Herbal Medicines

History

Herbal medicine has been around since before recorded history. Cave paintings in France, radiocarbon-dated to before 13,000 BC, show the use of plants as healing agents. Herbalism was intimately connected to religious practices, and was frequently the jealously-guarded preserve of shamans, or “witch doctors”. The use of herbs as medicine pervades all cultures. The earliest written records date back over 5000 years in Western culture to the Sumerian civilization. In the East, the Siddha, Unani and Ayurvedic systems from India arose long before the Christian era, and are still practiced today. And traditional Chinese herbology is still thriving as well. Africa has a long history of herbal remedies, strongly influenced by its links with trading partners from both East and West. Native Americans hold to the belief that illness is caused by a disturbance in one’s balance with nature, and can be cured by rituals that often include the use of herbal medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of the world’s population uses herbal medicine for some aspect of primary health care. Many pharaceuticals being used today by physicians were originally used as herbal remedies, including aspirin, digitalis, and quinine. In recent years, scientists have been searching all over the world for natural sources of phytochemicals that might be developed into treatments for various diseases. The WHO estimates that 25% of drugs presently in use in the U.S. were derived from plants.

Philosophy

Despite the fact that herbal medicines have a long history of use, the fact that in most cases their effectiveness has not been scientifically proven has led to a controversy between herbalists and mainstream medicine. In Western culture, the rise of modern medical practice brought with it a decline in the use of herbal medicines. This gave rise to the notion that such remedies were nothing more than “old wives tales.” In recent years, however, herbalism has come to be recognized by many as an alternative, or sometimes complementary method of treatment. In my research for this article, I discovered that there are basically four groups, each espousing differing points of view regarding the use of herbal remedies:

1) herbalists.

2) pharaceutical manufacturers, sometimes aided by physicians.

3) vitamin and mineral supplement manufacturers, with some help from herbalists .

4) governmental institutions.

I will try not to take sides here. There is no need for animosity between these factions. In all that I have read, there is a concern for the safety and well-being of those who would use herbal remedies. But each group has its own vested interest which slants its perspective to more or less of a degree.

To be continued

In the next installment, I will describe the viewpoints of the four factions above. References will be given to websites which illustrate the ideas presented.

The modern world is one where we live a very fast-paced life. Everything is a rush. We meet deadlines, pay bills, we sleep late to catch up with work and wake up very early so we can beat traffic. We hustle just to make ends meet. For this reason, we depend on stress as it allows us to be able to do things that we can’t normally do. For instance, it makes super moms out of women.

In return, we risk developing chronic stress; the type of stress that doesn’t go away. This is because we rarely have time to take a breather and we subject ourselves to the same stress over and over everyday until it takes its toll on us. While there are various stress relief exercises such as yoga or tips and tricks such as taking breaks and deep breathing, the true relief from stress can only be achieved with a positive mindset. Unfortunately, we don’t have the time to think things over either.

We usually go to the doctor when we start feeling the effects of chronic stress. Naturally, they would prescribe a couple of medicines to help us out. But these medicines, when taken for a long period of time, which we need to do because chronic stress IS long lasting,; can bring various side effects that affect our eating and sleeping habits Some can even cause impotency. This makes people look for alternative medicines to help them relax. Most of the herbal medications are being validated by the medical community for safety, but there are a lot of them that really work.

Herbal medicines often come in capsules. There are also some that can be used as tea. Most herbal medicines have specific areas of target, depending on where stress is affecting you most. For instance, Ginseng, which is commonly included in multivitamins, is good for handling stress. Peppermint is good for your digestive system when it’s not working well due to stress. Hawthorne berries and Linden flowers, on the other hand are good for breathing issues or when you’re palpitating due to anxiety or stress.

Stress leads to anxiety. Anxiety is a state of mind filled with worry. Some of the herbal medicines are not only developed for better stress management, but for anxiety management as well. While we wait to have the time to be able to think positively of things, herbal medicines can help us in the meantime.