Sudden Cardiac Death: People Collapse and Die in an Instant — Doctor Luo Dalun: Insufficient Heart Yang Is the Real Killer, Warm Your Yang and Protect Your Heart

Patient search terms: collapsed suddenly while exercising / died suddenly / sudden cardiac death / cardiac arrest / a healthy person gone in a moment / elderly heart problems in winter / how to regulate insufficient heart yang

Corresponding medical terms: sudden cardiac death · cardiac arrest · arrhythmia · coronary heart disease · myocardial ischemia

Opening: the same evening, two people were gone

A couple of days ago, Doctor Luo saw a news story: a former general manager of a football club, happily playing football at around seven in the evening — and in the middle of the game, he suddenly collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital, but it was sudden cardiac death. He was already gone. Resuscitation failed, and he passed away.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: I was very moved at the time, so I reposted that news and wrote a few lines: everyone, please pay attention to heart health. But who would have thought it — that very same evening, one of my distant relatives, an aunt, also lost consciousness at around seven in the evening. When she was taken to the hospital, it was discovered that she had already passed away.

When he heard the news, Doctor Luo was deeply saddened. Life is that short — in an instant, a person can be gone.

More than 1,500 people a day across China: this disease is not far from us

Why should everyone take this seriously? Because the number of sudden cardiac deaths is far beyond what most people imagine.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Do you know how many people die of sudden cardiac death in China every day? Statistics show it is more than 1,500 people a day — every single day, more than 1,500 people lose their lives to sudden cardiac death. Life is extremely precious; sometimes it is lost in an instant. As the saying goes, “a person lives on one breath.” When that breath is gone, the person is gone in a flash — what a pity.

So in today’s session, Doctor Luo wants to explain this disease thoroughly — and, even more, how to prevent it.

What Western medicine checks first: people who die suddenly were already “carrying a sick heart”

What is the first key word of sudden cardiac death? Underlying disease.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People who die of sudden cardiac death almost always have an underlying heart condition — the heart very likely already had a problem. For example, they already had coronary heart disease, hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, conduction abnormalities, or severe ventricular arrhythmia. The heart already had a problem, and under certain triggering conditions, sudden cardiac death suddenly occurs.

The United States once specifically studied: does running cause sudden death? Because every year in the US, a large number of people die suddenly during running.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The investigation finally found that one of the factors was: these people’s hearts already had some problem — they already had some disease. So everyone, if a heart examination shows some problem, seek treatment in time.

That is the Western view. Now, how does Chinese medicine look at it?

How Chinese medicine views the heart: remember four words first — qi, blood, yin, yang

In Chinese medicine, when considering any disease, every organ must be examined through the lens of qi, blood, yin and yang — the organ’s own condition — plus the influence of blood stasis, phlegm-dampness and so on. The heart is no exception.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: How do we in Chinese medicine consider the heart? We look at whether its heart qi is sufficient. If heart qi becomes deficient, it leads to a whole series of bad outcomes downstream — this heart qi deficiency is very likely the foundation.

Besides heart qi, heart blood is very important. Why? Because the heart governs the blood vessels.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If a person is blood-deficient, the heart will often develop various problems too — this is quite common. Many people have both blood stasis and blood deficiency; if you just invigorate blood and resolve stasis for them, it does not work — why? Because they are blood-deficient. If heart blood is deficient, the heart cannot be nourished, so problems easily arise. Therefore, when blood-deficient people develop heart symptoms, you must first nourish the blood. At this point, longan fruit (long yan rou) and Yu Ling Gao are particularly good methods — longan nourishes the heart, calms the spirit and steadies the mind. Once the heart blood is replenished and the heart is nourished, it can be healthy. Otherwise, a person with deficient heart blood will keep deteriorating.

Now that we have qi and blood, let us look at heart yin.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: A person with deficient heart yin usually does not only have deficient heart yin — all the five viscera and six bowels lean toward yin deficiency, especially kidney yin deficiency, which is very obvious. As yin deficiency gradually develops, heat arises inside the body — yin deficiency generates internal heat. The heat slowly dries up the body fluids, scorching the fluids into phlegm. The phlegm-heat then attacks upward and invades the heart vessels, which easily become blocked, and heart problems appear. So yin-deficient people also develop problems.

Yin-deficient people have a characteristic: the heart often beats very fast, which leads to arrhythmia. For treating arrhythmia, Chinese medicine has a famous formula — Zhi Gan Cao Tang (Honey-Fried Licorice Decoction).

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: What is the most important herb in Zhi Gan Cao Tang? Sheng di (fresh Rehmannia) — a very important herb. What does sheng di do? It nourishes yin. Otherwise, this person’s heart rate will have problems, with premature beats and so on. You see, this formula has sheng di to nourish yin, and ginseng and others to supplement qi — supplementing both qi and yin. So the ancients’ formulas were usually very thorough — they considered the qi, blood, yin and yang of the heart all together.

Heart yang: what the heart fears most is that this breath is not warm enough

We have discussed qi, blood and yin; the last one is yang — and Doctor Luo says this is the most important.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Heart yang is the most important. What is the heart? It belongs to fire; its nature is like fire. If yang becomes deficient, the fire weakens. The heart is the monarch organ — the sovereign of the whole body. If its fire is weak, the body develops problems. So the heart fears yang deficiency the most, and what often leads to fatal danger is exactly this yang deficiency.

At this point, Doctor Luo told the story of a famous physician of the Qing dynasty — Wang Mengying.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When Wang Mengying was still an apprentice, who was the first patient he knew? His boss, Zhou Guangyuan. What happened to Zhou Guangyuan? He suddenly had a heart attack, collapsed on the ground, and everyone was stunned — nobody knew how to treat it. Wang Mengying took a piece of dried ginger he carried with him, quickly crushed it, boiled it in water and poured it down Zhou Guangyuan’s throat — and saved him. His judgment at the time was: heart yang was deficient; yang deficiency had caused the heart problem.

From then on, Zhou Guangyuan stayed with Wang Mengying his whole life. When he eventually died — because Wang Mengying was not by his side — it was also due to a heart problem, most likely also insufficient heart yang.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: So insufficient heart yang is very dangerous. Yang-deficient people will have problems in many parts of the body and various diseases; but yang deficiency in the heart — insufficient heart yang — is fatal. It is especially terrifying, and sometimes it simply kills.

Why do so many people develop heart problems as soon as the weather turns cold?

Have you noticed: once autumn or winter arrives, a very large number of people die from heart problems.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People with insufficient heart yang, once the seasons change and the weather turns cold, easily suffer invasion by cold evil, and the heart develops problems. Look at the two examples I mentioned earlier — that former general manager of the football club and my distant relative, the aunt — both of them had problems in these very days. Why? Because in these days, after the Start of Autumn (li qiu), the temperature dropped.

Some people say: we did not feel it that clearly. Doctor Luo says: when the atmospheric temperature drops and autumn fully arrives, you may not notice the change — but the body senses it. The body and nature are closely connected. Many people with insufficient yang begin to fall ill at this time.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When the weather turns cold — just slightly cold, and it is especially severe in the north now — the yang-deficient organs of yang-deficient people immediately begin to have problems. So everyone must especially watch the changes in the weather. Young people may be fine, but pay attention to the elderly at home — old people sense the cold climate change very clearly. Once it turns cold, problems arise: many elderly people suddenly develop stomach pain, diarrhea — very obvious; suddenly become sleepy, want to sleep, feel weak — this is kidney yang deficiency; suddenly the heart starts to ache — this is heart yang deficiency. It all happens in these days of dropping temperature. So warming the yang on a daily basis is extremely important.

How to protect the yang daily? Moxibustion, foot baths, ginger tea — but first distinguish your constitution

There are so many methods in Chinese medicine for warming the yang.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: We have moxibustion — you can often teach the elderly a bit about moxibustion and do moxibustion at home, so that the old people’s yang qi becomes vigorous. We have the foot-bath method — boil moxa leaf, or dried ginger, or as I mentioned before, a dozen or so Sichuan pepper fruits in water for a foot bath. As long as you have determined the person is yang-deficient… But do not soak everything for everyone — what about yin-deficient people, should you soak them too? When we study Chinese medicine treatment, we must distinguish the constitution.

How do you judge yang deficiency?

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Yang-deficient people have a pale tongue and usually fear cold. For such a person, give them a foot bath and let the body become warm; or let them drink some ginger tea, dried-ginger tea, or the ginger-sugar paste I mentioned before — why do I recommend these? Because every single one of these things targets one constitution. As you regulate this constitution slowly, cold evil will not be able to invade the spleen, stomach and heart, because we have built up protection. So do not underestimate these simple methods — young people may be fine, but the elderly cannot take it. When we teach Chinese medicine knowledge, we really are teaching everyone to protect themselves.

Do not forget blood stasis: the secret of Rugao’s centenarians drinking a little wine every day

Besides qi, blood, yin and yang, what else? Blood stasis — Doctor Luo says this is one of the most important causes of heart problems.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Blood stasis is very likely produced on the basis of the things mentioned earlier: yang deficiency produces stasis, qi deficiency produces stasis, yin deficiency produces stasis, and blood deficiency also produces stasis. The final manifestation for many people is that heart blood stasis has become a problem. But remember, we must regulate the two together — the root cause of the disease and the present blood stasis, both at the same time.

Once the blood stasis is dissolved, the heart can stay healthy. In fact, a great many cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are related to blood stasis.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: If a person can persistently invigorate blood and resolve stasis over the long term — especially elderly people — then that person’s body should remain relatively healthy. A couple of days ago I discussed with everyone: why do 66% of the centenarians in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, drink alcohol every day? They drink a tiny little bit every day — this is astonishing. Because alcohol can dissolve stasis; drinking a tiny bit each day is enough, very little. I also suggest: things like san qi (notoginseng) powder and American ginseng powder — elderly people should take them persistently. As long as you know how to dissolve stasis, you will not reach the point of sudden heart failure.

To collapse and die in an instant — how sudden, and how grieved the family is. So daily protection can keep you from suffering such a sudden crisis of life.

Emotion: of the iceberg, only one-tenth shows above the sea

What else should we pay attention to? Emotion — extremely important.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Among people who die of sudden cardiac death, those with emotional disturbance account for a very large proportion. Why? Liver qi stagnation — liver qi not flowing smoothly. When liver qi is not free-flowing, the qi movement of the whole body becomes chaotic. I cannot describe how great an impact emotion has on the human heart — the effect that we ordinary people currently understand emotion to have on the body, and especially on the heart, is like the tiny tip of an iceberg above the sea: underneath it there is a huge body of ice.

In fact, observation shows: very many people who die of sudden cardiac death have been under long-term life stress, in a depressed, unhappy, sorrowful state — and this state injures the heart-spirit.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: After the heart-spirit is injured, this is not simply liver qi discomfort — after the heart-spirit is injured, sooner or later the heart will develop all the qi-blood-yin-yang and blood-stasis problems we described earlier. So with emotion, everyone must stay optimistic and try to let go of worrying matters — this is something we must adjust.

And one more thing: suddenly eating too full can also kill

Finally, there is improper diet. For example, suddenly eating a very full meal — eating too much — can cause heart problems; and this factor is usually combined with other factors.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: For example, an old person eats an especially full meal, then in these two days the temperature suddenly drops, and in the evening the person gets angry once — several things converge at once, and sudden cardiac death — the person is gone. So diet must maintain rhythm and be kept within normal limits as much as possible; otherwise problems will arise.

Closing: the truest care for life

From the Chinese medicine perspective, people who suddenly die of sudden cardiac death have these causes. And today, when Doctor Luo raises this topic, the key point is: the harm that cold evil does to the heart — the harm to insufficient heart yang.

💬 Note from Doctor Luo: People with a normal heart have no big problem — weather changes do not matter. But yang-deficient people are like this. What is yang deficiency? People who have not regulated their bodies in daily life — middle-aged and elderly people are often yang-deficient. When the weather turns cold — in some places in the northeast, I hear, snow has already begun to fall — when the north turns cold, everyone must pay attention to the health of the elderly and notice whether the old people in the family have yang deficiency. At this time, use various warming methods to protect them — this is the true care for life.

Remember the main thread: sudden cardiac death has as its foundation the disharmony of the heart’s qi, blood, yin and yang; what it fears most is insufficient heart yang meeting cold evil. In daily life — warm the yang and protect the yang, dissolve blood stasis, steady the emotions, and keep the diet regular. Protect the elderly well, get through the winter well. A person lives on one breath — and that breath must be kept warm.

Adapted from Doctor Luo Dalun’s Chinese medicine health lecture