During routine physical examinations, many friends have experienced being diagnosed with nodules. Female friends often have breast nodules, while friends who are overweight are more likely to be diagnosed with thyroid nodules. In addition to these locations, nodules can also develop in the liver. The reasons for the formation of nodules include unhealthy diet on one hand and liver stagnation on the other hand, known as liver qi stagnation.
So, what causes liver qi stagnation? The key reason is negative emotions or mental stimuli. While this may seem like just emotional abnormality or psychological issues, it can lead to liver fire inflammation, affecting the liver’s primary function of regulating and releasing, resulting in discomfort of liver qi, liver qi stagnation, and further development of nodules.
Now that we understand that liver stagnation is the “soil” for nodules, what methods should we use to soothe the liver, relieve stagnation, control the growth rate of nodules, and prevent them from deteriorating into more serious malignant tumors?
The first method is to gently tap the chest area. When feeling stagnant, we sometimes can’t resist tapping or patting our chest, which can help alleviate symptoms to some extent. However, normally we do this just to relieve stuffiness, and we stop when breathing is smoother. But if we use this behavior as a method to regulate liver stagnation, we should tap more and for a longer time. Specifically, gently tap the chest about 100 times a day, tapping while adjusting breathing to help improve the stagnant condition.
The second method is to eat more foods that help soothe the liver and relieve stagnation, using dietary methods for regulation. These foods mainly include pumpkin, coix seed, hawthorn, radish, tomatoes, etc., which are nutritious, tasty, common, and easily available in daily diet, so consciously include them more.
The third method is to adjust the mindset and maintain a good mood. The talented lady Zhang Yunhe from the Republic of China era didn’t have great health but lived to over 90 years old, which was related to the three principles she always followed in her life. One of the principles has significant reference value for many friends who easily have a bad mood nowadays, which is “not to let others’ faults hurt oneself.”
Many of us feel so exhausted, with so much frustration, not because there is something worth worrying about ourselves, but because others’ behavior affects our emotions. For example, disliking a colleague’s misconduct, feeling unwilling and irritated every time going to work. Or feeling depressed throughout a trip because a family member carelessly forgot to bring something important, ruining the mood for travel, and so on. We should realize that being angry, especially holding grudges, doesn’t really affect the person who made a mistake, but it can lead to liver stagnation and even nodules if it happens frequently. Ultimately, it harms only ourselves, which is not “cost-effective” at all. We should adjust our mindset, and the next time we feel angry, think about why we allow ourselves to be surrounded by negative emotions.
Liver stagnation is one of the important factors in the formation of nodules, and it can be controlled by the three methods introduced above to soothe the liver, relieve stagnation, and control the growth of nodules.
