Use steam leaves properly to relieve colds

If you have heatstroke, high blood pressure, or skin disease, you should not use leaves for steaming because it is very dangerous. After steaming, you should eat a bowl of hot porridge with perilla, onion, garlic, pepper, spices, and egg yolk.

Steaming with leaves is a very popular folk method to relieve colds and cure diseases. However, not all cases can be treated with this method. The leaves used for steaming must also be chosen appropriately, avoiding leaves with essences that can be toxic.

According to Mr. Dinh Cong Bay, General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Medicinal Herbs Association, if you want to steam with leaves, you need to do it correctly. First, choose the leaves. According to folk experience, to have a pot of steaming leaves, you need to choose aromatic leaves with essential oils that have the effect of warming the exterior, clearing wind, disinfecting antibiotics... Among them, the most popular are lemon leaves, lemongrass leaves, perilla, Vietnamese balm, mint, ginger leaves, turmeric leaves, basil, mugwort...

Steaming leaves are sold at Go Vap market, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: An Nguyen.

How to steam:

The steam room must be sufficiently enclosed. The patient must remove all outer clothing, sit on a flat surface, cross-legged or with legs to one side, head raised, and tilted to one side to avoid the hot steam blowing strongly on the face.

Place the pot of steaming water in front of you, cover yourself with a blanket, then slowly open the lid to let the steam escape, keeping the heat at a tolerable level. Breathe deeply and strongly to allow the aroma of the essential oil to penetrate deep into the alveoli.

Steaming time is about 10-15 minutes. After that, open the blanket and wipe off the sweat with a clean dry towel. You can take a cup of clear water from the steaming pot (about 50 ml) for the patient to drink. Add warm water to the steaming pot to reach 37-38oC and then bathe in a room with no wind, then dry the body and wear clean clothes. Patients who are elderly, have chronic diseases, or are physically weak... need to have someone to help them sit behind and hold their shoulders to prevent them from falling.

Prepare a bowl of cold relief porridge to eat after steaming. Cook white porridge, ladle it into a bowl, add perilla, onion, thinly sliced ​​garlic, pepper, spices to taste, add beaten egg yolk, eat hot to help the patient recover quickly.

According to Mr. Dinh Cong Bay, treating colds by steaming leaves is highly effective and inexpensive. However, the following issues should be noted:

- People with flu only need to steam 1-2 times.

- Do not steam too much as it will cause dehydration and other harmful effects.

- Do not steam if you have a cold (sunstroke), have symptoms of excessive sweating, dizziness, nausea, red face, unsteadiness, or fatigue.

- People with high blood pressure, heart disease, skin diseases, pregnant women, people who sweat a lot, have lost a lot of blood, have just recovered from illness, the elderly, children under 12 years old... should not use steam baths or herbal steam baths.

- Before steaming, you need to clean your body. Do not shower immediately after steaming because the open pores will close if exposed to cold, preventing water from escaping, leading to poor blood circulation.

- During the steaming process, if you experience difficulty breathing, chest tightness, dizziness, weakness... you need to stop immediately. In case of severe shock, you must be taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. If the patient has a high fever or convulsions due to infection (such as sore throat, cough, trauma, infection...), you should not steam at will but must go to a medical facility for examination.

According to VnExpress