This Chinese tea opens blood vessels in legs! 1 cup a day.

0:00 Most people just think that cold feet or spider veins or heavy legs at night are a normal part of aging. But in traditional Chinese medicine, we see it as poor circulation. So that's something that we call blood stasis. And if you don't fix it early, it can lead to much bigger problems later. Now, today in this video, I'm going to share with you the tea that doctors in China have used for centuries. How it works from both an ancient and a modern perspective, and how you can use it safely at home. Hey guys, I'm Dr. Dr. Alex Hin, board licensed doctor of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and author of the health book Master the Dead. Let's jump in. You know, when it comes to blood flow, something that's really important to remember is that in traditional Chinese medicine, flow is life. And blood flow is just one of the kinds of flows that predicts health and longevity and the prevention of disease. You know, when I was living and staying

0:45 in a monastery in Suchuan Province in China, I remember at some point I was walking around the monastery grounds and there would be Dowist monks doing Chiong or Tai Chi. There would be monks sweeping and cleaning. There would be monks meditating. And one thing that I was thinking is from a Dowist point of view, how do these people think about longevity? Eventually, I had asked one of the monks, you know, what is the secret to longevity? And this is a specialty that is an obsession of traditional Chinese medicine and also of Daoism because Dowoism is built on observing nature, right? Like ancient doctors and ancient people observe that animals don't waste energy because energy is limited. They don't go run marathons for fun, right? They don't go and have a fight just for the sake of it. They do it only when they have to expend that energy. Modern people are

1:32 very different. We may kill ourselves at a job to save extra money to try to get ahead, right? We have desires that poison the heart. This is like a very Buddhist point of view. But what this monk actually said to me was that the key to longevity is yin in the mind and yang in the body. [music] And what he meant by that was that yin in the mind means calm mind but yang in the body means movement. And so for the mind excessive mental activity is dilitterious and harmful to health. But for the physical body excessive movement is good for the body. physical movement, physical blood flow, the lymphatic pump is what allows longevity [music] to occur. And not only that, not only does it affect your heart, it affects your organs, [music] it affects your digestive system, affects your stress hormones, it affects your sleep. So what

2:18 this monk said was something very simple but very profound. For modern people, the most essential is a peaceful mind and lots of physical movement. Now what's interesting is that two of the largest killers in modern people or sources of death, causes of death are still cardiovascular. Heart disease, dementia is also related to that. Diabetes and lots of kinds of cancers. [music] And so as a result, we are still dying primarily of something that is impeded blood flow. So this video is maybe more important than ever. Now this video I promised to show you a tea that specifically is great for blood vessels and blood flow. So what is that tea? It's actually called Shana or Hawthorne berry tea. For centuries, traditional Chinese medicine doctors used Hawthorne to help digest heavy

3:04 meals, especially meat and greasy foods. But they also noticed it helped improve your circulation and moved what's called blood stasis. So that's why it shows up in formulas for chest pain, high blood pressure, and poor circulation in the legs. Now, one Ming Dynasty doctor wrote that Hawthorne or Shana breaks up blood accumulations and transforms food stagnation. And if you think about that, isn't that exactly what we want when vessels are clogged or blood is sluggish in general? Now, in China, when I live there, Shanja is interesting because this plant is often pressed into little food stagnation cakes. You can buy these little slivers that look like little wafers and you just eat these little wafers of Hawthorne as a food stagnation sort of remedy. Critigus is very very

3:51 good for digestive enzyme production especially like what we had just mentioned in regards to meat digestion. [music] So this is one of those like food grade enzymes you can use and if you use it medical grade we often use it for digestive [music] problems. So it has a lot of diverse uses besides just for blood flow. Now let's talk about what the modern research actually says. The Hawthorne berries themselves are loaded with plant compounds called flavonoids and procyanidins. Now these are antioxidants but more importantly they actually help your blood vessels produce nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is the natural chemical your body uses to relax and widen blood vessels. That's what improves blood flow to your legs and extremities and is grandpa's best friend if you get what I mean. Now, there was a controlled study published

4:36 in a journal called Phyto Medicine that found that a standardized Hawthorne extract improved what's called flow mediated dilation. Basically, it's a test of how well your arteries can expand. Now, the authors linked this effect directly to Hawthorne boosting nitric oxide activity. Now, there are other reviews too like one from the year 2020 in a journal called [music] Frontiers in Pharmarmacology. Now, it's summarized how Hawthorne polyphenols not only improve your vessel flexibility, but also help reduce your cholesterol and your oxidative stress, which together really support healthier circulation. And in Europe, Hawthorne extract is so well researched that it's officially approved in some countries for mild heart failure and circulation issues. Now, that's usually from a

5:23 standardized extract of the leaf and the flour, [music] which are more [clears throat] concentrated than the fruit tea that I'm showing you, but the principle is the same. Shanja or Hawthorne supports blood flow by helping your vessels relax and also [music] stay clear. So, in traditional Chinese medicine says that Hawthorne moves the blood and removes stasis, modern science says it boosts your nitric oxide and improves your endothelial function. Different language, but basically the same idea. Now, if you're trying to figure out where your actual blood flow and circulatory issues are coming from, I highly recommend you download my free root cause [music] quiz. It's right below this video. You can also just go to drlexheind.com/quiz. And we go deep into which organ system your specific symptoms are coming from. Because chances are, if you have blood

6:08 flow and circulatory issues, you have other serious issues too, like with your heart [music] or with, for example, reproductive functions. So try to download that free quiz because we'll go into specific detail about what organ system is the cause of your circulatory issues as well as we've pointed back to our best videos here on the channel for how to actually approach that with traditional Chinese medicine. Now how can you actually use this at home safely? So you can get dried Hawthorne berries at most Asian markets or online. And basically what I want you to do is take about 10 to 15 grams, which is a small handful, and steep it into hot water for [music] 10 to 15 minutes. It has sort of like a tart or slightly sweet flavor and almost like a fruit tea. And you can basically just drink one cup of that daily, ideally after

6:54 your meals [music] because again, Shanzha is used for both food stagnation, aka digestion, [music] and for circulation. So you can take it right after your meals to assist with both. Now, just a small disclaimer here. If you're on heart medication, blood thinners, or you have very low blood pressure, make sure you check with your doctor or practitioner before making this a daily habit. Now, one final thought here. You know, the ancient doctors in this field were very very adamant that if you want to live a long life, blood flow and chi flow is number one number one longevity principle. But what does that actually mean in non-stical terms? Right? When I sayq chi flow, you're probably thinking like some dowist to depth doing some mystical exercises and circulating theirqi or some energy. On a very material level in the modern world, chi flow is also blood

7:40 flow. The two are intimately linked. And so when these ancient doctors said that chi flow is life and blood flow is life, what we have to remember is that you have the physical literal blood flow in your vessels and your veins and your arteries, but also you have the other kinds of flow. lymphatic [music] flow, the flow of stress hormones, even just your own life. If your life stresses you out, you're in a terrible marriage, you hate your job, you're in a really stressful, dangerous life situation that is obstructing your chief flow and your blood flow and affecting hundreds of biochemical pathways and physiological pathways in your body. Now, that's something we forget because sometimes we think of health as very material, my heart, my arteries, my blood flow. But we forget that these same lifestyle

8:26 factors [music] can impede and affect your physical health too. So think about Shanzha Hawthorne, very safe food grade medicinal that you can take daily for both food stagnation, digestion, as well as for cardiovascular flow. Now, if you guys are wondering about some of the other key herbs that we use in traditional Chinese medicine to improve blood flow in your extremities, specifically your hands and your feet, make sure you watch this related video here on what to drink every day to fix poor circulation.