Try it Before You Prescribe it: Making your own medicine – Lavender, Lemon Balm Calming Syrup
Posted Jul 01 2011 12:00am
So my east coast mentality really likes things to be simple and quick. This is a great example of how both of those principles are applied to making your own medicine. This can be used for many different herbs, depending on what combination you want to create! (e.g.: Ginger and mint, peppermint and lavender, Lemon and ginger, etc.)
Here are some great pictures of the calming syrup that I am in the process of making: Lemon Balm and Lavender (Both in the Lamiaceae = Mint family). It is really simple to make, you just need fresh lavender flowers, lemon balm leaves, and brown or white sugar. You want to alternate layers of sugar, lavender flowers, sugar, lemon balm leaves, sugar, and repeat.
The sugar is water solube, so it pulls out water soluble constituents out of the flowers and the leaves, leaving a nice syrupy residue, full of polysaccharides, which have demulcent, immune stimulating, and calming effects, volatile oils, which have antispasmodic effects, and flavonoids, which have anti-oxidant properties as well.
Both lavender and lemon balm are calming and can have a wide variety of effects including
> Reducing headaches, muscle spasms, tension in the body
> Calm anxiety and nervous tension (nervine, sedative, mild anti-depressant)
> Vasodilation to bring more blood flow to areas
> Anti-oxidant
> Helpful with insomnia
So my east coast mentality really likes things to be simple and quick. This is a great example of how both of those principles are applied to making your own medicine. This can be used for many different herbs, depending on what combination you want to create! (e.g.: Ginger and mint, peppermint and lavender, Lemon and ginger, etc.)
Here are some great pictures of the calming syrup that I am in the process of making: Lemon Balm and Lavender (Both in the Lamiaceae = Mint family). It is really simple to make, you just need fresh lavender flowers, lemon balm leaves, and brown or white sugar. You want to alternate layers of sugar, lavender flowers, sugar, lemon balm leaves, sugar, and repeat.
The sugar is water solube, so it pulls out water soluble constituents out of the flowers and the leaves, leaving a nice syrupy residue, full of polysaccharides, which have demulcent, immune stimulating, and calming effects, volatile oils, which have antispasmodic effects, and flavonoids, which have anti-oxidant properties as well.
Both lavender and lemon balm are calming and can have a wide variety of effects including > Reducing headaches, muscle spasms, tension in the body
> Calm anxiety and nervous tension (nervine, sedative, mild anti-depressant)
> Vasodilation to bring more blood flow to areas
> Anti-oxidant
> Helpful with insomnia