The wisdom of health preservation during sleep: medicated pillow therapy, magnetic field principles, and sunlight care for bedding.

Medicinal pillows are a traditional health care method that allows people to prevent and treat diseases while sleeping. Different medicinal pillows have different effects. You can go to a pharmacy or market to choose a medicinal pillow that suits you, or you can make your own. Although medicinal pillows are small, their effects on disease prevention and health care are significant. Here are a few fashionable medicinal pillows, and there is bound to be one that suits you. (1) Tea pillow: Dry the leftover tea leaves after brewing, then mix them with a small amount of jasmine tea and put them in a bag. It has the effects of reducing internal heat, lowering blood pressure, clearing heat, detoxifying, improving eyesight, promoting urination, and relieving summer heat. (2) Mung bean pillow: Dry the mung bean skins left over from cooking mung bean soup, then mix them with whole or broken mung beans and put them in a pillow. Mung beans are cold in nature and have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, quenching thirst and preventing summer heat, and promoting urination and reducing swelling. They are used to prevent and treat headaches, fever, red eyes and sore throat, boils and carbuncles, and thirst. Mung beans, chrysanthemum, and cassia seeds are used together to make a medicinal pillow. It has the effects of clearing the mind, relieving heat and toxins, and clearing eye obstruction. This pillow is also known as the "eye-brightening pillow" in folk medicine. (3) Millet pillow: It is mild and cool, especially suitable for children's pillows, and has the effects of preventing diseases, maintaining health and promoting development. (4) Five-leaf pillow: It is made by mixing five kinds of leaves, namely dried mulberry leaves, bamboo leaves, willow leaves, lotus leaves and persimmon leaves and putting them in a bag. Because of its bitter and cold nature, it can treat headaches, dizziness due to summer heat, red and blurred vision, sore throat and high blood pressure. (5) Magnet pillow: Magnets are inlaid on a wooden pillow. It has the effects of enhancing blood circulation, promoting metabolism and fighting diseases. It can be used to treat symptoms such as hypertensive headaches, dizziness, headache, blurred vision, and neurasthenia. (6) Alum pillow: Alum is also called alum. It is cold in nature and sour and astringent in taste. When the powder is put in a bag and used as a pillow, it has the therapeutic effects of clearing heat in the head, lowering blood pressure and refreshing the mind, and clearing phlegm and removing dampness and toxins. (7) Arborvitae leaf pillow: Arborvitae leaves are put in a bag and used as a pillow. It can prevent and treat symptoms such as high blood pressure, dizziness or liver heat and irritability. (8) Buckwheat hull pillow: Also a type of medicinal pillow, it is sweet, neutral, and cold in nature, and has a strong effect of clearing heat and toxins. Regular use can clear heat, detoxify, prevent disease, and maintain health. In addition, other Chinese medicinal herbs such as Sichuan lovage rhizome, peony bark, angelica root, apricot kernel, polygala root, and calamus can also be used to make medicinal pillows. When using a medicinal pillow, pay attention to its expiration date, which is generally 1-3 years. After 2-3 weeks of use, expose it to moderate sunlight outdoors to prolong its effectiveness and avoid dampness and insect infestation.

Everyone spends about one-third of their day sleeping. It's best to sleep with your head facing north and feet south, aligned with the Earth's magnetic field. We know that the Earth is a giant magnetic field, with its magnetic field lines running from the North Pole through the Earth's surface to the South Pole. During sleep, the body's bioelectric current channels are perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field lines, making the Earth's magnetic field a strong resistance to these currents. However, to restore normal function and reach a new equilibrium, the body needs to consume a significant amount of energy to boost metabolism. If you sleep east-west, your body won't receive enough energy from the outside, and the magnetic field won't be dissipated in time. The consumed heat circulates throughout the body, causing a rise in body temperature. This can disrupt the flow of qi and blood, leading to illness, typically manifesting as dizziness, irritability, insomnia, and neck pain. If you sleep with your back to the north or south, the direction of the cellular currents in your body will be parallel to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines, and the arrangement of biological macromolecules in your body will be oriented. In this way, the flow of qi and blood can be smooth, metabolism will be reduced, energy consumption will be sharply reduced, and the slow waves and fast waves during sleep can be coordinated, deepening sleep and thus improving sleep quality, which is beneficial to physical and mental health.

If our blankets aren't aired out for a long time, they'll become damp, making them uncomfortable and affecting our sleep and rest. Therefore, in daily life, we must keep our blankets dry, allowing them to "fill" with sunshine. First, don't rush to make the blankets after getting up. Overnight, blankets absorb a lot of moisture and gases; if you fold them immediately without letting them dissipate, it will not only shorten the blanket's lifespan but also be harmful to your health. After getting up, turn the blankets over and open the windows for ventilation, allowing the moisture in the blankets to evaporate naturally. Make the blankets after breakfast. If the blankets are damp, they should be placed outside to air out for a while. Second, blankets should be sunned regularly, ideally once a week. Under the sunlight, the moisture in the blankets will evaporate, restoring them to a soft and warm state, making them very comfortable and promoting a good night's sleep. Furthermore, when sunning blankets, the ultraviolet rays in sunlight can kill fungi attached to them, especially mites that feed on human skin flakes, effectively disinfecting them and greatly benefiting skin hygiene and overall health.