First of all, the liver is the hub of metabolism.
Why do you say "spring qi and liver qi are interlinked"? This should start with the position of "liver" in human metabolism. Modern medicine believes that the liver is the center of human biochemical reaction. In this "chemical plant", on the one hand, the biochemical substances needed for organ cells are synthesized; On the one hand, it degrades the metabolites of the treated organ cells.
The ancients said: "The liver is located in the sea of blood, so its viscera is blood, and its part is blood. Its duty is to store blood and take blood." Substances metabolized by human body are transported through blood. Since "liver stores blood and blood sucks", then "liver" is the hub of metabolism.
In spring, everything recovers, the metabolism of the human body is vigorous, the "liver" expels turbid qi and smoothes the qi and blood, and the "two-way transportation hub" is naturally busy.
Second, the liver "governs the drainage"
Why is it that spring is here and the liver is full of vitality, which will cause various discomforts to some people? This should be discussed from the function of "the liver governs the discharge".
The "liver" in TCM refers not only to two liver lobes, but to the "whole biochemical reaction system". Generally speaking, liver-qi has comprehensive physiological functions such as relieving diarrhea, dredging, promoting hair growth, and stopping diarrhea, which just corresponds to Yang Qi with hair growth in spring. Liver controls the release of qi and blood, which is mainly manifested in three aspects: regulating mental mood, promoting digestion and absorption, and maintaining the operation of qi, blood and body fluid. The main mental activities of the human body are closely related to the antidiarrheal function of the liver. Among them, anger is the most common, and anger hurts the liver. When the excretory function of the liver is normal, the human body can better coordinate its own mental activities, which is manifested as mental pleasure, ease of mind and quick thinking; If it can't be released, it will be manifested as depression, sentimentality, tightness in the heart, and chest tightness. Excessive catharsis is manifested as abnormal excitement, such as irritability, dizziness, insomnia, dreaminess and so on. The catharsis function of the liver also contributes to the rise and fall of the spleen and stomach and the secretion of bile, thus maintaining the normal digestion and absorption function. Therefore, people who fall in love with fire are influenced by the spleen and eat poorly. After a long time, their digestion will be affected, such as loss of appetite, indigestion, burping and acid vomiting, abdominal distension and diarrhea. Chinese medicine is called "disharmony between liver and stomach" or "disharmony between liver and spleen". The function of relieving qi of the liver also directly affects the patency of qi. Chinese medicine believes that qi is the driving force of blood circulation and a function, while qi circulation leads to blood circulation and qi stagnation leads to blood stasis. For example, if the liver-qi is not discharged and the qi is blocked, there may be tingling in the chest and hypochondrium, or even a lump, and women may also have menstrual disorders, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, etc. Third, the liver governs the storage of blood.
Liver controlling blood storage means that the liver has the function of storing blood and regulating blood volume. When people are at rest or emotionally stable, the body's demand for blood decreases, and a large amount of blood is stored in the liver; At work or emotional excitement, the human body's demand for blood increases, and the liver discharges its stored blood to meet the needs of physical activities. Chinese medicine says: "human blood transports meridians, and human blood returns to the liver." There are also various nutrients in the blood. When people are at peace or at rest, the liver will store blood and nourish the liver. When you are angry, the liver should send blood out. If you always get angry, liver blood deficiency, the function of the liver will be damaged, and the imbalance of Yin and Yang in the body will make you easy to get sick, such as various viral hepatitis. Therefore, in the treatment of liver disease, patients must pay attention to controlling their emotions, don't worry when things happen, rest more and help the liver store blood. Nowadays, many people often stay up late and work overtime, which not only can not nourish the liver, but also consumes nutrition, so it is very important to ensure adequate sleep in spring, which is one of the important aspects of nourishing the liver.
Modern medical research has also confirmed that the blood flowing into the liver during sleep is seven times that when standing. The increase of liver blood flow is beneficial to enhance the function of liver cells, improve the ability of detoxification and resist the invasion of many infectious diseases in spring. Fourth, the increase of blood pressure is too high.
In spring, many people have the feeling of head swelling and tightness in the back of the head, and some middle-aged and elderly hypertensive patients also report that their hypertension is getting worse in spring. Why is this happening? This is "liver failure does not drain" and "excessive rise".
In spring, the vitality is surging, and the liver yang is vigorous, which injects great power into the human body. If the liver qi rises too much, it will make the blood heat rush to the head, make the head swell and feel stuffy, and facial flushing will make people emotional and easily lose their temper. Liver fire can also lead to vitamin A not being converted, and the eyes are bloodshot and red. Therefore, ordinary people like to say that "the head is easy to get sick in spring and the feet are easy to get sick in winter."
Chinese medicine believes that the liver governs anger. People with liver-qi disorder are prone to get angry, which in turn leads to liver-qi disorder and a vicious circle. Hypertension with hyperactivity of liver yang is characterized by excessive internal heat and impatience. Especially when leaders are under great pressure and have no time to solve it, in the long run, such people are prone to symptoms of hyperactivity of liver yang, such as blushing, dizziness, headache, bitter taste, dry stool and yellow urine. So, it seems that people around you are angry, but they are not. Angry people get hurt the most. This is because when they are angry, their blood speeds up and their blood pressure rises. Anger hurts their liver and makes their whole body qi and blood disorder. The common people say that "great anger hurts the body" is the truth.
5. Mental illness often recurs in spring.
Spring is also a season of high incidence of mental illness, especially schizophrenia and mania. A large number of clinical data show that the recurrence rate of mental illness accounts for more than 70% of the whole year from March to May every year. More than half of mental patients have their first onset in spring, so there is a folk saying that "cauliflower is yellow and idiot is busy". Why is this? The reason is also that "liver failure cannot be drained".
The characteristics of "liver" are: "moving is easy, being quiet is difficult", "being solid and ascending is active", and it has such a violent "general character" that its will is unwilling to be disobeyed. If there is external mental stimulation, especially depression and anger, it is easy to disrupt the growth law of liver qi, resulting in the disorder of "dispersing liver qi", which is manifested as stagnation and disorder of liver qi.
If someone is depressed for a long time, it will cause the liver qi to "rise when it rises" and "gather without hair", which will also easily lead to the disorder of "soothing liver function" and make people suffer from depression.
Why is mental illness prone to occur in spring? Because in spring, the huge energy generated by the "fire of life gate" makes the personality of "liver" stronger.
Six, liver depression and qi stagnation
Women usually love to sulk, which is characterized by liver depression and qi stagnation, and are prone to stomach diseases, breast hyperplasia, uterine fibroids and so on. Miss Wang, 25, is planning in a foreign company. After graduating from college two years ago, she was admitted to this company, and the physical examination showed that she was in good health. There are many doctors and masters graduated from famous universities in foreign enterprises. MISS ZHOU, who is competitive, works hard and works overtime for fear of being left behind. Some hobbies and entertainment at ordinary times are also too busy to attend to. Every day, at work and at home, there is a computer. A year later, MISS ZHOU was exhausted, and his face lost its former brilliance. Two years later, the physical examination showed that her health was not as good as before, suffering from mild cervical spondylosis and moderate hyperplasia of mammary glands.
This is a typical stagnation of liver-qi. Some young women always have breast pain before menstruation, which is actually a manifestation of stagnation of liver-qi. Originally, the liver was a drain. After the stagnation of liver qi, the liver will not function well, leading to poor mammary collaterals, and "it will hurt if it doesn't work".