Health & Wellbeing
Gardener’s nemesis is great for health At last I managed to get out into the garden the other day. I had been feeling overwhelmed by what there was to do and so procrastinating. Luckily I managed to enlist the help of Tim who came and did some brilliant clearing for me and gave me the inspiration to crack on. Whilst doing this Tim said I had a problem with couchgrass. This was very exciting to me, as couchgrass is a good herb and to my shame I had no idea what it looked like. I am most certainly not an expert on grasses and I was having difficulty identifying it. Now I have been shown, the rhizomes and stolons make it much easier to spot. It creeps along and once you have it, it is very difficult to eradicate. I proudly said that it was a herb, but when asked what it did, couldn’t remember it all. So I have done a bit of research and it really is a very
useful, simple and effective herb to use. Primarily it is used for the urinary tract. It has lots of mucilage in the rhizomes (roots) which is always soothing for all the mucous membranes. It has diuretic and healing properties so it helps any inflammation and infection including cystitis or irritable bladder. It is reportedly good for prostatis and benign enlargement of the prostate, and helps to prevent and remove kidney stones and gravel. It contains silicic acid, which is great for healing after infections or for helping with urinary incontinence or bed wetting. It is very soothing throughout the gut and will help with any inflammation of the stomach, liver and gall bladder. The mucilage, most of which is undigestible, absorbs toxins from the intestine and adds bulk to the stool which then encourages the excretion of
wastes so it is helpful for gout Traditionally, boiling up the and its anti inflammatory roots was used as a spring action is good for arthritis. tonic and it can be used It is also good for the lungs, topically as a gargle or to with antimicrobial and anti speed up healing of wounds. inflammatory properties It is also very popular with helping to relieve irritating animals. Dogs when eating coughs and bronchitis. It is grass will often be eating said to clear catarrhal couchgrass to help with their congestion through its digestion. soothing actions on the mucosa of the nose and throat. The Fiona Chapman is silica in it studying naturopathy has a healing and herbal medicine at effect on the the College of lungs. Naturopathic Medicine
The pros and cons of living in a routine
The recent half term brought about a change of routine with hopefully less screen time and more just doing ‘stuff’ as our children felt like it. What is it about routines that are so good for us but so nice to get away from? If we have structured our lives so we follow a regular pattern, we are providing a skeleton on which the rest of our day can sit on. Additionally, routines allow our brains to operate more efficiently. As our daily actions and behaviour become routine, it means we do them automatically and without much thought. Cleaning our teeth, switching the kettle on for that ‘first cuppa’ – these are all things we do without really thinking, freeing our brainpower for more important things. But what about more consciously formed routines? We all have 54
specific tasks allocated to specific days of the week, ensuring the essential tasks are done as they need to be. But does it also mean we have more time for other things? The simple answer is, yes. In the same way that planning your week means you use your time as efficiently and effectively as possible, by having a routine for the regular jobs means we know that time is already allocated. We don’t need to worry about
when we are going to do something because we have it planned out. We are creatures of habit so it means we are more likely to remember the regular things. The cons? We have been living a much reduced version of our lives, on repeat, for a year. Just now we are probably viewing the routines of our lives with something wavering between irritation and despair. If the routines form the structure of
our lives and the skeleton on which creativity, stimulation, inspiration, learning, development and growth can sit, they really are only at their best if they have all those things following them. If we are just living through a series of routines, yes, they help us achieve and remember but there’s not much variety without all those things listed above. It’s about balance. We need both aspects to make the best use of our lives. This is key – to remain in control of our routines, not to be controlled by them. I hope, as we begin the slow process out of Lockdown, we can embrace the security and liberty that routines bring to our lives. Alice Johnsen is a life coach based just outside Sherborne. 07961 080513 alicejohnsen.co.uk
