A Study On Ancient Books And Documents About Aged Health Care Of Chinese Medicine

With ageing of populations all over the world, living and health problems of the aged people become a social problem. As early as in 1982, the WHO had made "Add Life to Years" as the theme of the world health day of that year. How to improve the health level and life quality of those aged people is a big issue now. "Traditional Chinese medicine features in holistic care. If its theories and methods can be fully used in disease prevention and health preserving, the life quality of the aged people can be improved a lot. " Therefore, we should continue to develop traditional Chinese medicine and improve aged health care by practicing TCM.Traditional Chinese medicine is a valuable treasure. Aged health care by practicing Chinese medicine is an important part of TCM. Aged health care is also called "Shou Qin Yanglao", focusing on the study of ageing and longevity. The related studies have had a long history. "The Yellow Emperor' s Canon of Internal Medicine" in pre-Qin period and Warring States period is the theoretical basis of the aged health care by TCM. During Han dynasty and Tang dynasty many health preserving specialists, monographs and treatises emerged, which enriched the aged health care by TCM. South and North Song dynasties, Jin dynasty and Yuan dynasty were the time during which aged health care by TCM formed, symbolized with the booksuch as "The Filial Care of the Elderly" . During Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, lots of health preserving specialists and health care theories appeared, e.g. "Zhongxing theory" and "Zhixing theory" by Zhang Jingyue, the argument of preserving "fire of ming ming" in aged people by Zhao Xianke, etc.. Those theories and arguments further enriched the aged health care. Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty were improvement period of the aged health care. And the present studies on this topic have made a great deal of new achievements.The ancient documents recorded lots of effective methods. Are those methods known by most of the people? Can those methods still be used to solve the health problems nowadays like aged health care? There were many documents and treatises on thetopic of aged health care by TCM. However, they are in a mass and lack of systemic arrangement and study. This causes much inconvenience in reading and doing research and a full recognition about the mechanism, causes, exhibition and prevention of ageing is still absent. This study taking traditional Chinese medicine health preserving and aged health care by TCM as a breakthrough point, will sort out the ancient documents on the topic of aged health care by TCM. It also aims to pass down our traditional medical culture and provide practical materials for the prevention of aged diseases and expansion of longevity.The research method is to sum up and sort out the representative works on the topic of aged health care by TCM from each historical period, especially characteristic theories and methods, and also the specialists in this fieid. The study will also find the developmental process of the agedhealth care.The aged health care by TCM, from exploring to forming its theories, accumulated lots of practical experience and methods and has formed a comparatively-speaking complete scientific system. In the recent 20 years, traditional Chinese medicine made great achievement. Many monographs and treatisesare published. Studies revealed the mechanism of ageing and brought some new light to fight against ageing. One of the causes of ageing is due to the damage of free radicals. Many studies found that Chinese medicines such as ginseng, ganoderma, medlar, fleece-flower root and traditional recipes like Jingui Shenqi pills, Qinggong Shoutao pills, and Huan Jing Jian can clear up the free radicals and reduce the degradation of LPO in the body. The decline of the reactions of the free radicals is especially important to postpone senility and prevent aged diseases. If we say that 20^th century is the time that people pursued longevity, 21^th century will be the time that people improve the quality of their life. We will take the responsibility of passing down present theories and practical experience, and at the same time continue to develop the aged health care and make great contributions in this field.