St. John’s Wort: Learn about the different healing properties of St. John’s wort
St. John’s Wort: Learn about the different healing properties of St. John’s wort. In a few days he is St. John the Baptist. Various popular beliefs are linked to this anniversary, for example that in the night between 23 and 24 June walnuts must be collected to prepare the nocino liqueur.
Another tradition links the name of St. John with a medicinal herb that has various medicinal uses and which is also known as “St. John’s wort”, even if the most common name today is “St. John’s wort”.
Characteristics of hypericum
Hypericum (Hypericum perforatum) is a perennial plant that has been used for centuries in the popular pharmacopoeia to treat wounds, burns and inflammation of the skin, but also psychological states such as anxiety and depression.
Hippocrates, in the fourth century BC, he advised him in case of colds, insomnia and hysteria.
Also Paracelso, a Swiss doctor of the fifteenth century (the name, not very humble, meant “greater than Celsus”, that is, greater than the medical treatise Aulo Cornelio Celso, of the first century AD) recommended it to treat anxiety, depression and problems neurological, as well as for wounds and burns.
In the middle age, a sprig of this plant was hung on doors and windows to ward off demons, nightmares and other supposedly evil presences.
It was then custom, in various European countries, to spend the whole night of St. John dancing and with the head adorned with this plant. When the party was over, then, the flowers of St. John’s wort were thrown over the roofs of the houses as a talisman against lightning.
St. John’s wort from a modern point of view
In hypericum, various active substances can be found. For example: hypericin, hyperforin, rutin and quercetin (the latter two are flavonoids, antioxidants), plant sterols, tannins, vitamins C and A, choline.
In modern herbal medicine, hypericum is indicated against the symptoms of moderate depression, but it has been seen that the plant can also be effective against other mood disorders.
For example for premenstrual syndrome, for seasonal depression (for example in autumn), for disorders related to menopause.
Hypericum oil
In the form of oil, hypericum proves useful, for use external, in case of burns, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, erythema caused by sunstroke, pain in the muscles, treatment of the post cesarean wound.
In his pocket a degree in food science, on his fingers a great passion for writing. I am particularly interested in the themes of recycling and do-it-yourself, but I like to write about any subject, as long as it is curious and engaging. and I like photography and travel.
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