My top 5 tips self-care tips for transitioning from Late Summer to Autumn

Focussing on your digestive health is key to supporting balance during this seasonal transition; nourishing the Stomach and Spleen is particularly important according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but how do we do this and why’s this important? The Spleen’s role in TCM is to transform food into energy so it can be transported around the body to where it is needed most, helping the whole body to be in balance. It works closely with the Stomach, in its role in digesting food and drink (as well as your emotions and thoughts). Here are my 5 tips, including an easy acupressure point to work yourself at home during this time to support self-care:

1. Start to warm-up those drinks! Switch icy thirst-quenchers for warming herbal teas which include things like Ginger and Cinnamon – your digestive system will thank you for it!
2. Reprioritise sleep. Over the Summer months we tend to stay up later, and maybe get woken by the early morning sun more. Now is the time to start to refocus on your sleep patterns to support the body’s natural rhythms again. Try to introduce a calming bedtime routine and aim to get a little more consistency with your bedtimes and wake-up times.
3. Bring more focus to your digestive system – particularly at this time of year, your body will struggle with ‘damp’ foods so try to reduce the amount of dairy, sugar, wheat and greasy foods your eat as they are all damp-inducing within the body. This is particularly important if you’re someone who struggles with aches and pains, headaches, low mood/energy and/or skin issues alongside digestive grumbles.
4. Think about when you eat as well as what you eat. According to TCM our energy or ‘Qi’ is strongest in the digestive system between 7am and 9am and in the Spleen between 9am and 11am. So getting a good breakfast between 7am and 9am will ensure you’re working with your stomach’s optimum time, allowing your enzymes to be released to help that food be digested and the Spleen to do its thing in releasing energy to the body to set you up for the rest of the day.
5. Spleen-9 is a powerful acupoint to drain dampness from the body where it’s in excess (see separate post for locations and instructions on how to work it).

Remember, gently nurturing your body through these seasonal changes can really help support the body to move towards the state of balance it always wants to be in – your choices will just give it a helping hand! Jane x