The thyme is a tasty herb with therapeutic properties that has many health benefits. The thyme tea can help lower blood pressure, eliminate respiratory infections, relieve dry cough and reduce anxiety. Your skin can also benefit from the use of thyme essential oil to clear infections and treat acne symptoms.
You can make thyme tea from fresh sprigs of the thyme herb, or you can use dried thyme. Another way to benefit from thyme is to make a thyme tincture by soaking thyme leaves in alcohol. You can also add thyme essential oil to a carrier oil and apply the remedy to your skin.
Regardless of how you decide to use this delicious and medicinal herb, you will benefit from using thyme.
In this article, you will find out what scientific research has revealed about the health benefits of using thyme. You will also learn how to make your own thyme tea if you want to treat bronchitis, improve your digestive health, or eliminate a sore throat.
Table of Contents
What is thyme
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is an aromatic plant that grows well in warm, sunny places. Thyme has also been recognized for its medicinal properties and has been used extensively in traditional medicine.
The Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology reports that thyme herb is packed with antioxidants. In fact, among the various medicinal herbs, fresh thyme is the most powerful herb with many health benefits.
The journal Medicinal Chemistry reported that thyme oil has strong antibacterial activity. In the study, the researchers tested the response of thyme oil to 120 strains of bacteria isolated from patients with infections of the oral cavity, respiratory tract, genitourinary and hospital environment.
The results showed a strong activity of thyme oil against all the strains tested. Thyme oil also demonstrated good efficacy against antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria tested.
There is also a lot of nutritional content in thyme leaves. Thyme contains high levels of vitamins and minerals that are good for your health. Researchers have found that thyme contains vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as minerals such as calcium, potassium, iron, and phosphorus.
Because thyme tea is so healthy and good, it is sometimes recommended to treat mouth infections, ease digestive upset, and help heal respiratory infections. Its high levels of vitamin C mean that thyme extracts are also good for strengthening your immune system.
Thyme has an aromatic flavor that tastes wonderful in most foods. Some people describe the taste of thyme as a spicy flavor with citrus and menthol undertones.
How to make thyme tea
It is very easy to prepare thyme tea at home to improve your health. There are many ways that you can use thyme tea as a health drink or as a beneficial skin tonic.
This is a recipe for thyme tea with beneficial properties for health:
- Pour boiling water into a cup and add 1 teaspoon of dried thyme (if you are using fresh thyme leaves, you should triple the amount).
- Cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
- Strain the leaves and add a teaspoon of honey to taste once the tea has cooled slightly to increase the nutritional content and flavor of the thyme tea.
Drink 2-3 times a day to boost immunity, relieve cough or get rid of a cold faster.
You can also cool the thyme tea to use as a gargle to heal a sore throat. You can also apply chilled thyme tea to your skin with a cotton ball to help clear skin infections and kill bacteria.
Thyme health benefits
Let’s look at some of the many benefits of drinking thyme tea, inhaling thyme vapors, or using thyme extracts as a skin tonic.
By reading this article, you will discover how thyme can benefit your cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems.
Thyme helps lower blood pressure
One of the heart benefits of drinking thyme tea is that it helps treat hypertension.
The antioxidant properties of thyme help lower blood pressure. In animal studies, the consumption of thyme extracts helped reduce hypertension and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Another study found that consuming thyme extracts helped lower blood pressure and heart rate. One of the other cardiovascular benefits of thyme was lowering LDL cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that is linked to heart disease.
If you have high blood pressure, consume 2-3 cups of thyme tea a day to help control hypertension.
You can also use thyme to lower blood pressure by using the delicious-tasting herb as a flavor in your meals instead of salt. Doctors say that reducing sodium in your diet is essential for your cardiovascular health and for fighting hypertension.
Thyme tea for the common cold and flu
The antimicrobial properties of thyme, as well as its antispasmodic effect, make thyme tea a great natural remedy for respiratory infections.
Research has shown that thyme contains compounds that help treat cold and flu infections naturally. Thyme is a powerful antibacterial plant that can help treat respiratory infections in humans.
Thyme essential oil is also effective against multidrug resistant bacteria. Research found that thyme helped clear infections in the respiratory tract, mouth, and stomach.
Other research has shown that consuming thyme while you have a cold can help suppress a cough. Since thyme is a natural expectorant, drinking warm thyme tea can help break up mucus if you have a cold or flu.
If you drink thyme tea to help you get rid of the flu faster, add a tablespoon or two of raw honey to the tea once it has cooled down a bit. Thyme’s antimicrobial content along with honey’s healing properties can help you feel better faster.
Another way to use thyme to eliminate a cold or flu infection is to inhale the aromas of thyme essential oil. Research has revealed that inhaling thyme fumes can help treat respiratory tract infections.
To clear your airways and help you breathe better, put a few drops of thyme essential oil in a bowl of hot water. Cover your head and inhale the thyme scents deeply for 10-15 minutes to help get rid of a respiratory infection.
Thyme helps treat strep throat
You can also gargle with thyme tea to help get rid of a sore throat caused by a “strep” infection.
Research has found that thyme essential oil has an antimicrobial effect against various strains of Streptococcus bacteria. Breathing in the aroma of thyme can help treat bacterial throat infections naturally.
Other scientific studies have shown that thyme helps eliminate oral pathogens that can cause infections.
You can also gargle with thyme water to help heal tonsillitis and a sore throat. Researchers have found that gargles containing thyme help calm the throat and maintain mucous membranes.
If you need to quickly get rid of a sore throat, use the inhalation method by putting thyme oil in your diffuser or inhaling the fumes.
To gargle with thyme tea to help treat strep throat, put 2 teaspoons of dried thyme leaves in a cup of boiling water. Cover and let cool. Take a drink of thyme water and gargle for 1-2 minutes before spitting. Repeat 3 or 4 times a day until your sore throat improves.
Thyme tea can help treat bronchitis
Thyme’s antibacterial, antispasmodic, and healing properties make it an effective remedy for bronchial infections.
A study involving more than 360 bronchitis patients found that consuming thyme and primrose root drinks helped alleviate their symptoms. Researchers found that the thyme natural remedy helped reduce the frequency and severity of coughing spells and break up mucus.
Another study found that thyme and ivy leaf tea was helpful in treating bronchitis symptoms.
Consume 3 to 4 cups of warm, soothing thyme tea daily to help treat symptoms of bronchitis. The medicinal properties of thyme tea quickly dissolve mucus, relieve coughs, and help you feel better faster.
Thyme benefits allergy symptoms
One of the benefits of thyme tea is that the relaxing effect of thyme extracts on your respiratory system helps stop allergic reactions.
Breathing airborne allergens can cause bouts of coughing, wheezing, and sneezing. A study on the use of medicinal plants like thyme found that it has antispasmodic properties. Thyme extracts can help reduce asthma symptoms and other respiratory symptoms.
The results of other scientific studies have shown why thyme is good for treating asthma. Thyme compounds help reduce inflammation in the airways, address wheezing problems, and make breathing easier.
You can try inhaling the aroma of thyme essential oil directly from the bottle or using it in a diffuser to help calm inflammation in the airways. In addition, drinking thyme tea regularly helps to relax the muscles of the respiratory system and relieve symptoms of an asthma attack.
Thyme can treat food poisoning
Drinking thyme tea made from dried or fresh leaves is good if you have eaten food infected with harmful microorganisms.
Food poisoning occurs when bacteria or germs are ingested that cause inflammation, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. Drinking a cup of strong thyme tea could help reduce abdominal cramps and also kill bacteria that cause infection.
Studies have shown that thyme extracts have antimicrobial properties against many pathogens that cause food poisoning. Adding thyme to food can help prevent spoilage and contamination of food.
Thyme compounds such as thymol and carvacrol also kill bacteria that can cause gastroenteritis (severe stomach irritation due to a viral or bacterial infection).
Thyme helps treat diarrhea
Thyme tea is a good, relaxing drink to drink if you suffer from loose or liquid stools. Drinking thyme tea for diarrhea helps keep you hydrated and also relaxes the muscles of the colon.
Thyme essential oil has an anti-inflammatory effect on the colon. In some cases, the effects of the medicinal compounds in thyme help relieve colitis symptoms such as diarrhea and abdominal pain.
Because drinking thyme tea is good if you have food poisoning, thyme tea can help prevent diarrhea caused by contaminated food.
Thyme Herbal Treatments for Yeast and Fungal Infections
Thyme benefits also include the elimination of fungal and fungal pathogens that can cause infections.
Research has shown that the thyme compounds thymol and carvacrol have fungicidal properties. Some studies have shown that thyme can help kill pathogenic fungi that cause tuberculosis or other lung infections.
Thyme essential oil can also kill the yeast or fungus Candida albicans that can infect the gastrointestinal tract. In one study, thyme oil was as effective as tea tree oil in destroying harmful fungal infections.
To help get rid of a yeast infection, add 3 drops of thyme oil to a tablespoon of virgin coconut oil. Soak a tampon in the coconut oil and thyme remedy and insert it into the vagina for an hour. Repeat every day to help reduce your yeast symptoms.
Thyme to remove mold from rooms
Another way that thyme can benefit your health is that it can destroy mold spores on your walls. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn about the dangers of mold in the home. Mold can cause allergies, airway obstruction, asthma, and lung infections.
You can easily get rid of mold using thyme essential oil against mold fungi. In one study, the thymol in thyme essential oil helped destroy mold spores in damp homes. The researchers concluded that thyme essential oil can disinfect the walls of mold spores.
To get rid of mold spores in your home and prevent respiratory symptoms, make an anti-mold spray with thyme essential oil. Add 25 drops of thyme oil to 16 oz. spray bottle containing white vinegar or 3% hydrogen peroxide. Spray generously on surfaces that appear moldy and leave for 20 minutes. Wipe with a damp cloth to remove spores and kill mold.
Alternatively, to use thyme essential oil to help prevent mold growth in a room, place a few drops of thyme oil in a diffuser.
Thyme can help reduce anxiety
Another of the many health benefits of thyme tea and thyme essential oil is to help you relax and relieve anxiety.
An animal study found that thyme has an anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) effect. Consumption of thyme extracts helped reduce stress and anxiety in rats. Scientists theorized that this helps support claims about using thyme tea as an herbal remedy for anxiety.
Other studies have shown that carvacrol, which is made up of thyme, can have anxiolytic effects.
Put a few drops of thyme essential oil on a tissue and take a deep breath whenever you need to help reduce your anxiety levels. Or have a cup of soothing thyme tea in the evening to help reduce your stress levels.
Thyme tincture helps reduce acne breakouts
Using cold thyme tea or a thyme tincture can help reduce the number of infected pimples and pustules on the face.
Scientific research has found that thyme may be more effective than some pharmaceutical acne treatments. Studies have shown that thyme kills the Propionibacterium acnes strain of bacteria. These germs are often the cause of pimples, blackheads, pustules, and acne cysts.
Research found that a thyme tincture made by soaking thyme leaves in alcohol might be better than benzoyl peroxide, a common acne treatment.
You can also help get rid of acne by using thyme tea by dipping a cotton ball in tea that has been cooled. To make a homemade thyme acne facial cleanser, add a few drops of tea tree oil to a glass of thyme tea. Shake well before each application, apply to face, and leave for 15-20 minutes to help kill acne-causing bacteria. Repeat 2 times a day to help keep your skin free from breakouts.
If you use thyme essential oil to treat acne breakouts, use 10 to 12 drops of essential oil for every 1 ounce (30 ml) of carrier oil such as coconut oil, sweet almond oil, or jojoba oil and apply to the affected area.
Thyme has anti-cancer properties
The powerful compounds in thyme have been shown to be helpful in killing cancer cells and shrinking tumors in laboratory experiments.
The journal Molecules reported that thyme essential oil has great anti-cancer potential in treating prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer.
Currently, more research is needed to see how thyme compounds can be used to treat cancer in humans.
Precautions when using thyme
Thyme is a tasty herb that can enhance the flavor of many foods. What’s more, adding thyme to your recipes or consuming thyme tea also has many health benefits.
However, there are some precautions to keep in mind if you want to use thyme for its medicinal benefits. For example, some people are allergic to plants in the Lamiaceae family, such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, or basil.
Thyme may also interfere with blood clotting medications and can cause additional bleeding if you have surgery. Therefore, you should stop taking thyme approximately 2 weeks before any planned surgery.
Doctors also warn that thyme may have an estrogen-like effect. Therefore, if you are a woman who is at risk for hormone-sensitive conditions such as ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, breast cancer, or endometriosis, you should avoid taking thyme for medicinal purposes.