The name of the plant sage in Latin sounds like salvia "salvere", which means - to be healthy. The great Hippocrates spoke of salvia with reverence "sacred grass", and the ancient Greeks argued that sage is a plant that conquers death. Salvia (sage) has many species, and it is not easy to distinguish which sage is medicinal.
This garden flowers with scarlet, black and blue small flowers, collected in high thin bunches. They till the end of September decorate with themselves beds and rabatki. In the people, this plant is called salvia. There is clary sage - Salvia sclarea. And there is medicinal sage - Salvia officinalis.
Salvia officinalis: Description
Salvia (sage) - perennial. Sage grows low half a pot. The stem is hard and hard at the base of the bush. The bush is well ramified and grows no higher than half a meter. Stems profusely leafy. Blue or lilac small flowers of sage medicinal have a short leg and are collected in the shape of an ear. Sage leaves are elongated, muted green, with a slightly uneven surface of the leaf plate. 
The natural habitat of sage - the Mediterranean highlands. In our area, sage medicinal has taken root in flower beds, we are loved and appreciated by gardeners for their pleasant smell and healing properties. The plant is a wonderful melliferous plant, and honey mixed with sage is beautiful, dark with a golden sheen.
The chemical composition of medicinal sage
Sage is rich flavonoids, alkaloids and tannins, phytoncides and bitterness. He has oleanolic, ursolic and chlorogenic acids. The plant is a supplier nicotinic acid, bitterness and phytoncids. Sage essential oil is valuable in high content terpene compounds.
From the salvia greenery (sage) emit camphor. Camphor oil - the main tool for the treatment of pressure ulcers in bedridden patients.
How useful medicinal sage
It has long been using sage to treat viral diseases, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys.
Did you know? In sage, not only leaves, flowers and seeds are curative, but also roots.
Sage Roots and its properties have long been used as an analgesic for rheumatism, arthritis and pain in the joints. When inflammation of the lymph nodes, furunculosis, mastitis and myalgicheskoy dysmenorrhea.Preparationscontaining sage officinalis, used for ulcers and skin disorders. Sage helps in the case of gingivitis, mumps, burns and ulcers. In gynecology, sage and preparations based on it are also often used, mainly in the form of douches, candles and lotions with decoction.
Also, the herb is used in the treatment of infertility in women. Salvia officinalis is an unusual plant, and the properties of sage are unique. It helps with inflammatory processes, promotes blood clotting and has diuretic properties.
The use of sage in traditional medicine
This plant is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases and for cosmetic purposes.
How sage to cure a cold
For colds, bronchitis, sore throats, rinse sage throat, make inhalation. 
- Sage Tea with Honey helps with coughing For the preparation of such tea 1 tbsp. a spoonful of herbs pour 1 tbsp. boiling water and allowed to stand for a quarter of an hour, then dissolved in the infusion of 1 tbsp. a spoon of honey. This herbal tea is drunk 3 times during the day.
- With wheezing and colds, bronchi become inhalation: Sage oil (1-2 g) is immersed in boiling water over low heat, covered with a towel and carefully inhale the herbal vapors.
- If you suspect that pneumonia is prepared decoction: 2 tbsp. spoon grass poured with one glass of milk. Boil and filter from the grass residues. Ready "herbal" milk to drink at night warm.
- With the disease of atrophic rhinitis To three tablespoons of sage add 0.5 liters of boiling water. Tightly cover the container with the future infusion, incubated for two hours and filter through gauze. Warm infusion they pull in the nose a couple of times a day (they do the washing).
The use of sage with reduced memory
The memory of a person weakens not only in old age, but also during drunkenness, smoking, stress, or insomnia. For violations of this nature there may be thousands of different reasons. Some herbs help strengthen brain function. According to experts, sage increases the concentration of chemicals in the brain that are responsible for the transmission of intracerebral messages.
Employees of the University of Northumbria conducted research in which 44 volunteers were selectively given sage or placebo. It was concluded that participants who were treated with sage, better passed the tests. It is assumed that treatment with medicinal sage will give a good result in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
How to use sage in the treatment of infertility
Herbal collection of medicinal with the addition of sage herbs suitable for teas, decoctions and tinctures. Cosmetics with sage refreshes, tightens and rejuvenates the skin. Sage phytoncides act as a light aphrodisiac. Tinctures of mixed compositions of linden and sage flowers increase libido and in the treatment they save women from frigidity.
Academician Engalychev, a Soviet researcher of the properties of medicinal plants, in 1948 recommended the use of sage juice mixed with a small amount of salt in the treatment of infertility.
Sage seeds, soaked in grape wine, have long been used to prepare tinctures from female infertility. Even in the ancient world of the pyramids, temple priests noticed a connection between the use of sage by a woman and pregnancy. Temple priests bestowed parishioners with sage and trained young women to prepare such teas.
Infusion for the treatment of infertility:
Pour boiling water over sage, cover the container with broth tightly and let it stand for a quarter of an hour. Infusion drink 3-4 times a day for a third cup 30 minutes before meals.
Begin to drink grass immediately after the end of menstruation and continue the treatment for 11 days. At the end of the third course of herbal therapy, a break in reception for at least two months is necessary.
Sage and breastfeeding
Sage is harmful to nursing moms, as eating this herb reduces and further stops lactation. Yes, and tannins in sage, can provoke constipation in a baby.
When the child has grown up and is about to be weaned, women are prescribed sage. When it is consumed milk becomes less and less, until lactation stops completely.
Painless stopping lactation allows women to avoid mastitis.
How to take sage for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT)
Salvia officinalis exhibits its beneficial properties in the treatment of gastric ulcers and intestinal diseases. Doctors prescribe sage for gastric colic, flatulence and inflammatory processes in the gallbladder.
- When inflammation of the gallbladder is used tincture from sage on boiling water: 5 g of dried sage herb are measured in a container and 0.5 l of boiling water is poured on top. Cover with a lid on top and insist hour. Drink 50 ml in 2-3 hours.
- If pancreas bothers, prepare the medicine: take five tablespoons of sage leaves, yarrow and calendula. Mix the herbs. Next, make herbal tea and drink until they stop bothering the pain. At 1 tbsp. One glass of hot water is taken in a spoonful of herbs.
- For diseases of gastritis or duodenitis: 2 teaspoons of herbs pour 2 tbsp. boiling water. Half an hour insist. Consume every two hours and 1 tbsp. a spoon. Drink infusion until the pain disappears.
- Salvia for constipation is often used, simply by using sage teas once a day. To cook such tea: 1 tbsp. l Sage poured 0.5 liters of boiling water and insist 10 minutes.
The use of medicinal sage in dentistry
Antiseptic properties of sage are also used by dentists during bleeding gums and stomatitis.
To combat pulpitis, a paste is used that contains sage essential oils.
- In the treatment of gum disease, flux or sore throat helps a mixture of sage decoction and oak bark decoction. To prepare such a medicine, you need to take 5 g of dry sage for 1 cup of water and boil on a small fire for 10 minutes. Next, take 5 g of dry oak bark for 1 tbsp. water and boiled at a low boil for 10 minutes. Ready broths are slightly cooled, mixed and filtered through a strainer. The broth is ready, before use it needs to be heated. Gargle with a moderately hot decoction every two hours.
- If your teeth hurt, apply sage decoction: 1 tablespoon of herbs take a glass of water, boil water with weed for 10 minutes and rinse your mouth with warm infusion. Gathering in her mouth herbal decoction, try to keep the liquid at the disturbing tooth for several minutes. 8-10 such rinses are made in 20-30 minutes.
The use of medicinal sage for cosmetic purposes
Sage decoction is used to strengthen the hair. Rinsing with a decoction of sage or applying a mask to the hair with its addition stops hair loss and heals their bulbs. Below are the recipes for hair with sage medicinal.
Tincture for accelerated hair regeneration
Ingredients:
- 0.5 liters of vodka;
- 0.5 liters of apple cider vinegar;
- 7 tbsp. l sage leaves;
- 7 tbsp. l crushed rosemary leaves;
- 15 art. l nettle leaves.
Mix the herbs, put in a glass jar with a tight lid, pour in vodka and add apple vinegar. Cork and hold the tincture in a cool, dark place for two weeks. Shake tincture daily. Upon expiration of the infusion - drain. Tincture ready for use. Keep it in the cold. With the finished tincture to make masks for hair.
Method of use tinctures
Apply infusion to dry, unwashed hair. Spread evenly through the hair and rub the product into the hair roots in a circular motion. Continue rubbing in for 5-7 minutes. At the end of rubbing, wrap hair in polyethylene and tie a scarf. With greasy hair, the mask is left overnight. If the hair is normal, the mask is washed off after two hours. The course of treatment - fifteen masks, the frequency of procedures - in two days.
Rinse decoction to strengthen hair
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. l crushed sage leaves;
- 300 ml of boiling water.
Pour boiling water over the grass, cover with a lid and insist half an hour. Strain through a strainer and rinse hair after washing.
If the hair is long, it is recommended to increase the formulation three times.
Firming Hair Mask with Sage
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. l crushed sage leaves;
- 2 tbsp. l crushed burdock root;
- 1 tbsp. l crushed chamomile flowers;
- 1 tbsp. l crushed lavender flowers;
- 2 liters of boiling water.
Dry herbs mix, pour boiling water and insist 30 minutes in a sealed container. Infusion strain and rinse clean damp hair. Dry the hair without washing it off.
Did you know? The cream, which contains sage extract, rejuvenates the skin at the cellular level.
Morning rubbing with ice cube is very useful for the face. Cosmetic ice is made from a decoction of herbs, including sage decoction. Rubbing the skin with ice leads to instantaneous stimulation of metabolic processes in the body. Elasticity returns to the skin, blush. Tiny wrinkles disappear. Sage is suitable for all skin types.
Make an infusion for further freezing is easy:
1 tbsp. l Sage poured 1 cup of boiling water and infused for half an hour. After that, the infusion is poured into molds for freezing ice and sent to the freezer.
Important! If you have sinusitis, ice face rubbing is absolutely contraindicated to you.
How to procure and store medicinal sage
Medicinal preparations from sage are created on the basis of fresh or dried leaves of the plant. In order to preserve all the valuable properties of sage, you need to collect it in time and properly dry.
The first rule of collecting medicinal plants - collecting herbs away from highways and citiesso that the plant does not absorb heavy metals or harmful chemicals. Eco-friendly collection of sage medicinal can be used for two years.
Summer Sage Harvesting
The highest content of essential oils in sage is from the beginning of summer. The leaves and flowers collected in June have the greatest value. Begin collecting sage at the beginning of flowering.
Strong, healthy sage leaves are suitable for blanks. At the first signs of blooming flowers cut off panicles with inflorescences.
When collecting, flowers are not allowed to fall. Carefully and carefully collected flowers and leaves dried. Raw salvia sage is laid out on paper or cloth in the shade, in well ventilated places. It is possible to dry medicinal plants in a suspended state, in the form of whisk. Harvesting sage lasts 18-20 days. When the plant blooms, harvesting stops.
Autumn harvesting sage
At the beginning of autumn new young leaves grow on the plant, sage begins to throw flowers again, and the collection of medicinal herbs can be continued. Autumn harvest is practically not inferior in value to the June collection. Harvest sage in the autumn in the same way as in summer. Because of the autumn rains, drying the plant is sometimes complicated. You can dry the collected herbs in the oven at a temperature of 40 ° C and with the oven door ajar.
Dry crushed leaves and flowers of sage medicinal is an important component of many complex herbal preparations. For the treatment of skin diseases, ulcers and wounds used fresh sage leaves. For the treatment of colds most effective freshly prepared sage tea and tea.
On the basis of sage oils, ointments and candles are made for external use. The shelf life of such ointments is not more than 18 months.
Alcohol tinctures with sage used for compresses and lotions. Such alcohol tinctures should be stored in bottles of dark glass and avoid direct sunlight. If all storage conditions are met, alcohol tinctures do not lose their beneficial properties for two years.
Alcohol Tinctures used as drugs with antiseptic and antispasmodic action. Water based infusions used in gynecology and in the treatment of diabetes.
Important! In home treatment, you need to remember that infusions and decoctions of sage leaves are good for diarrhea, as anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory drugs. They improve digestion, reduce sweating and have tonic properties.
To whom the use of sage can harm
Any medication should be used carefully, and herbs here - is no exception. Salvia officinalis also has contraindications. 
With all the benefits and medicinal qualities of his sage not recommended for people with high blood pressure and hypotension, patients with epilepsy and people in a state of emotional instability.
Nursing mothers should avoid the use of any drugs or herbal, including sage.
Since sage increases the amount of estrogen in the body and lowers blood pressure, it It is not recommended for women after oncological operations for breast cancer, uterus, endometriosis and its hyperplasia.
Important! Sage is strictly contraindicated for kidney disease, dry cough and thyroid disease.For many centuries, this plant heals and supports the human body, and people continue to explore new and new wonderful healing properties of medicinal sage.
