Tea from St. John's Wort: Benefit and Harm, Properties

Long since the beginning of the twentieth century, St. John's wort was celebrated in Russia. "You can not bake bread without flour, so you can not cure a man without St. John's wort," says the popular wisdom. And to this day this healing plant is widely used in traditional and folk medicine.

What is St. John's Wort?

St. John's wort represents a perennial herbaceous plant with bright yellow flowers, reaching a height of one meter. In the world there are about 200 species of this herb, 50 of them grow on the territory of Russia. In Western Siberia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, St. John's wort is common, or holed. You can meet this plant in the forest or in the field. As a weed grows St. John's wort along roadsides, on wastelands, glades. In such places, it is not recommended to collect grass for further use.

There are several versions of the origin of the name "St. John's Wort". According to one of them, it came from the Kazakh language. In translation, "gerabay" means "healer of wounds". According to another version, the name of the grass speaks for itself. St. John's wort can provoke severe burns on the skin of livestock with white hair. This is explained by the content in the grass of a special pigment, which several times strengthens the sensitivity of albinos to the sun's rays. Only for such animals is St. John's wort dangerous.

The benefits and useful properties of St. John's wort are widely used in the manufacture of medicines. In addition, people's non-traditional medicine can not do without it.

Chemical composition

In flowers and leaves of St. John's wort contains a large number of vitamins and minerals. The chemical composition determines the medicinal properties of the plant for its use as a medicinal product. Vitamins E, C, PP, essential oils, tannins, carotene, choline and other micro- and macro elements provide effective prevention and treatment of many diseases.

Useful properties of St. John's wort. Its harm to the body

With proper preparation and in the right dosage, the flowers and leaves of the plant have a therapeutic effect on the body. In nontraditional and conventional medicine, infusions, decoctions and tea from St. John's wort are prepared, the benefits and harm of which have been known for a very long time. St. John's wort is used as an antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, wound-healing, antidepressant, diuretic and cholagogue. Has grass and restorative effect on the body, thereby increasing its resistance to various diseases.

Benefits and harm of the herb St. John's Wort are as follows:

• Successful treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (colitis, gastritis).
• Removal of nervous excitation - acts on the nervous system as a sedative.
• Effective prevention of cardiovascular diseases (strengthens the heart muscle).
• Treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers.
• Normalization of the intestine (prevention of constipation, treatment of diarrhea).
• Treatment of diseases of the genitourinary system in women and men.
• Regulates the menstrual cycle, stops uterine bleeding.
• It is used for bronchitis and asthma.
• He treats bedwetting in adults and children.

The useful qualities of St. John's wort can continue to be enumerated endlessly, since long it has been considered a remedy for a hundred diseases. However, the grass is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance.

The disorderly use of folk remedies based on St. John's wort can cause significant harm to the body.

First, St. John's wort, the harm and benefit of which depends on certain factors, narrows the blood vessels, thereby increasing blood pressure.

Secondly, it is important not to allow an overdose of folk remedies and preparations based on St. John's wort. It can provoke abdominal cramps, cause headache, nausea and vomiting, increase testosterone levels in the blood of women.

Thirdly, long-term treatment may show a weak toxic effect on the body. It can not be used simultaneously with other medicines, since the plant reduces their medicamentous effect.

Fourth, it is strictly forbidden to combine medicinal preparations and decoctions on the basis of St. John's wort with spirits.

Contraindications for use

St. John's wort in any form can not be accepted:

• Pregnant and lactating women;
• With an increase in body temperature;
• People with high sensitivity to solar radiation;
• With individual intolerance.

All products prepared using St. John's wort should be taken only after consultation and at the doctor's prescription.

Tea from St. John's wort: benefit and harm

From St. John's wort, you can prepare a healing drink with a pleasant tart taste. Tea with St. John's wort, the benefits and harm of which has long been known, will help get rid of many ailments.

• Stop the diarrhea. It is enough to take a tablespoon of dried St. John's wort and yarrow and brew in a glass of boiling water. Strong tea is recommended to drink in the morning on an empty stomach.
• Stop bedwetting in children. For this purpose it is enough to drink a glass of tea from St. John's wort for a while before bedtime.
• Calm down the nervous system will help tea from St. John's wort and mint.
• To strengthen immunity it is possible, if daily to drink not strong tea from a St. John's wort and a dogrose.

How to make tea from St. John's wort

To make a really useful drink, you should learn how to make tea properly. To do this, you will need a porcelain teapot, which must be filled with boiling water before adding the grass.

A dry mixture is poured into the kettle at the rate of one teaspoon per glass of water. Then poured boiling water and tea from St. John's wort, the benefit and harm of which allow it to be used as a tonic and baking medicine, ready. Before pouring it into cups, it should be infused for at least 15 minutes.

Mixing St. John's wort with other herbs, leaves and berries, you can enrich the taste and healing composition of tea. For example, if you add oregano and hips, and let the raw material boil in boiling water for at least half an hour, you can get a tonic tonic.

A refreshing tea from St. John's wort, the benefit and harm of which has long been checked, will be prepared by adding to the dry mixture the leaves of black currant, raspberry or cherry. Such a drink will not only be useful, but especially fragrant.

How to prepare St. John's wort for the winter

St. John's wort harvest, as a rule, in July - on the feast of Ivan Kupala (7th). At this time it is precisely his flowering. For blanks are used not only the flowers of the plant, but also the upper part of the stem. Dried St. John's wort outdoors in a place protected from sunlight or in a well-ventilated room (for example, in an attic). Suitable for this and a special dryer for vegetables and fruits. The temperature regime should be set at 35-40 degrees.

St. John's wort, the harm and benefit of which has long been appreciated in both modern and alternative medicine, can be stored in bags of natural fabric, in cardboard boxes or paper bags for not more than two years.