A Herb called Chamomile:
The Official Story
Most people know of Chamomile tea as the drink that helps a person go to sleep, but do people know that it is a common cure-all? No, this is not a witch’s potion. Chamomile just has so many benefits, whether taken internally or applied topically, that it almost seems like a magical drink.
When I first began drinking Chamomile tea, I did so because I needed something natural to help me go to sleep. At that time in my life, I was having newborn baby boys, and my sleep schedule kept getting out of whack, with everything the pregnancy hormones brought me. I just had to get some sleep. Therefore, I set out on a hunt for something natural, non-addictive, and with few to no side effects, and landed upon Chamomile tea. I combined my newfound knowledge with foods I already knew help a person relax and help with insomnia, like bananas and raw honey, and started a new bed time routine, and slept until the baby woke-up again.
Inside both German and Roman species of Chamomile flowers are a group of compounds called azulenes, which are categorized into types, three of which are: Chamazulene, Prochamazulene, Guaiazulene. These azulene compounds, “give the extracted oil a deep ink blue color and there is a slight rubbery tone to the odor,” (Heinerman, Dr., 23). So, is Chamomile tea a blue drink? No, not quite, although it is more of a yellow color in my cup, but that is because the tea has been stored longer than the extracted oil, so the oil sports that magnificent blue color until it begins to fade from deep green to yellow which is the color of the two. After I drink the yellow colored cup of tea, not the ink-blue extract, I start to relax for a restful night. Relax mind, body, and muscles. Chamomile relaxes your muscles, like your brain, and therefore I feel ready to fall asleep, but what happens when you wake-up?
The reason Chamomile tea is classified as a healing herb is because the 120 secondary metabolites that have been identified in Chamomile, including 28 terpenoids and 36 flavonoids in both types of Chamomile. These, plus others, are the health benefits in the tea that heal your body, by fighting inflammation, and as a preventive. Here is a list of health problems that Chamomile tea is commonly used to cure:
- Hay Fever
- Inflammation
- Muscle Spasms
- Menstrual Disorders
- Insomnia
- Ulcers
- Wounds
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Rheumatic Pain
- Hemorrhoids
- Anxiety
- Digestive Problems
- Depression
- Osteoarthritis
- Immune Stimulation
- Arthritis
What a List! These do not even include topical uses!
How to Prepare to Tea:
- 2 – 3 heaping teaspoons of flowers per cup of boiling water
- Steep for 10 – 20 minutes
Or
- Boil one cup of water
- Pour over tea bag
- Steep for 10 – 20 minutes
I hope you enjoy your tea!
If you already drink Chamomile tea, what do you add to it? Raw Honey, like me, or something else?
Tell me in the comments!
Bibliography
Castleman, Michael. “Chamomile.” The New Healing Herbs: The Essential Guide To More Than 130 Of Nature’ Most Potent Herbal Remedies, 4th ed., Rodale, 2017, pp. 145–149.
Heinerman, John. “Chamomile.”Healing Power of Herbs, Globe Communications Corp., 1997, pp. 23–23.
Srivastava, Janmejai K, et al. “Chamomile: A Herbal Medicine of the Past with Bright Future.” PubMed, US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 1 Nov. 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/.
Vincent, Wendy M. “Chapter 3 / Useful Healing Herbs.” The Complete Guide to Growing Healing and Medicinal Herbs: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply, 2nd ed., Atlantic Publishing Group, 2015, pp. 77–78.
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