During Women’s History Month, I often find myself thinking about the women who came before us—especially our mothers and grandmothers.
For generations, women were the quiet keepers of health within families. Long before wellness became an industry or clinical research became the gold standard, women were caring for their families with remedies, rituals, and practices passed from one generation to the next.
A cup of ginger tea for an upset stomach.
Chamomile to calm the nerves before sleep.
Chicken soup when someone was sick.
A walk with a friend when the heart felt heavy.
For a long time, many of these practices were dismissed as “old wives’ tales.” Yet today, modern science is slowly rediscovering the wisdom behind them.
Researchers now study ginger for nausea and digestive support. Chamomile has been shown to support sleep and relaxation. Bone broth and traditional soups are recognized for their nourishing amino acids and minerals during recovery.
Even the healing power of connection—something women have intuitively practiced for centuries—has become one of the central pillars of modern psychology. Studies consistently show that strong social connections improve resilience, reduce stress hormones, and support both mental and physical health.
Across cultures and centuries, women have also been the ones preserving and passing along healing knowledge. Midwives shared generations of birth wisdom from mentor to apprentice. Mothers taught daughters which herbs soothed illness, which plants nourished the body, and which foods helped someone recover their strength.
Many of those traditions are now finding their way into modern research.
Ashwagandha, long used in Ayurvedic traditions and often recommended by elder women in times of stress, is now being studied for its ability to regulate cortisol. Green tea, consumed for centuries in Asian cultures, is now widely researched for its antioxidant compounds and their role in cellular health and cancer prevention.
Medicinal mushrooms offer another powerful example. Varieties such as reishi, lion’s mane, and turkey tail have been used in traditional medicine systems for centuries. Today researchers are studying their compounds for immune function, neurological health, and even their role in cancer treatment and survivorship.
In the field of mental health, scientists are also revisiting traditions once preserved by indigenous healers. Mazatec healer María Sabina used psilocybin mushrooms in ceremonial healing rituals to help people process emotional suffering. Today, clinical research is exploring psilocybin therapies for PTSD, depression, and trauma.
History also offers remarkable examples of women who bridged traditional knowledge and modern science.
Chinese scientist Tu Youyou discovered one of the world’s most effective malaria treatments after studying ancient herbal texts describing the medicinal use of sweet wormwood.
Centuries earlier, Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval herbalist and scholar, wrote extensively about plants, digestion, and the relationship between emotional and physical health—ideas that echo today in research on the gut microbiome and the mind–body connection.
Some women changed medicine through groundbreaking scientific discovery. Marie Curie’s research on radiation transformed the treatment of cancer and opened the door to modern radiation therapy.
Others worked quietly but just as powerfully. Alice Ball, a young chemist, developed the first effective treatment for leprosy using oil from the chaulmoogra tree—transforming a traditional plant remedy into a life-saving medical therapy.
These women remind us that healing knowledge has never belonged to just one world.
In many ways, we are witnessing a full-circle moment in women’s health. The role of women as healers, caregivers, and teachers of health within families is being rediscovered—not as folklore, but as knowledge worthy of study and respect.
Women have always shared what helped them heal. They still do today—through communities, through friendships, and through the stories they tell.
Perhaps that is one of the most powerful legacies women pass to one another: the understanding that healing rarely happens in isolation.
It happens in kitchens.
In gardens.
In laboratories.
And in conversations between women who want the next generation to be healthier than the last.
