Working professionals often stay up late due to overtime. Are you also a member of the "stay up late" party? Nowadays, more and more people are joining the army of staying up late. Staying up late until dawn has become a common phenomenon, but do you know the harm of staying up late? Traditional Chinese medicine is here to help you!
What to Eat for Staying Up Late?
1. Ginseng and Astragalus Chicken Soup
Ingredients: 15g American ginseng, 15g astragalus, 250g chicken meat, 10g tangerine peel, 5 red dates
Black-boned chicken nourishes yin and nourishes blood, containing rich amino acids and fatty acids; shiitake mushrooms are refreshing and can remove greasiness, tangerine peel helps with digestion and stimulates appetite; a few honey dates can provide nourishment. Therefore, this dietary therapy is suitable for long-term staying up late, depletion of yin fluid, fatigue, dry mouth, loss of appetite, dizziness, and facial yellowing.
2. Five-Finger Peach and Winter Jujube Soup
Ingredients: 30g five-finger peach, 15g Ophiopogon japonicus, 5 red dates
Five-finger peach has the functions of invigorating the spleen and appetizing, nourishing qi and invigorating the spleen, and eliminating dampness and stasis. It can be consumed by both men and women, young and old, regardless of the seasons. "Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica" lists Ophiopogon japonicus as a top-grade herb for nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, saying that "long-term use makes the body light, not aging or hungry". Red dates can invigorate the spleen, nourish blood, and harmonize the middle. Therefore, this dietary therapy is more suitable for people who lack sleep for a long time, have dark circles around their eyes, have a weakened physique, insufficient qi, and fatigue.
The Hazards of Staying Up Late
1. Fatigue
People who stay up late often feel tired and their immune system will also decline. Among the aftermath of staying up late, fatigue, listlessness, and susceptibility to colds and allergies often occur. Due to the decrease in immune function, it can also lead to chronic diseases.
2. Headaches
After staying up late, people usually experience headaches, difficulty concentrating, and some may even have migraines. Prolonged staying up late can also impair memory.
3. Dark Circles
After staying up late, people often have dark circles and bags under their eyes. It can also have adverse effects on the skin, such as dryness, dark spots, and acne. Staying up late particularly damages women's skin, making it lack elasticity, radiance, and have a yellow complexion.
How to Reduce the Hazards of Staying Up Late?
Regular Sleep Patterns
Try to maintain regular sleep patterns in daily life. If it is necessary to stay up late for work, you can drink a tea made from wolfberry and mulberry as a substitute.
Take 3g of wolfberry and 5g of mulberry, and brew them with boiling water. Wolfberry can nourish the liver and kidneys, improve eyesight, and moisturize the lungs, while mulberry nourishes yin and blood, generates fluid, and moistens the intestines.
This substitute tea has a certain nourishing effect on yin, which can alleviate the harm caused by staying up late.
Note that people with spleen and stomach deficiency and cold should not drink this substitute tea.
Two Misconceptions about Staying Up Late
1. No Late-Night Snacks
You should not eat snacks when staying up late. In fact, staying up late consumes energy, so proper diet is a good supplement.
You can choose mild and nourishing foods such as lily and lotus seed soup, red dates and tremella soup, etc., which can ensure water intake and replenish energy. They are good choices for staying up late.
2. Exercising to Boost Body Function after Staying Up Late
You can exercise to improve body function after staying up late. Many people choose exercise and fitness to strengthen their bodies.
However, after staying up late, the body is tired and vigorous exercise is not suitable. You can choose exercises like the Five Animal Frolics and Eight Section Brocade to adjust the balance of the body's qi and blood, yin and yang.
Can You Make Up for Lack of Sleep?
Some people believe that replenishing sleep after staying up late is useless and that lack of sleep cannot be made up for.
Regardless of whether it can be made up for or not, it is important to try to ensure sufficient sleep after staying up late. For office workers, the best option is to ensure a nap during lunch break.
