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Thyme: useful properties and contraindications. Video
The beneficial properties of common thyme have been known to mankind for more than a century. Even the doctor Avicenna mentioned this plant and its beneficial effects on the body in his treatise “The Canon of Medicine”. Among the useful properties, the ancient Greek identified diuretics and antifungals, as well as the ability of thyme to relieve headaches.
Common thyme (popularly also called splinter, thyme or savory) is a small shrub up to 40–45 centimeters high. Small pinkish leaves of the plant are completely covered with small dots-glands, abundantly secreting essential oil. Small dark brown elliptical nuts also ripen on thyme. The shrub begins to bloom in late June – early July, and the plant ripens in September.
Thyme grows in the northern and temperate regions of Russia, as well as in Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The plant is abundantly found in Siberian forests, in the Urals and in the Crimea on the outskirts of pine forests
The healing properties of thyme
Modern herbalists and herbalists appreciate common thyme for its disinfecting and expectorant properties. Infusions from the plant are used in cases of upper respiratory tract disease, prolonged cough, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary inflammation and asthma. Moreover, thyme is effective not only during the peak of the disease, but also when the process subsides, contributing to a faster recovery.
Herbal gatherers especially appreciate the top leaves of the flowering common thyme. Gathering and harvesting occurs precisely during this period of the plant’s life. The bush does not need to be pulled out completely, only its tops are cut off, which are subsequently dried in the open air, but without direct sunlight. After drying, the resulting raw material is sieved. Large and thick branches are removed from it. Herbalists believe that thyme retains its beneficial properties for two years after being harvested and dried.
Contraindications for the use of thyme
When using thyme for medicinal purposes, it is important to remember that its main active ingredient is thymol. In case of its overdose in the human body, hyperfunction of the thyroid gland can develop, which will bring the body more harm than good.
It is not recommended to use the plant for women during pregnancy and lactation, as well as for people with kidney disease, duodenal ulcers and stomach
Thyme has been effective for bronchitis and bronchial asthma for more than a year. It is quite simple to prepare an infusion from a plant.
You will need two simple ingredients:
- XNUMX/XNUMX tablespoon dried thyme leaves
- one glass of boiled water
The medicinal herb is poured with water, after which it is infused in a thermos for 2-3 hours. You need to take the resulting infusion 3-4 times a day immediately after eating, one tablespoon.
If the medicine is given to a child, the dosage should be reduced to a teaspoon.
An infusion of several herbs (thyme, chamomile flowers and plantain) taken in equal proportions will help with laryngitis and dry throat. A tablespoon of herbal mass must be poured with the same glass of boiling water, insisted for an hour and a half and taken 15–20 minutes before each meal.
Thyme can also help heavy smokers who suffer from a strong chronic cough. You need to take one part of a dried plant, the same amount of dried or fresh black currant leaves, as well as two parts of flowers and hawthorn fruits. Then pour a tablespoon of the resulting mass with a glass of boiling water and insist for 5-6 hours in a closed thermos. The resulting infusion must be taken before a meal in a third of a glass.
Thyme is effective in undried form and in cases of exacerbation of musculoskeletal pain as a medicinal rub. It is also quite simple to prepare it: half a half-liter glass bottle is filled with fresh leaves of common thyme. Then the container is filled with vodka and left to infuse for 2–2,5 weeks. After this period, the tincture must be filtered.
Be sure to squeeze out the remnants of grass in clean gauze, in which the desired medicinal liquid may be hidden
The tincture can be used either directly for rubbing or drinking the medicine 30–40 drops after a meal.
The effectiveness of common thyme has also been proven in cases of purely male diseases – “problems” with the prostate and impotence. Moreover, the representatives of the stronger sex, who are not accustomed to taking care of their own health, do not need to spend a lot of time preparing a drink.
Boiling water is simply poured into a thermos, after which 2-3 tablespoons of dried thyme (for 2 liters of water) are added there, as well as a little St. John’s wort, oregano and mint. The infusion prepared in the evening is ready for use by a man the very next morning.
They will not reduce the beneficial properties of the drink, but, on the contrary, will improve and strengthen them St. John’s wort, linden and rose hips
Women may also like the following “recipe” for a thyme bath, which can soothe and cleanse irritated skin and face. 2-3 tablespoons of thyme are boiled in boiling water, then the infusion is filtered and poured into the bathroom. The time for such a procedure is no more than 15–20 minutes.
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