constipation and most headaches.

Something that may help you take enough water every day is adding lemon to the water, and to keep a handy water bottle close to you wherever you go.

Need more info?  
Dr. Dorothy Dexter is a family medicine physician at Beijing United Family Hospital. She has several years of clinical experience, and speaks English and Spanish. Contact her at dorothy.dexter@ufh.com.cn.

This article originally appeared on page 22 of the 2016 June-July Issue of beijingkids magazine. Click here for your free online copy. To find out how you can obtain a hard copy, contact distribution@truerun.com.

Photo: Pezibear-Pixabay

It’s summer time in Beijing. Hot. So it’s more important than ever to drink as much water as you can. And if we as parents are always drinking water, we serve as great examples to our kids!

One idea to help encourage water consumption is to add some glamour and drama to your aqua! Bling it! Here’s how.

Get yourself a re-usable water bottle. The environmental impact of plastic bottles is horrifying. Have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It’s an island made of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Gross. And it’s getting bigger! Please do us all a favor and get a reusable bottle! I use a Nalgene brand bottle that is BPA free and really tough and durable. Customize it by adding some stickers! Take a stroll down Nanlouguxiang and pop into Plastered 8 T-shirts for some super-cool free Beijing-only stickers.

Add flavor to your water. Take some slices of lemon, or cucumber, or strawberries and put them in your water bottle. It will add just a smidgen of flavor without adding sugar. If you’re really craving sweetness add a dab of honey from the Fragrant Hills of Beijing to your slice of lemon for a gentle, natural version of lemonade. Refreshing!

Bling! Little extras can truly bedazzle your water: mint, chia seeds, spirulina, probiotic powder, or ice-cubes made out of cranberry or grape juice. The options are endless. (If you happen to find edible glitter let me know!)

Put it in the fridge before bedtime so in the morning it’s nice and cold ready to go with you on your daily adventures. Ayi obviously won’t be happy you’re drinking a cold beverage; just remind her you’re a laowai, it’s the middle of July, and you’re hot. She’ll understand.

I promise that the thought, effort, and flavor you put into your bedazzling water will encourage you to drink more of it!

Theresa Pauline is a yoga teacher, social entrepreneur, momma, wife, and beijingkids contributor. You can find out more about her at www.taozitreeyoga.com

Photos: Wikimedia commons, frolicsomepl (pixabay), & healthgauge(flickr)