Chinese Medicine Wellness

The REAL Reason You’re Tired in Autumn + 3 Easy Fixes

Discover the actual reason why you’re feeling more tired in Autumn and 3 energy-boosting hacks from Chinese medicine to smash Autumn Fatigue.

By: Jessica
October 13, 2022

It starts with the weather getting slightly colder, daylight hours become shorter, getting out of bed feels harder and you are just exhausted! It’s official: You suffer from Autumn Fatigue!

But don’t panic. We will share with you 3 ways to lift your energy and smash Autumn Fatigue in no time.

Why Do We Feel So Tired in Autumn?

According to Chinese medicine, in Autumn, a battle of two forces breaks out inside our bodies. To illustrate what’s happening, imagine you’re passing by a house at dusk and you see a couple, husband and wife.

The husband steps out the door and says, “Bye, honey. I’m off to see some friends at the pub. See you later.” The wife storms out, grabs his shirt and tries to reign him in, “Don’t go. Let’s stay at home and watch a movie tonight.” And then they start fighting, pushing and pulling back and forth.

Sounds exhausting, right? But that’s exactly what’s happening between the Yin energy and the Yang energy in our bodies. In Autumn, we feel lethargic because the Yin and Yang inside our bodies are wasting energy fighting each other.

How to Overcome Autumn Fatigue

Chinese medicine is based on Daoism and the belief that everything in the universe contains Yin and Yang, which are two opposing forces, yet they complement each other. You can see this duality everywhere. For example, there can be no light without darkness, and no great success was ever achieved without failure.

Our Yang energy is masculine, active and outward. You can imagine the Yang energy as the husband in our story earlier. He always wants to go out! Our Yin energy, on the other hand, is feminine, passive and inward. She’s like the wife that wants to stay inside the house.

During Autumn and Winter, we need to gather all our vital energy and store it inside our bodies. But remember, there’s the Yang energy, the husband who always wants to go out and have fun. What can we do? Well, if the wife increases her feminine power to the max and she becomes so sweet and charming and cooks the husband’s favourite dish, the husband might say, “You know what? Forget about my friends. I’m staying at home tonight!”

3 Ways to Boost Your Energy Naturally in Autumn

In order to be healthy and energizing in Autumn, we need to strengthen our Yin energy so it is strong enough to pull the Yang energy back inside our bodies. The first way to do this is to eat foods that nourish your Yin energy. For example, seasonal fruits and vegetables such as apples, oranges, pears, grapes and muesli. You can also eat nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, sesame and soybeans. And for meat lovers, duck and eel are good options. Lastly, honey is also fantastic for strengthening your Yin energy. Avoid foods that are spicy, grilled or barbecued. These can hurt your Yin energy.

The second thing you can do is to go to bed early and get up early. The human body works best when it’s attuned to the cycles of nature. When our sleeping schedule is in sync with the rise and set of the sun, we wake up happy and full of energy. A rule of thumb is to be fast asleep between 11:00 pm and 5 a.m.. If you’re feeling sleepy after lunch, a short power nap will help. Just make sure you don’t nap for more than 20 minutes. Otherwise, you might find it hard to fall asleep early at night.

The third way to boost your energy is to massage some acupoints. What are acupoints? Just like there are hundreds of canals in Venice, there are numerous big and small energy channels in our bodies. The acupoints are stops along the energy channels, where your energy takes a short break and exchange vital substances with the surrounding organs and tissues, a bit like how merchants would stop along the canals to exchange goods and money. And when there’s traffic, there are probably traffic jams! There could be stagnation along these energy channels which blocks the smooth flow of energy.

So what can you do to resolve this traffic jam and restore the normal flow of energy? You can either puncture the problematic acupoint with a needle or you can apply pressure with your fingers. Of course, using your fingers is much easier and faster than going to an acupuncture session at a clinic.

Press These Acupoints to Feel More Energised in Autumn

So let me show you the acupoints you need to stimulate to boost your Yin energy. We start with the acupoint called Zu San Li (足三里). So here is the Zu San Li. How do you find it? First, make sure your knee is flexed. Then find the two hollows under your kneecap. Place your full fingers, excluding the thumb, onto the hollows. Find the point where your pinky meets the shin bone, and the Zu San Li point is just one finger width outside the bone.

Here’s how to find the second acupoint, called San Yin Jiao (三阴交). Find the ankle bone on the inside of the leg. The San Yin Jiao point is about four fingers above the highest peak of the bone.

And now, onto our third acupoint, Tai Xi. Again, we first locate the highest peak of the ankle bone and the thigh. The Tai Xi point is the dent between the Achilles tendon and the tip of the bone.

For all three acupoints, you’ll feel slight soreness if you found the right spot. Keep massaging it for 2 to 3 minutes and you can do this once or twice daily.

So now you know three power ways to make this autumn your best season ever!