Over-thinking and Digestion
A lot of people are experiencing stress and anxiety about the Corona virus and its effects on the world. Are you finding yourself worrying, or perhaps having trouble sleeping?
In Chinese medicine it is clear that anxiety and worry effect our digestive system. Overthinking damages the Spleen, and, conversely, a weak Spleen leads to propensity for overthinking. The Spleen represents the Earth element and the digestive system.
Eat well to strengthen your Earth energy, your digestion and ultimately your immune system. Foods that benefit the Spleen include hearty stews, roasted root vegetables, and meat. The Spleen likes warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and fennel. Minimize intake of grains, carbohydrates and sugars.
Reigning in your thoughts can also help your digestion and your immune system. Preoccupation with what-ifs, obsessing over COVID stats, excess worry, rumination, and excess thinking, even studying or working, are not ideal for our health. Guide your own thoughts as best as you can.
One of my teacher’s teachers put it well, “In life you think or don’t think. If you choose to think, make a decision/take action. If you can’t make decision, don’t think about it. Sometimes it is better to not think.”
Put down the phone. Put down the media. Keep media in its place, which means not letting it take over your thinking!