What is the effect of boiling Gastrodia elata in water?

We all know that there are many ingredients or Chinese medicinal materials that can be used to boil water to drink. I believe most people know that boiling red dates in water not only tastes very good, but also has very high health value. In life, in addition to using some Chinese medicinal materials such as wolfberry to make tea, some friends also like to drink water soaked with Gastrodia elata, which has very powerful health benefits. So, what is the effect of boiling water with Tianma?

Gastrodia elata, also known as red arrow, single-wave herb, fixed wind grass, and bright sky herb, is the tuberous root of Gastrodia elata, a perennial parasitic plant of the orchid family. The hemp harvested in spring is called spring hemp, which has poorer quality; the hemp harvested in winter is called winter hemp, which has better quality. It is mainly produced in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, and the one produced in Zhaotong, Yunnan is the best. Gastrodia elata is also one of the three treasures of Guizhou (Eucommia ulmoides, Gastrodia elata, and Ganoderma lucidum).

The current Chinese medicine textbooks all list Gastrodia elata as a liver-calming and wind-extinguishing drug. They believe that Gastrodia elata is sweet and mild, belongs to the liver meridian, and has the effects of calming wind and stopping convulsions, calming the liver and suppressing yang. It is mainly used to treat symptoms such as internal liver wind movement, epilepsy and convulsions, dizziness and headache caused by hyperactivity of liver yang, as well as rheumatic pain, limb numbness, and limb paralysis.

However, such application has greatly narrowed the scope of use of Gastrodia elata, and Gastrodia elata is regarded as an ordinary wind-relieving medicine, that is, Dingfengcao. It also has other functions such as "benefiting the waist and knees, strengthening energy", "helping yang energy, and replenishing the five labors and seven injuries", which have been overlooked.

Modern research has shown that Gastrodia elata contains vanillin, vanillic aldehyde, vitamin A substances, glycosides, crystalline neutral substances, trace alkaloids, mucus, etc.

The main effects include analgesia, sedation, anticonvulsant, blood pressure lowering, eyesight improving and intelligence enhancing. It can be widely used in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as hypertension, sequelae of stroke, senile dementia, and arteriosclerosis.