subject: The Medicinal Qualities of Herbal Tea [print this page] The Medicinal Qualities of Herbal Tea The Medicinal Qualities of Herbal Tea
Besides water, tea is by far the most consumed beverage in the world, and has been so for over five thousand years. Tea has been a favorite of every human culture across the world and through time. It shouldn't be very surprising, then, that tea is extremely healthy for us. Tea not only hydrates and refreshes the body, it also contains many nutrients which help prevent cancer, boost the metabolism, regulate cholesterol, and flood the body with antioxidants.
This article focuses on the medicinal properties of herbal teas in particular. While black teas and green teas are made from the same tea plant, herbal tea refers to any tea which is made from other things, such as herbs, fruits, vegetables, flowers, seeds, or roots. Just like regular tea, hot water is poured over the ingredients and allowed to steam for a few minutes.
Many people use herbal tea to help with depression and anxiety because certain herbs have a calming effect on the body and mind. Calming herbs include St. John's Wort, Skullcap, Oatstraw, and Kava. Stomach ulcers are very painful and although they have been notoriously difficult to treat, herbal tea provides a great remedy. You can prepare a licorice root tea which consists of half a teaspoon of licorice root powder, boiled in water for ten minutes. Drinking this tea twice daily has proven to be a great relief for ulcer sufferers; however it should be remembered that drinking any herbal tea in excess can have negative effects as well and licorice tea in particular can be harmful if excessively consumed.
One of the most effective uses of herbal teas is to settle the stomach and assist in digestion. Mint teas are well proven to not only be great stomach soothers, but to also help relieve heartburn and gallstones. Mint teas are very easy on the body and contain no caffeine; as such they are an excellent way to settle down the stomach for those regular everyday stomach aches.
Many herbal teas are soothing, and some even help sedate the body and induce sleep. Chamomile tea is a very pleasant tea which acts as a natural and mild sedative to help the body calm down. In fact it is used in hospitals expressly for this purpose. So before opting for strong sleeping pills, try chamomile tea because it has been scientifically proven to cure insomnia.
One last benefit of herbal tea, and a somewhat strange one at that, is to reduce the growth of unwanted hair. Believe it or not but spearmint tea has been shown to be highly effective in reducing the amount of unwanted hair growth.
Herbal teas are thus a great way to treat minor ailments. Starting with a cup of tea and seeing the results before opting for more dangerous and side-effect inducing prescriptions is always a good idea. While herbal teas can cure everything, they can often provide significant relief for particular conditions.
