In the hot summer, people tend to sleep naked or sometimes expose their bellies by kicking off the covers. As a result, they may experience diarrhea the next morning. Why does this happen?
If the belly button is exposed due to not covering with a blanket, cold air entering through the belly button cannot be regulated by the body. Therefore, if cold air enters, it can cause a chill and stomach ache. However, the body can regulate the temperature of air entering through the mouth and nose.
Diarrhea caused by exposure of the abdomen to cold air is different from diarrhea caused by enteritis or dysentery. The former is a physiological reflex caused by direct stimulation of the gastric and intestinal smooth muscles due to the cold stimulus penetrating through the abdominal wall, rather than a disease. The latter is mostly caused by bacterial or viral infections. Life is composed of Yin and Yang.
The back of the body is Yang, while the abdomen is Yin. Among the five viscera of the human body, the spleen belongs to the Earth element and is located in the middle burner, which is the Yin of Yin. It is located in the abdominal region commonly referred to as the belly. During the night, Yin energy is at its peak, and the body's Yang energy is relatively weak and less resistant to cold. In addition, the spleen, as the Yin of Yin in the middle burner, is especially intolerant to cold. Therefore, not covering the belly during sleep can easily cause coldness.
When experiencing belly pain caused by abdominal exposure to cold, a hot water bottle can be placed on the belly button area to raise the local temperature higher than other parts, in order to relieve spasms of the intestinal smooth muscles. However, prevention is better than cure, so it is necessary to cover the belly with some protective material when sleeping in the summer and autumn seasons.
Warm Tips
When people eat raw or cold food or have improper diet, it can also easily trigger gastric and intestinal spasms. Consuming too many or too quickly cold drinks, eating hard, coarse, and difficult-to-digest foods can all cause gastric spasms. Therefore, we should pay attention to our daily diet.
