SEASONAL SELF-CARE · AUTUMN EQUINOX · ~6 MIN
The Autumn Equinox (秋分, Qiū Fēn) arrives around September 23. White Dew was about the "cold"; the Equinox is about the "dryness" — the dry-cold combo your nose fears most begins at this stop.
I'm someone who has been knocked around by rhinitis for many years — I'm not here to lecture, I'm here to share what I've learned. Over the years, through my own trial and error and many talks with fellow sufferers, I've slowly gathered a few principles. What follows are the nose-care habits I actually use around the Equinox — not a textbook, not a protocol, just something to参考 and help you avoid a few wrong turns.
The Equinox is the day day and night are equal, but from here on yin qi grows heavier by the day, the cool sinks down, and the air keeps getting drier. For the nose the trouble is "double": on one side the cold — blood vessels constrict in the cold and the sinus openings easily clog; on the other side the dryness — the nasal membrane is already thin, and once it loses moisture it turns brittle, dry, and itchy, and in bad cases cracks and forms blood crusts.
At White Dew the main job was guarding the "temperature gap"; by the Equinox you must also bring "moistening" to the front, guarding cold and dryness together. This is something I only understood after stepping on the landmine myself: keep warm but not moist, and the nose still wakes you dry at midnight; moisten but don't avoid the cold, and one step outside it clogs right back up.
① Put up a "moisture barrier" for the nose.
After the Equinox I use a saline spray morning and night (room temperature is fine, no need to warm it), and run a humidifier indoors, keeping humidity at 40%–60% — too low is pointless, too high just breeds a musty smell. I also consciously drink one more cup of water than in summer, and don't wait until I'm thirsty. Once the membrane stays moist, the three big troubles — dryness-cracking, itching, and bleeding — drop by more than half.
② Guard the double door: temperature gap AND dryness.
Don't bolt out the door first thing in the morning; linger in the entryway a few minutes so the nose adjusts to the outside temperature. I keep my nasal rinse at a fixed 35–37°C (about body temperature) — cold water only irritates the nose. If it's windy out, a thin mask works better than a scarf: it blocks the cold wind and holds the moisture in, basically giving the nose its own little climate.
③ Moisten with food, but don't "stir."
Pears, lily bulb, tremella, sesame, and honey are all in-season helpers — eaten warm and gently. But the "dispersing-and-drying" stuff — hot spice, deep-fry, barbecue, hard liquor — I clearly dial back from this stop. One thing I've learned deeply: for cold-pattern types whose clear mucus runs like water, cold-moistening tricks like raw pear juice or mung-bean soup actually injure the lung. You must "moisten, and always warmly" — stewed pear with rock sugar, warm tremella soup, eaten hot, is the right path.
④ The acupoints are just a few — rub them daily.
Yingxiang (迎香, at the sides of the nostrils) and Yintang (印堂, between the brows), one to two minutes each, genuinely open the nasal passage — easy to do while waiting for the elevator or on a work break. Since cool-dryness at the Equinox injures the lung, I add Taiyuan (太渊, LU 9, at the radial wrist crease) to nourish lung yin. If you're the spleen-damp type — heavy mucus, post-nasal drip, scalloped tongue — add Zusanli (足三里, ST 36) too. No needling, no deep pressure; just rub gently until slightly warm.
⑤ Set yourself two "watch-points."
One: frequent nose dryness, bleeding, or persistent blood crusts — mostly dryness injuring the nasal vessels. First load up on moisture and indoor humidity; if it won't settle, come in for a check. Two: clear mucus actually worsening, blockage worst in the morning — that means cool-dryness has mixed with cold, so tilt your care toward "warm," not straight moistening. These two are my early-warning lines; when they're crossed I know to adjust instead of toughing it out.
⑥ Freeze with measure; don't freeze the doors.
"Spring bundle, autumn freeze" trains cold-tolerance, but rhinitis friends only freeze the limbs — never the nape, the upper back, or the ankles. I keep the scarf on through Cold Dew, and the ankle socks pulled tight; this "access-control" rule was set at White Dew and cannot be lifted at the Equinox. What freezes is the hands and feet; the nose's door must stay guarded.
⑦ Sleep early, gather the spirit — and don't let the mood dry out either.
After the Equinox the days are short and nights long, so I go to bed earlier than in summer and rise at first light, with a warm-foot-soak before sleep until a light sweat, then stop. The ancients spoke of "keeping the will calm and settled" (使志安宁, shǐ zhì ān níng) — autumn easily turns melancholy and inward-draining, and if the spirit can't gather, the body tightens along with it. Less fussing, less anxiety — that, too, is slow care for the nose.
The seven above are what I found for myself, and what works for me. But everyone's triggers differ: some react to dryness, some to cold, some to the temperature gap, some to something else on top; and constitutions split into cold, heat, deficiency, excess. What worked for me may not map exactly onto you; which point to lean into and which to pull back can only be fine-tuned on your particular body.
So the most honest line: all of the above is just personal experience, not a treatment plan. What truly fits your specific situation is a professional TCM practitioner's in-person pattern diagnosis. Self-care can reduce irritation and ease discomfort, but the root-level regulation has to land on you as a person. Others' experience — including mine — is only reference; when it's time to see a doctor, don't delay.
Compliance note: This article is a personal self-care experience share and does not constitute medical advice. For individual conditions, please consult a licensed TCM practitioner in person.
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