St. John's wort - the benefits and harms of healing herbs

St. John's wort is of several types, but each of them is actively used by therapists in the treatment of various ailments. On the basis of this healing herb produced drugs and infusions. St. John's wort is low toxic, unlike other medicinal plants, and is easy to store.

Grass with yellow buds grows up to 80 cm in height. Her collection is made in August. St. John's wort can be found in the form of a shrub and even a tree, but the healing properties of any kind are proven by clinical trials.

What is St. John's wort grass?

St. John's wort is a healing herb. The stem can be dihedral and tetrahedral. This plant grows along roads, on forest edges and glades. The name was obtained from the Kazakh healers, who called this herb a healer of wounds.

St. John's wort can be purchased at any pharmacy or assemble yourself: to dry and store. Its cost varies around 70 rubles. From inflorescences prepare infusions and decoctions, add to ointments for external use, squeeze the oil and even use it in its natural form for masks and lotions.

On a note! St. John's Wort is sold in the form of alcohol tinctures and oils, but the usual dry herb has no less amount of medicinal substances.

The composition and beneficial properties of Hypericum

"Healer wounds" has a very rare composition.

Doctors and traditional healers appreciate the plant for its rich content of beneficial substances, such as:

1. Rutin
2. Quercetin.
3. Vitamin C.
4. A nicotinic acid.
5. Saponin.
6. Glucose.
7. Carotene.
8. Tocopherol.
9. Hypericin.
10. Essential oils.

St. John's wort is effective in the following cases:

1. With rheumatism.
2. With colds.
3. In diseases of the heart system.
4. With headache.
5. With pathologies of the liver, stomach.
6. When hemorrhoids.
7. With inflammation of the ovaries.
8. With inflammation of the bladder.
9. When a mental disorder.

On a note! St. John's wort is the only plant that has a significant effect on the nervous system and is prescribed for depression.

Harvesting and storage of Hypericum

This herb is harvested during flowering. The main condition for the collection is to tear it up by the root, and not to cut off the tops, since the main accumulation of useful substances is at the root. It is not necessary to collect St. John's Wort by the road, although it grows there in abundance. Choose to collect a clearing or forest edge. To dry the grass you need to immediately: either collect in small bundles and hang in the shed, or pack in a plastic bag, making small holes in it to allow air to enter.

Store in a dry place where the sun's rays do not fall. St. John's Wort is not afraid of cold, so the barn at the dacha is perfect.

Medicinal properties of Hypericum

St. John's wort has a mass of healing properties. The main ones are:

1. Antibacterial.
2. Antiseptic.
3. Painkillers
4. Wound healing.
5. Diuretic.
6. Biliary excretion.
7. Regenerating.

As well as the plant removes parasites from the body, has a positive dynamic in rheumatism, cleanses the blood vessels and normalizes the work of the heart.

If you regularly drink broth "healer of wounds", then the inflammatory processes in the intestine and duodenum stop. Lotions with decoction of this herb help get rid of age spots on the body. Chronic nasal congestion is also perfectly treated by this plant. Using tincture cleaned the liver and kidneys. Many doctors recommend it for alcoholism.

On a note! Brew the St. John's Wort with tea leaves just for prevention. It improves mood and tone throughout the body.

Application of Hypericum

The "healer of wounds" is used not only as a treatment for various diseases, but also used by cosmetologists and folk healers. St. John's wort tones the skin, slows down the aging process, acts as an anti-seboric remedy and reduces inflammation both inside the body and outside.

Consider the main areas of application:

1. Acne on the face and body. Wash broth 3 times a day, and the rash will be a week. For cooking you will need 1 tbsp. 200 g of boiling water.
2. If a person has very oily skin, then regular washing with a decoction of this herb will quickly remove the unaesthetic shine of the face and normalize the work of the sebaceous glands.
3. A grass mask or ice cubes made from a decoction will slow down the aging of the skin, relieve dead skin cells and deeply clean the pores.
4. Regular rinsing hair with decoction will help their growth and relieve dandruff. Often used for baldness.
5. Effectively treats pus on the skin and heals cracks on the heels.

On a note! This is just a small list of beneficial actions of this herb. Dry St. John's wort or its tincture should be in every home and regularly used to cleanse the body.

Folk recipes

St. John's wort can be used in the form of alcoholic infusion or decoction. The main condition: the correct cooking grass.

Consider the most effective recipes:

1. Treating colds with tea from this dried herb. If the St. John's wort was going to on its own, then first you need to grind it, the pharmaceutical preparation is sold already crushed. In addition to the usual teapot leaves, add 1 teaspoon of herbs to the teapot and brew. You can drink after 15 minutes, preferably 3 times a day, and the cold will subside.
2. If you brew 1 tablespoon of herbs in 100 ml of boiling water and add this composition to the bath, you will get aromatherapy. The same tool can be rinsed hair after washing, so that they are more shiny. With regular use will be dandruff, itching and dry scalp.
3. Oil from this herb is easy to prepare. It will require only inflorescences in large quantities. You need to put them in a glass jar, without tamping, and pour 100 g of linseed oil so that it completely covers the flowers. Insist for a month in a bright room. Then filter and squeeze. The fact that everything is done correctly, will indicate a bright garnet color. Apply to the treatment of damaged skin, burns and as a face mask.

Contraindications and side effects of Hypericum

Doctors are allowed to use the "healer of wounds" for a long time. If you add St. John's wort daily in tea in small quantities, you can drink all your life without a break. Remember that the broth should not be brewed tight, otherwise it will taste bitter.

Despite this, there are some contraindications and side effects:

1. In exchange receiving broth Hypericum can not be long in the sun, sea trips are contraindicated.
2. Some components of this herb increase the pressure, so hypertensive patients better to abandon it.
3. If a person has had a organ transplant, then St. John's Wort is better to exclude from treatment. It can cause rejection.
4. If a woman uses contraception, you need to know that St. John's wort reduces the effectiveness of these drugs and there is a risk of becoming pregnant.
5. Excessive consumption of broth lowers the potency, can help to increase the liver.
6. Some people have exacerbation of manic syndrome.
7. Hypericum can not be taken with other drugs for depression.
8. A decoction of this herb neutralizes antibiotics, so when taking these funds St. John's wort is better to exclude.
9. When taking decreases the concentration of indinavir in the body.

On a note! Doctors advise limiting admission to older people. If a person is to be given anesthesia in the near future, then the broth should be stopped drinking the week before.

Interesting Facts

This herb began to grow long before the appearance of people. She fed on animals and dinosaurs. In the Middle Ages, people believed that a dry besom of Hypericum drove away evil spirits, and he was a talisman in every home.

Consider more interesting facts and legends about this medicinal herb:

1. The twig of the plant was put to the babies in bed or sewn into the pillow so that they would not dream terrible dreams.
2. If the child was once frightened, and he developed a phobia, then he made a pendant: a small bag in which they stitched the grass of St. John's wort and hung on the neck.
3. On the yellow inflorescences of this grass, unmarried girls used to guess: they love-dislike. Or they squeezed the stems, and if pink juice appeared on the hands, it meant that the feeling was mutual, and if it was colorless, it was unrequited.
4. Going on a campaign, the knights took a bag of hypericum with them on the road. He frightened wild beasts during an overnight stay in nature and defended from forest bandits.
5. One legend says that St. John's wort grew up on the battlefield after a bloody battle. The commander of the Russian detachment was John the Baptist, and Christians called the plant "Ivan's blood."

In ancient times, people were convinced that St. John's wort not only helps in the fight against evil forces and evil people, but also cures any disease. The benefits and healing properties of Hypericum were proved later.