WHAT IS HERBAL MEDICINE?
Herbal medicine, herbalism, phytotherapy and botanical medicine are all terms which refer to traditional or folk medicine in which the cures or treatments involve using extracts of plants. The reason that plants have medicinal properties is probably because of the defense mechanisms of plants. This natural mechanism helps plants fend off predators like microorganisms, insects, and animals. These defense mechanisms work by making the plant produce certain substances within them that keep predators or diseases at bay. Practitioners of herbal and natural medicine merely found a way to acquire these substances to help humans fend off diseases as well.
Although some form of herbal medicine has been in existence since the era of the caveman, herbal medications have - at one time or another been used by people belonging to almost every culture of the world through history. However, in the ancient cultures of India such medicine has always been taken very seriously and ancient books on medicine unearthed in these parts of the world show that the herbal practitioners worked on perfecting their concoctions with every experience they had.
ADVANTAGES OF HERBAL MEDICINE
The main advantage of herbal medicines and the reason these are gaining popularity in modern times is because they are completely natural medicines and hence do not have chemical components. This translates into fewer side-effects and a lower chance of the patient's exhibiting an allergic reaction to the constituents of the herbal medicine.
UNANI MEDICATION
Unani system of Medicine owes its origin to Greece. It was the Greek philosopher - Physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC) who freed Medicine from the realm of susperstition and magic, and gave it the status of Science. The theoretical framework of Unani Medicine is based on the teachings of Hippocrates. After a number of other Greek Scholars enriched the system considerably Continue reading
AYURVEDA MEDICATION
Ayurvedic medicine originated in the early civilizations of India some 3,000-5,000 years ago. It is mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient religious and philosophical texts that are the oldest surviving literature in the world, which makes Ayurvedic medicine the oldest surviving healing system. According to the texts, Ayurveda was conceived by enlightened wise men as a system of living Continue reading
SIDDHA MEDICATION
Generally the basic concepts of the Siddha medicine are almost similar to Ayurveda. The only difference appears to be that the Siddha medicine recognizes predominance of vatham, pitham and kapam in childhood, adulthood and old age respectively, whereas in Ayurveda it is totally reversed: kapam is dominant in childhood, vatham in old age and pitham in adults Continue reading