Is it OK to do moxibustion for too long?

There is no uniform standard for how long to perform moxibustion on an acupoint. It generally varies from person to person. Some people perform it for a long time, while others for a short period of time. Generally speaking, when moxibustion is performed, if the skin of an acupoint becomes red, it means that the dose has been reached and you can move on to the next acupoint to continue moxibustion. Some people may have very cold body, in which case the moxibustion time should be appropriately increased.

If moxibustion is applied for too long or too many times, symptoms such as fever, thirst, inflammation, and skin itching may occur. Moxibustion is suitable for patients with deficiency syndrome and cold syndrome, such as weakness and fear of cold, long-term illness and diarrhea, cold and pain in joints, cold cough and asthma, wind-cold cold, etc.; it is not suitable for patients with excess syndrome and heat syndrome, such as getting angry, mouth sores, dry and hard stools, short and yellow urine, fever, etc. Young and middle-aged people and men can apply moxibustion more often, while women and children should reduce the amount of moxibustion and use less moxibustion. Pregnant women should not apply moxibustion on the abdomen and lumbar sacral area.

Extreme fatigue, excessive hunger, thirst, and drunkenness are not suitable for treatment, especially for people with gastrointestinal diseases. It is not suitable to be used when you are in an emotionally unstable state such as extreme sadness, extreme joy, or extreme anger, otherwise the effect of moxibustion will be greatly reduced. The commonly used acupoints for moxibustion are Zusanli, Guanyuan and Shenque. These acupoints can stimulate the body's positive energy, enhance disease resistance and play a health-care role. It is best not to apply moxibustion on the face or genitals to prevent the formation of scars and affect the appearance.

You should receive guidance from a doctor before doing moxibustion. Generally, moxibustion should be done for about half an hour, not too long, and 1-2 times a day. For moxibustion, each acupoint can only be moxibustioned once a day, and it is best to follow the order of back and abdomen first, upper and lower, and yang first and yin later.

It should also be noted that for people with severe coldness, their skin may become very red during moxibustion, but moxibustion can still be continued at this time. If you just want to achieve the effect of daily health care through moxibustion, it is enough to moxibustion one acupoint for about ten minutes at a time. When doing moxibustion in the summer, the time for each acupoint should be appropriately shortened.