How is herbal medicine important in the modern world?
Herbal medicine can often be seen as an ‘alternative’ therapy that is not fully or widely embraced by mainstream medicine or society. The truth is that herbal medicine is not an alternative medicine, but is instead a traditional medicine that uses the knowledge that has been handed down over the generations, it has been tried and tested and is now validated by gold standard evidence-based research. Therefore herbal medicine is a blend of traditional herbal knowledge and modern medical science.
I believe herbal medicine should be talked about and used a lot more in our modern world, as we look towards personal healing methods to support our minds and bodies to not only heal illness and imbalance in the body but prevent it too.
Quick fixes and the root cause of illness:
In our modern world, we so often look for quick fixes to make up feel better fast. We are used to having a problem and getting it fixed straight away. The problem with these quick fixes is that many of the medical quick fixes available do not address the root cause of ill health, leaving us dealing with the same problem a few weeks, months or years later. Although herbal medicine can take longer to yield results, it works at addressing the root cause of imbalance in the body. Think of herbal medicine as a “nudge” to signal the body to rebalance itself. Medicinal plants contain phytochemicals that rebalance and strengthen the body, providing long-term health benefits and addresses the root cause of illness, imbalance and disease.
Many of our diseases in the modern world can be linked to our diet and lifestyle. Stress and poor diet are linked to many of the main killer diseases in our society including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and mental health struggles. Herbal medicine can be used here for many modern diseases to support the body through stress, help detoxification, balance the nervous system, and reduce inflammation and so much more.
Antibiotic resistance and side effects:
Many modern medicines drugs also often cause unwanted side effects and are not tailored to our personal physical and mental needs. Sometimes people need to end up on another medication to balance the side effect caused by the first medication, causing stress on the body.
Herbal medicine (when used correctly and prescribed by a qualified medical herbalist) has no side effects, instead, it works by gently nudging the body into balance again.
Herbal medicine is also being greatly looked at in recent years as we reach a crisis in antibiotic resistance. New plants are being researched to understand how their antibiotic, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral abilities can be used to help us as we reach emergency status with antibiotic-resistant bacteria-related illness.
Personal touch:
Herbal medicine allows us to be incredibly personalised and specific for each individual, allowing the herbal formula to be changed and tailored to the individual every week if need be. This is vital as the body is continuously changing, therefore the ability to change the content of your personalized herbal medicine allows a medical herbalist to ensure the best results for you.
Mental health:
Herbal medicine is vital in the modern world and this couldn’t be more true in 2020. As rates of anxiety and depression increase, it is time to look at how we can support the body and mind in a totally holistic approach.
Herbal medicine is an incredibly valuable tool when dealing with mental health as it can help in many different ways such as:
– Muscle relaxants (to aid with stress and sleep)
– Adaptogens (to support the body through stress)
– Antidepressant (roles such as increasing serotonin)
– Mild sedatives to aid with natural quality sleep
– Anxiolytics to support the nervous system and reduce anxiety
– Nervine tonic (supports the nervous system bring it into the parasympathetic state)
To conclude, there are so many reasons herbal medicine is important in our modern world and modern lives. Herbal medicine provides us with a healing tool that works with the bodies natural processes, does not have side effects, addresses the underlying root cause of ill health, supports the mind and body and is highly personal, therefore targets exactly what is going on for that individual at any given moment in time.
If you are interested in finding out more about how herbal medicine can help you then feel free to get in touch!
Francesca@flnaturopathy.com
www.flnaturopathy.com
Note:
I believe there is always a time and place for modern medicine drug use. This can be addressed case by case. The question is if there is another option such as herbal medicine that can be used instead of or alongside modern medicine to help reduce side effects and address the root cause of the problem, then I believe it is worth trying.