These Healing Herbs Are Perfect for Summer Heat
The top 3 healing herbs to help you get through the summers.
Different seasons bring with them different forms of enjoyment as well as health problems. In winters, we can enjoy the warmth of bonfires but cold and flu may dampen our spirits sometimes. Similarly, summer season has its own share of fun activities and health concerns.
Hydration is very important during the summer. Perhaps everyone has experienced a time when no matter how much water you drink, there seems to be no way to quench your thirst. You must have also felt a time when the humidity and the heat seems to penetrate right through your body and stays right there. When things like these happen again this summer, gulping down some soothing herb can help you get through the heat, with flying colors!
Herbs in the form of teas or other beverages can cool down your body naturally. Some of the most widely-used herbs include raspberry leaves, lemon balm, catnip, mint leaves, rose petals, chamomile, alfalfa, thyme, strawberry leaves and rose hips. Kitchen herbs such as rosemary, fennel and marjoram are also effective summer soothers. You can even make your own herbal tea blends to contain a combination of these refreshing and flavorful herbs. In fact, you can make your own mineral rich and zesty herbal drinks from almost any edible herb.
Herbal beverages are quite simple to do. It can be as easy as adding just a few mint leaves when brewing your next cup of green tea. Or it can be as sophisticated as floating one bright blue borage flower petal over a glass of white wine. There are plenty of recipes and choices that you can choose from. The simplest refreshing herbal drink can be made by adding 6 ounces of boiling water into a teaspoon of fresh or dried herb, and allowing it to steep for about 5 to 10 minutes. You can add in honey afterwards if you prefer a bit of added sweetness.
Herbal beverages are definitely more thirst-quenching than water. Herbal tonics and beverages not only quench your deep down thirst and help you avoid dehydration, but they naturally cool down your body from within. If you want something to go with your refreshing drink, you can pair it with salad greens topped with the zestiest seasoning and fresh herbs. These are definitely healthy and effortless ways to cool down your body naturally and to enjoy the weather.
Here are 3 top healing herbs which can help you get through the summer with lots of enjoyment by keeping summer related health problems away.
1. Lemon Balm
Lemon Balm is an excessively helpful herb in healing exhaustion and fatigue caused by heat. It is a member of the mint family. This herb has an appealing smell and tastes like lemons. Many herbalists recommend lemon balm to people who have to stay long hours in the sun to cure fatigue caused due to heat. It has a cooling effect on the body and also has anti-depression properties. This herb is also helpful in treating cold sores. Lemon balm does not have any known interaction with any medicine hence it can be taken by elders as well as kids alike. Adding some herb concoction in water or lemon balm herbal tea on a hot summer day will keep you fresh and energetic. If you have lemon herb growing in your herbal garden then just chop little leaves or stem and boil it in water to make a fresh lemon balm tea.
2. Lavender
We all are aware that aloe vera is a good plant to treating burns. However, the cooling action of aloe vera may not be enough to treat sunburns. We need something stronger like Lavender. Take a spray bottle fill it with clean water and mix ten to fifteen drops of lavender oil in it. Whenever you go out in the sun spray some lavender water after coming back. Instead of water you can also use lemon balm herbal tea and add lavender oil in it, this will increase the cooling action.
Lavender has many more health benefits. You can use it soothe sore muscles. Mix two or three drops of essential lavender oil in a teaspoon of base oil and massage it on the area with sore muscles. Any tense muscles can be healed by massaging with lavender oil mix.
If you have headache after spending long hours in the sun then massage your head using lavender essential oil on your forehead and your neck. Also sip some cooled lemon balm herbal tea to cool your body.
3. Plantain
Plantain is an herbaceous plant (do not confuse it with the banana known as plantain). It has many herbal benefits. You can use this herb to cure burns, bee stings, bug bite, abrasions, cuts, itchy mosquito bite, and abrasions. You can use it raw as well as procure plantain essential oil or tincture to use it in your everyday life. Plantain herb is helpful in drawing out objects or poison from the body, be it a stuck splinter or even insect poison. Take a leaf of this plant and rub it on the affected area, this will help ease the itchiness. You can make a paste of the leaves and place it on the affected area and tie it with a bandage. You can also take leaves of plantain and boil it in water. Make a hot or cold compress by dipping it in the water and place it on the affected area.
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References:
http://herbscancure.com/blog/
http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com
