For the elderly, dinner is a very important time. Correct health habits after meals can help the elderly maintain good intestinal function, promote comprehensive absorption of nutrition, and effectively prevent digestive tract diseases. I recommend four steps to you, which should be adhered to for a long time, so as to help digestion, strengthen physique and achieve the effect of prolonging life.
Rinse your mouth first
Zhang Zhongjing, an ancient medical scientist, pointed out that “when you eat, you should gargle, so that your teeth will not fail and your mouth will smell good.” Gargling can remove food residues and part of soft dirt in the mouth, reduce the number of bacteria in the mouth, and thus reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases. The correct way to gargle is to contain mouthwash or clear water in your mouth, close your mouth, and then agitate your cheeks and lips to make the solution fully contact with your teeth in your mouth, and repeatedly rinse all parts of your mouth with water. In this way, you can remove food residues and soft dirt left in the gaps of your teeth.
have a short rest
“If you are full of food, you will get sick by lying down”. Many elderly people dare not lie down immediately after dinner and choose to take a walk, but this is not healthy. After dinner, the stomach is in a full state, and it is necessary to ensure that there is sufficient blood supply to the gastrointestinal tract for preliminary digestion. If you get up and leave in a hurry at this time, part of the blood is bound to be concentrated in the motor system, delaying the secretion of digestive juice and destroying the normal digestion of the stomach. The correct way is to rest for 30 minutes after meals before walking, which helps promote gastrointestinal peristalsis and secrete gastrointestinal digestive juice. For the elderly with gastroptosis, it is best to lie flat for a while after meals, because gastroptosis is greatly affected by body position. It is better to lie flat. If you walk immediately after meals, it will aggravate the damage of food to the stomach and small intestine, and easily cause indigestion or abdominal pain.
Rub your abdomen
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the navel and abdomen are equivalent to the intestinal gland of the pyloric gland of the stomach. Frequent friction can accelerate gastrointestinal peristalsis, increase gastric juice, help digestion, and ensure normal excretion. Sun Simiao, the king of medicine, advocated “rubbing the abdomen with hot hands after eating”, believing that “rubbing the abdomen after eating can eliminate all diseases”. Rubbing the abdomen after eating can also serve as a benign stimulus, which is transmitted to the brain through nerves, which is beneficial to the regulation of endocrine function. Specific methods: put the palm on the abdomen, take the navel as the center, slowly and gently massage clockwise and counterclockwise for 20 circles.
Listen to a ditty
In shoushibaoyuan, it is said that “the spleen is a good music. It moves and eats when it hears the sound.” Especially for old friends, listening to soft music after dinner is very beneficial to health preservation. Polish medical experts have advised patients with stomach diseases to listen to Bach’s music records after every meal, so that they can recover from their stomach diseases. It is not recommended that the elderly listen to loud and noisy sounds, strong and exciting rhythms, and lingering and sad tones, which will have a bad impact on their emotions and digestive functions.
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