Medicinal Herbs

Medicinal plants have been with us since prehistoric times and still continue in the form of medicines, lotions, and infusions. Naturopathic Therapies include the use of plants and the extraction of compounds from medicinal herbs. Learn how to get the most out of them.

There are many scientific tests and analyses that reflect what medicinal herbs can do for us in the prevention and cure of diseases.

For this, it is necessary to know in depth how to collect and manipulate each one of them, always with sufficient scientific rigor to be able to use their properties without risk of side effects or toxicities.

What Are Medicinal Herbs And Plants?

Within the plant world, we find many different types of plants. Those of which of their parts can be used to produce some benefit in animals and people and are considered medicinal plants.

The way they work is based on their active principles. Substances that through enzymatic processes the plant is able to produce (in leaves, roots, stems, flowers, or fruits), based on alkaloids, polyphenols, glycosides, and terpenes.

Most of them, as long as they have an application in medicine, have been extracted and synthesized to produce medicines that nobody questions today, hence the importance of these types of plants with medicinal action.

Ways To Prepare Medicinal Herbs and Plants

• Infusion: pour in a cup one to two leaves or any part of the plant, boiled water, and let stand for at least 5 minutes. Drink warm 2 to 3 times a day.
• Cooking: it is prepared by pouring the leaves directly over boiling water for about 30 min. It can be done on woody parts and roots of plants.
• Extracts: macerations are prepared with water or alcohol.
• Tinctures: macerations of fresh parts on alcohol at 70%, leaving the mixture for 10 days to 1 month.
• Syrups: dilutions with a concentration of 150 to 200 grams of sugar and 100 ml of water, together with the fresh parts.
• Powder: the dry part of the plants (including the leaves) is pulverized.
• Drops: from the preparation through infusions for oral administration.
• Juice: extraction of the sap by mechanical pressure.
• Maceration: leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds are crushed and mixed with alcohol, wine, oil or brandy.
• Baths: prepared from parts of plants subjected to a decoction or concentrated infusion.
• Poultice: direct application of the plant extract on the affected area or to be treated.
• Compresses: direct application utilizing warm compresses from the decoction or infusion of the herb.
• Inhalation: aspiration of the vapors obtained from the decoction or infusion of the medicinal herb plant.

How Can We Use These Medicinal Plants?

Since ancient times, there have been several ways to use and apply the extracts of each of these medicinal plants.

Whether externally (applications through poultices, oil massages, soaked gauze, baths, etc.) or topically (seeds, consumption of fresh flowers, decoctions, balms), we can benefit from the different potential effects.

These properties have been studied in numerous investigations and published in scientific journals of worldwide interest. Therefore, contraindications and allergies that may cause us, either because they are incompatible with our body or we have not used the recommended dosage, are also disclosed.

How To Prepare Infusions With Natural Plants

• To prepare a decoction, we usually use parts of plants (leaves, flowers, stems, or roots) that are previously dried.
• We crumble the parts of the plant into small pieces, according to the recommended amount, and place them in the teapot or pot.
• As a general rule, we usually select between 1 and 2 small spoonfuls of herb for each cup of water (200-300 ml).
• Put on the fire and boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Afterward, strain out the solid remains and allow them to warm before consuming.

How To Dry Medicinal Herbs s

The best preservation of the active principles of medicinal plants is their conservation in the plant or the tree. However, it is not always practical and within our reach.

At the moment of cutting the flowers, bunches, or parts of the plant, the enzymatic balance is broken and the composition of these extracts can be modified, which is not desirable.

The sooner the drying process of the different medicinal herbs takes place, the more intact the active principles, initially dependent on water, will remain.

Within the drying process, we have several options to preserve the medicinal properties:

Drying Medicinal Herbs Directly In The Sun

• The fastest way to dry any part of the medicinal plant would be directly under solar exposure. This would follow the premise that we have said before of “the sooner it dries the better”, but it does not comply with other conditions.

Direct drying in the sun will not be possible for all plants since we can have these disadvantages:

• Volatilization or evaporation of essential oils. Specially linked to the aromatic plants that we will use to make oils and infusions.
• Denaturation of vitamins and trace elements due to sudden changes in humidity and temperature.
• Drying in a cool, dry place
• Drying in a dry and cool place, in the shade, is the most suitable for the correct conservation of medicinal plants.

Of course, drying will take much longer, but it is safer and the preservation of essential oils is greater. When looking for the ideal environment, we will have to choose those environments where there is no humidity (or it is below 60%).

Some air should circulate so that the environment does not become rancid and cause rotting in some parts, as can happen with flowers.

Where To Keep Herbs And Medicinal Plants

Where To Place The Leaves for Naturopathic Therapies

Any surface where we can spread the leaves of the medicinal plant, such as a metallic or wooden surface, will suffice. It is important to change their position relatively often or to choose a porous material (a grid or paper, for example) so that some air can circulate over all parts of the leaf.

Where To Place The Medicinal Flowers for Naturopathic Therapies

We will make bouquets with the flowers, and we will hang them upside down in a place where the air circulates and there is no direct sun. It is important not to make very compact bouquets so that oxygen can enter all parts of the flower.

In the past, it was hung from the bars of a window. This method is effective if it is protected from the sun’s rays, is covered with rain and there is not much temperature variation.

Where To Place The Medicinal Roots for Naturopathic Therapies

The roots are one of the most delicate and complicated parts of a medicinal plant to dry, but they have many medicinal properties.

Once cut, it is advisable to cut the stems and leave only the wide roots. The fastest way to allow them to dry is to cut them into small slices and place them as you would the leaves, that is to say, spread out and separated on a grid that allows the passage of air, turning them frequently.

Naturopathic Therapies include the use of infusions and a variety of ways to extract the compounds of medicinal herbs and plants. Learn how to get the best in the posts of this section.