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There’s a time for everything…(The Meridian System)
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There may be a reason that you are still not feeling your best when you are doing all the ‘right’ things that you are supposed to do in life. For example, do you feel even more tired even though you exercise a lot? Or despite sleeping 8 hours a day, you are still tired? Or, despite eating nutritiously, you are still overweight or unhealthy?

The Chinese believes that there is a right time to do everything, according to how your body works.
And one of the most interesting things I’ve learnt recently from my Uncle who studies Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is the Meridian System.

I think, being Chinese, we more or less knows about the Meridian System and doing the right things at the right time, since our parents and grandparents have been knocking bits and pieces of Chinese health advice into our heads since we were young. Things like, “Don’t exercise at night”, “Food should always be eaten hot”, “Don’t shower at night”, “Don’t always stay in air-conditioned rooms for long periods of time” etc. However, we were probably skeptical of it, as we did not understand the full story of it. But during a recent family gathering, I had the privilege of learning about the Meridian System, how our body works, and how to best maximize all our health efforts from my Uncle!!! It was really interesting and after the talk, I myself went home to research about it on the internet.

I do not know how to explain the Meridian System in English very well. But it is like a channel system which carries and distributes qi and blood. At different periods of time, qi and blood is ‘stronger’ in certain areas of our bodies, and if we take into account of this and act accordingly, we can have good health naturally.

11pm~1am Gall Bladder Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Sleep

This is the time where your body prepares to recharge itself. If we do not sleep at this time, we cannot be recharged fully for the next day. The Gall Bladder Meridian is in charge of clearing all the rubbish we have consumed in the day, and if we do not sleep during this time, our body cannot clear itself of all toxins. Over a long period of time, this will result in dry mouth, migraine and bad digestive system.

1am~3am Liver Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Continue sleeping.

This is the best time to ‘take care’ of your liver. It is the time where the qi and blood is strongest in the liver meridian. So continue to sleep deeply and let your liver do its job. Your liver has 2 main jobs. It stores the blood and regulates blood flow. When you are moving or exercising, your liver will transport the blood to the part of the body that needs it. The blood will return to the liver to be stored when you are resting. So, when you are still awake at this time, your liver cannot store blood. It can only distribute blood to all the parts of the body.

And if it doesn’t store blood, your emotional balance would be upset. The liver is responsible for regulating emotions, you see. So, you will notice that if you burn midnight oil for a long period of time, it’s easy for you to become easily upset or angry or depressed in the day. Many liver problems can be seen by looking at your eyes. If your eyes are dry, you can be sure that you are overworking your liver. Because your blood pressure is in a mess too, you will develop unstable blood pressures and you may easily feel dizzy.

3am~5am Lung Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Continue sleeping soundly.

Have you ever heard of “The Deadly 4am”? This is the time when we find a lot of old people dying in their sleep. 4am is the time when our pulse is the weakest and our heartbeat is the slowest. During these 2 hours, qi and blood is strongest in our lung Meridian. This is the time where our lungs will re-arrange and transport where our qi and blood will go to. For example, it will decide, “Ok…how much qi and blood does the liver need. How about the heart? The kidneys…?” This is the time where our lungs cannot be disturbed. Some people awake suddenly during this period of time. This means that their lungs are weak. Do take note of this!

Our lungs are very fragile organs. Do you know how to take care of our lungs? You should eat more warm foods and water in the day. Avoid cold and raw food as much as possible. (This is why Chinese old people are very skeptical of eating Japanese raw fish and sushi and cold noodles although they are so delicious! It’s very hard to convince my grandmother to try them!!)

Our lungs are connected to our body hair. Cold wind will directly affect our lungs. (Which is also why our parents and grandparents always warn us against taking showers in the night! It is very harmful to our lungs and body joints. It is also why it is not advisable to have a fan or air-con blowing straight at you for a long time.)

A lot of people nowadays have respiratory problems because of their unhealthy diet and lifestyle (of being in an air-conditioned office for a very long time). How do you know your lungs have problems? When you find it easy to catch a cold; when you start having dry coughs; when you develop sensitive/watery nose in the morning; when you find it hard to empty your bowels!

5am~7am Large Intestine Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Empty your bowels

The qi and blood is strongest in the Large Intestines at this time, so it is a great time to wake up in the morning and ‘activate’ it!!!
Drink 2 large glasses of warm water to warm up your large intestines. This is the best time to go to the toilet and empty your bowels!! If you do not have such a habit, you can develop it now. This is really a good chance to clear all the bad toxins you have stored inside your body! Emptying your bowels and clearing your body of toxins is really very important. It will give you great skin, a flat tummy, good breath and a healthy appetite. So, do make an effort to ‘do your business’ daily! ^^

7am~9am Stomach Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Eat Breakfast

This is the time when your stomach has the most qi and blood, and your digestive system works best here! Whatever you eat during this time, your body can absorb the nutrients effectively! If you have bad digestion, gastric problems, or if you are dieting, you really should eat a very good and nutritious breakfast at this time to let your body take in the best nutrients!!!

Eat a warm, balanced breakfast instead of a cold one. If you eat a cold breakfast first thing in the morning (for example, iced fruit juices or milkshakes or cold milk with cereal), you might develop ‘wind’ in your stomach.

9am~11am Spleen Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Exercise/ Study/ Work

If you’ve eaten a good breakfast, the nutrients you have consumed are by now changed into good energy!! So, you will find yourself most alert in these 2 hours! The spleen rules the muscles and flesh, thus this is a great time to exercise! Qi and blood is most sufficient during this period, and you should take this chance to train your muscles and move your limbs and body for the greatest effect! It is also good to drink a lot of water during this time as your body can absorb the water very well during this time.

11am~1pm Heart Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Rest, have lunch

Your heart is working at its peak now, sending qi and blood to all the other organs in your body necessary to sustain life. Do not disturb your heart at work, and let it work at its own regular pace. This is also why many Chinese doctors disapprove of working out in the mid-afternoon.

Overexploitation of your heart will cause forgetfulness, slow thought processes and reactions, palpitations, chest discomfort, insomnia and cause you to feel lethargic throughout the day. The best thing to do is to relax and have lunch.

You can take a power nap during this period if it is possible, but it shouldn’t be more than 30minutes. If you find yourself unable to nap, you can find a quiet corner and have a little shut-eye moment for about 10 to 15 minutes. You will feel more refreshed and energetic after that.

1pm~3pm Small Intestine Meridian
The Right Thing to Do: Work, Study

This is the time when qi and blood is most sufficient in the small intestine. The small intestine is now digesting your lunch into nutrients and sending these nutrients to your spleen, which will turn these nutrients into energy. The waste will be sent to your large intestines for ‘clearance’.

If you had a good lunch, you will feel alert during this time because of the good energy transformed by the good nutrients. So make sure you have a good lunch before 1pm. If for some reason, you only get to eat after 1pm, make sure your meals are not loaded with protein, fat, and carbohydrates as your digestive system is resting after this period, meaning food cannot be digested well and will be accumulated inside your body.

Over a long period of time of skipping lunch, your body and limbs will become weak, hands and feet cold, you will have insomnia and restless nights, and other heart problems.

3pm~5pm Bladder Meridian
Right Thing to Do: Drink a lot of water, Exercise

This is a time where we have a lot of fluid in our body, therefore we feel tired easily. Many people use this time to drink coffee or tea to keep themselves awake, but this is wrong. We should drink a lot of water, and we must drink it in big gulps to help our bladder excrete the bad things through urine.

We can also exercise to let our body sweat a lot of our toxins out. But remember, you still have to drink a lot of water to replenish the loss of liquid. It is best if the water is warm.

5pm~7pm Kidney Meridian
Right Thing to Do: Relax and don’t move too much, Have dinner

This is the time where our kidneys will store all the unused energy and distribute them to our organs when needed to ensure we have enough energy for use throughout the day. It is not recommended to do intense exercise at this time, because we would use up all our energy, and have none to store. That is why you may feel even more tired after your evening exercise and drop down to sleep after that.

Relax, have a simple dinner. Go for a leisure walk after dinner. You can also eat foods that nourish the kidneys at this time for the best effect. If our blood is well nourished, courtesy of the work of our kidneys, you will have strong bones and teeth, bright, shiny, healthy hair, and also good hearing. So don’t underrate the importance of having healthy kidneys and start taking good care of them now.

7pm~9pm Pericardium Meridian
Right Thing to Do: Rest and Relax, Keep your emotions balanced

The pericardium is the outer layer covering your heart. Its purpose is to protect your heart. This is the time where qi and blood is most sufficient in your pericardium. If you had a heavy and rich dinner, you will easily find your chest to be tight, and you might feel like vomiting. This is the reason why you shouldn’t eat an oily dinner.

How to know if there are problems with your pericardium? When you have sleeping problems, it’s a warning that your pericardium is unbalanced. Sleeping problems are problems like insomnia, having many dreams, you have trouble falling asleep, you wake up far too easily, you start to be forgetful…

Rest and relax during this time. You can read a book, listen to music, chat with your family and friends etc.

This is also actually a great time to revise your work or practice something or learn something new, because you are most alert at 8pm.

9pm~11pm Triple Burner Meridian
Right Thing to Do: Remain happy and relax, get yourself ready for bed

The triple burner is responsible for the entire body, through which water, food, and fluid are transported. It is important to take care of your body during this time. At around 9pm, your memory works the best, so you can perhaps, write your diary or study for your test, but don’t get yourself too stressed out!

At 10pm, our body temperature will decrease and our body organs will start to slow their pace. You can rest and relax and get yourself ready for bed. Do some stretching and breathing exercises. At 11pm, your body will start to work to recharge itself, and the whole cycle continues again.

This was very interesting to me, and I could understand why I felt so tired despite exercising a lot. Previously, I run every morning at about 5am in the morning and I will also go running or play badminton at either 8pm or 10pm in the night.

My Uncle didn’t say much about my morning run, though he thinks it’s too early to run, that the air is still damp and thus it’s bad for the joints, but he was shocked that I ran at night, because, he said, “Not only is the air dirtiest at night, it is bad to the health to run at night. Do you know why many seemingly healthy and young people die in their sleep for no good reason? It’s bad for the heart to be exercising so late in the night, when all your organs are already preparing to slow down and recharge themselves. Forcing your heart to race when it doesn’t want to? Using up all of the energy your body painstakingly stored for the running of your all your body organs? And! Starving your body of food??? Where does your body get the energy then? It’s no wonder you feel so tired all the time!”

“But…I’m not hungry! I don’t starve myself! I just don’t feel hungry! So I don’t eat… and…and…I lost weight, didn’t I!”

To which he explained to me how my body works when it’s running on no fuel. Which!!! Is really scary, come to think about it. But that’s another story.

Being healthy is really important. Ever since I followed this system, I’ve been feeling really more awake and alert. I can make better decisions (about food especially) and I don’t feel as stressed anymore. I still enjoy exercising, and now, I do them at the right time, and I really do feel happier and I don’t feel so sleepy all the time anymore!

So perhaps you can try this too~.
Perhaps just try sleeping at the right time and waking up at the right time first. I swear to you that you will feel such a big difference in the day!

Good luck!

What do you think about this system though?? I would love to know!! ^^

===============================This post was contributed by Apple

Kirin’s opinion:
No wonder why I felt different next morning when I went to bed before 11pm! And there are so many do’s and don’ts in terms of organs, qi (気), and blood. (In Japan we have the idea of qi and blood but this story was something I’ve never heard of.) According to her article my attempt to sleep 3-6 hours and carrot apple juice as everyday’s breakfast don’t make sense. haha…^ ^; The Japanese respect Traditional Chinese Medicine. I really liked this post and for my better understandings and easy to go back to remember or practice, I translated her tips into Japanese so that Japanese people can also find it someway to make use of improving their health.

*If you are interested in contributing to guest post on Tokyo Kawaii, etc., please contact me thru contact page. I cannot pay you for your contribution but your blog will be linked from the post and you can receive good traffic from my readers!

漢方による経路を意識した、理想の生活リズム

11pm~1am: 気と血液は胆嚢経線に集まる。
すべきこと：睡眠
この時間は体が老廃物を除去し、翌日に向けて充電される時。この時間に起きていると体が解毒できず、長期的にはドライマウス、偏頭痛、消化不良などの問題を引き起こす。

1am~3am: 気と血液は肝臓経線に集まる。
すべきこと：睡眠
この時間帯は日中の活動中に体中に送っていた血液を肝臓に戻し、血液の流れを制限する時。この時間に起きていると血液を肝臓内に貯蔵することができず、その血液はまだ体内の血液を必要とする部位に送られ続ける。その結果、長期的には感情のバランスを崩し上手に感情をコントロールできなくなり、（肝臓は感情の抑制などにも働きかけるため）日中すぐに気分を害したり憂鬱になるなどの問題が起こるようになる。さらに、肝臓に負担をかけすぎることでドライアイなどの症状も出てくる。血圧も不安定になるため、めまいを起こすこともある。

3am~5am: 気と血液は肺経路に集まる。
すべきこと：睡眠
老人が午前４時に死亡することが多いのはわけがある。午前４時は脈が一番弱まり、心臓の鼓動は最も遅くなる時間。この時間は肺が気と血液を体内のどの臓器にどれくらい送るかを再調整している時間なので、それを妨げてはいけない。そもそも肺というのは脆弱な臓器で、これを守るために気をつけることは日中温かい食べ物と水を摂り、冷たいものや生ものは極力避けること。（実際に中国の老人は日本の寿司や冷たい麺類を食べることには非常に懐疑的）肺は体毛と関係しており、冷たい風に直接あたり続けるだけでも肺には良くない。（夜にシャワーしたりエアコンや扇風機に当たり続けることも良くない）肺が健康かどうかを見るには、風邪を引きやすいかどうか、空咳が出るか、朝に鼻水が出るか、腸がいつも満タンではないかといったことがひとつの目安となる。

5am~7am: 気と血液は大腸経路に集まる。
すべきこと：腸を空っぽにする
この時間には起きて大腸を活性化することが重要。まず大きめのコップで常温の水や白湯を２杯飲んで大腸を起こす。この時間帯は排泄に最適。腸を空っぽにして体内デトックスすることで健康的な肌になり、ぽっこりおなかや口臭を防ぎ、適度な食欲も湧いてくる。

7am~9am: 気と血液は胃経路に集まる。
すべきこと：朝食を食べる。
この時間は胃や消化器系が最もよく働く時なので、何を口にしても体は効率的に栄養を吸収できる。胃などの消化器系に問題があったり、ダイエット中の人は栄養価の高い朝食を食べることが理想的。できれば冷たいものではなく、温かく、バランスの良い朝食を食べること。

9am~11am: 気と血液は脾臓経路に集まる。
すべきこと：運動・勉強・仕事
良質な朝食を食べたなら、その栄養はエネルギーに変えられるため、この２時間が最も冴えた時間になるはず。脾臓は筋肉、肉体を司るため、この時間に運動するのはとても良いこと。気と血液の流れはこの時間帯に最高潮にみなぎっているため、筋肉トレーニングなどに最も適している。また、この時間帯にたくさんの水を飲むことも、体が上手に吸収できて効果的。

11am~1am: 気と血液は心臓経路に集まる。
すべきこと：休憩・昼食
心臓は体内のすべての臓器に気と血液をせっせと送り出し、その仕事がピークを迎えている頃。この仕事を邪魔してはいけない。ただし心臓に負担をかけすぎると物忘れ、頭の回転や反応の鈍さ、動悸、胸のむかつき、不眠症、一日を通しての気だるさなどの問題を起こす。よって一番いいのはリラックスして昼食を取るのがいい。さらに可能であれば３０分以内の短い昼寝、それが無理であれば静かな環境に身をゆだねて10～15分だけでも目を閉じるとリフレッシュされて元気が湧いてくる。

1am~3am: 気と血液は小腸経路に集まる。
すべきこと：勉強・仕事
小腸はこの時間帯、昼食で摂取した栄養を脾臓に送り、エネルギーに変えている。それ以外の老廃物やごみは大腸に送られる。良質な昼食を取ったならば、それが良質なエネルギーに変えられるため、この時間も冴えている。忘れてはいけないのは午後１時までに昼食を済ませること。仮に何らかの事情で１時を過ぎてしまった場合も、タンパク質、脂肪、炭水化物を多く摂取しないように努めること。消化器系が休息モードに入ったこの時間帯にそのようなものを取り入れても、結局は消化しきれずに老廃物として体内に蓄積されてしまうから。昼食を抜くと体の力が抜け、手足の冷え、不眠や不安に悩まされ、心臓にも悪影響を及ぼす。

3pm~5pm: 気と血液は膀胱経路に集まる。
すべきこと：水をたくさん飲む・運動する。
この時間は体内に水分が多いため、疲れやすくなっている。多くの人がこの時間帯にコーヒーやお茶を飲んですっきりしようとするけれど、それは間違い。正しくはたくさん水を飲んで老廃物を尿と一緒に出すこと。あるいは運動して発汗することで体内の毒を出すこと。そのときも理想的には常温の水や白湯を飲んで失った水分を補充すること。

5pm~7pm: 気と血液は腎臓経路に集まる。
すべきこと：リラックス・夕食・静かに過ごす。
この時間帯は腎臓が使いきれなかったエネルギーを臓器に送っている。この時間に集中的に運動したりするとそのエネルギーがそこに費やされてしまい、臓器で貯蔵できるエネルギーがなくなってしまう。豪華すぎない一般的な夕飯を食べて、食後に軽く散歩するのも良いし、腎臓に良いとされる食品を食べるのも良い。血液に栄養が行き渡り腎臓が正しく機能すると、骨や歯が丈夫になり、髪がつややかに健康になり、耳が良くなる。

7pm~9pm: 気と血液は心嚢経路に集まる。
すべきこと：休息・リラックス・感情を安定させる。
心嚢というのは心臓を覆っていて、心臓を守っている。豪華で重い夕食を食べたら胸やけがして苦しくなり、場合によっては吐き気をもよおすこともある。だからあまり脂っこいものを夕食時に摂ってはいけないのだ。睡眠に問題がある場合は心嚢のバランスが崩れていることの警告でもある。この時間帯は読書や音楽を聴いたり、家族や友人とおしゃべりして過ごすのが良い。午後8時というのはまたきびきびと動ける時間帯でもあるため、仕事を見直したり何かの練習に励んだり、何か新しいことを習ったりするにも適している。

9pm~11pm: 気と血液は三焦経に集まる。
すべきこと：リラックス・就寝にむけて準備
三焦経は水や食べ物などを介して体全体を司る。午後9時ごろは記憶力が最も優れているので、日記をつけたり、ストレスにならない程度に軽くテスト勉強などするのにも適している。午後10時になると体温が下がり、臓器の動きが遅くなる。ストレッチや呼吸運動などをして眠るために体の状態を整えると良い。午後11時には充電モードに入る。

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