Does Chinese medicine have to be taken hot?

Friends who practice Chinese medicine know that if you want your body to recover faster, you need to drink Chinese medicine. So, have you ever thought about why we always drink Chinese medicine while it is hot? So, does Chinese medicine have to be taken hot? Actually, it is not. Many Chinese medicines need to be cooled before drinking. For the specific process of taking Chinese medicine, you still need to consult a Chinese medicine practitioner.

"The medicine is ready, drink it while it's hot!" This is the experience of many people taking Chinese medicine. So, does it make sense? Although many Chinese medicines require to be taken warm, this is not always the case. Many decoctions need to be cooled before drinking.

Do you need to drink Chinese medicine while it's hot?

Traditional Chinese medicine theory is very particular about the temperature of oral decoctions. There are more than ten ways of taking it, and specifically there are three temperatures of the medicine: warm, hot and cold.

In general, Chinese herbal decoctions should be taken "warm", that is, the decoction should be filtered out immediately after boiling, and then allowed to cool to 30℃ ~ 37℃ at room temperature before drinking; pills and powders of Chinese patent medicines should be taken with warm boiled water, which is also a kind of warm taking.

Traditional Chinese medicine that dispels wind and cold should be taken hot, and you can eat some hot porridge or hot water after taking it to help the medicine work. However, detoxifying and heat-clearing medicines, especially traditional Chinese medicines for relieving summer heat, are more effective when taken cold.

In southern my country, some "cold teas" that are often consumed in summer are actually a type of Chinese medicine. As the name suggests, many herbal teas are best drunk after they have cooled down, as they are more effective in cooling down and relieving heat.

Should I drink Chinese medicine while it is hot? What should I pay attention to when drinking Chinese medicine? How to drink Chinese medicine

Regarding taking Chinese medicine, there is an old saying in traditional Chinese medicine: "Take hot medicine for yang disease and cool medicine for yin disease." Therefore, whether to take cold or hot medicine should be analyzed according to the specific situation. Medicines for treating fever can be taken cold, while medicines for treating cold symptoms should be taken hot. Patients can control the temperature of taking medicine according to their own situation.

Generally, patients with "yang disease" often show symptoms of heat, such as fever all over the body, thirst, dry stool, short and yellow urine, red tongue, yellow tongue coating, rapid pulse, etc., while "yin disease" often shows symptoms of cold, such as aversion to cold and fever, no sweating, cold pain in the abdomen, cold limbs and lethargy, pale tongue, thin white coating, etc.

Finally, there is a little trick in Chinese medicine prescriptions. Generally speaking, most of those called "decoctions" (such as "Guizhi Decoction") are taken hot, while most of those called "drinks" (such as Dayuan Drink) need to be taken cold.

This makes sense to a certain extent, because in ancient times, soup and drink are distinguished by temperature. However, to be cautious, it is best for patients to ask the Chinese medicine practitioner for specific instructions for taking the medicine after the prescription is completed to prevent deviations.