Every winter, the place where people gather becomes the place where the cough symphony plays. Every day when I go to work, I can hear many people coughing. Some people have a severe cough that can even cause other inflammations and put a huge burden on the body. So what causes frequent coughs and colds in autumn and winter? Is it the same as colds that occur in other seasons? How should we prevent or treat it?

There is a folk saying: Autumn and winter nourish the lungs. The lungs like to be "moistened" but hate to be "dry". If the lungs are not moistened due to the influence of the weather, it will cause people to cough continuously. So how "dry" is autumn and winter? The skin, throat, mouth, and eyes are believed to have the most right to speak. In the eyes of traditional Chinese medicine: "Warm evil affects the lungs first." The lungs are like a bell, covering the five internal organs. Once it is not well protected and invaded by dryness evil, it will make a thumping sound, just like a person coughing. Therefore, when the dry season of autumn and winter comes, the body fluid in the human body will decrease accordingly. If you do not pay attention to health care, the long-term lack of body fluid in the lungs and lack of moisture will cause problems in the lungs and constant coughing.

There are many types of coughs, and different diseases can cause cough symptoms. If we want to cure a cough, we must first identify the cause of the cough.

One is "cold cough". This is a cough caused by "unclarified lung qi" due to the attack of wind and cold on the human body. It generally manifests as: dry and itchy throat, blocked nose, muddy voice when coughing, accompanied by white phlegm, unbearable headache, persistent nasal discharge, etc.

The other is "heat cough". It is because the body is affected by wind-heat evil, which causes accumulation of hot air in the lungs, causing coughing. The sound of a hot cough is generally crisper, and the sputum is also yellow. There is swelling and pain in the throat and even the whole body, accompanied by body heat and sweating.

The causes of the two types of cough are different, and attention should be paid to the distinction during treatment: cold cough is mainly aimed at dispersing wind and cold air, while hot cough is aimed at dispersing wind and clearing away heat. ***The same point is that both of them should relieve the lungs and relieve cough.

After we understand the causes of cough, we can look at two types of cough treatments in detail.

The treatment of cold cough focuses on “relieving the surface and dispersing cold”. Relieving the surface and dispersing cold is a term from traditional Chinese medicine. Simply put, it means opening the pores of the skin to dissipate the cold air that causes disease in the body, thereby achieving the effect of treating diseases caused by exogenous wind and cold.

Common Chinese medicines that can achieve the purpose of relieving the surface and dispersing cold include: perilla leaves, Qianghuo, etc. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that perilla leaves have the effect of "relieving the surface and dispersing cold, promoting qi and regulating the stomach", and its antipyretic effect is very significant. It has miraculous effects on coughs and vomiting caused by wind and cold. Qianghuo can dispel wind, remove dampness and relieve pain, and can solve coughs, aches and other problems caused by wind and cold.

Recommended Chinese patent medicines include "Tongxuanlifei Pills", whose ingredients include perilla leaves, bitter almonds, ephedra, etc. For dietary therapy, we can recommend you to make soup with radish, ginger and scallions, which can effectively relieve coughs caused by cold cough.

The treatment of hot cough is mainly based on "dispersing wind-heat, relieving lungs and relieving cough". There are many Chinese medicinal materials that can be used, such as: corn grass, vitex, horsetail, burdock and mulberry leaves, etc. "Kaibao Materia Medica": "Gujingcao is mainly used to treat throat paralysis, toothache, and various sores and scabies." It can dispel wind and heat, and is very effective in treating wind-heat colds, headaches, dizziness, and distension. "Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine" records that Vitex officinale can dispel wind-heat, clear the head and head, and is mainly used to treat exogenous wind-heat, dizziness, headache, and migraine.

The Chinese patent medicine that can be taken is "Sangju Cold Tablets", which contains mint, mulberry leaves, forsythia, etc. In addition, we can also make some rock sugar and snow pear soup to relieve coughs.

After understanding the relevant knowledge about cold cough and hot cough, everyone should also pay attention to not using random medicines to treat autumn and winter cough.

First of all, Li Yanming, chief physician of Nanning People's Hospital in Guangxi, reminds everyone that to treat coughs in autumn and winter, drugs including bitter cold and purgative medicine need to be used with caution. In addition, cough patients should also pay attention to rest to prevent lack of sleep from lowering their immunity and making the cold more severe.

Secondly, for cold cough caused by wind and cold, astringent antitussive drugs cannot be used indiscriminately, because these drugs will cause lung qi to accumulate, and in severe cases, it will lead to chronic cough, which is more difficult to cure.

If you have a hot cough, you should avoid spicy and greasy foods, so as not to prevent the heat in the body from dissipating, affecting the function of the spleen and stomach and aggravating the condition.

When preventing diseases and treating coughs, everyone should also pay attention to the fact that only by eating a balanced diet and maintaining exercise can we improve the body's immunity and avoid diseases.

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