Hurrah, it’s Christmas! After the feast, the Boxing Day Feast, the feast after feast, your stomach may seem to house strange creatures who purr, meow, roar and squeak at the most inopportune times.

These petulant noises are called borborygmi and may give us a clue as to what drama is being played out in our tummies. Borborygmus is commonly known as stomach growling, rumbling or wambling and is the sound produced by the contraction of muscles in the stomach and intestines.

Wambling is the movement of food in a wobbling, weaving or rolling manner and is a normal part of digestion as food and digestive juices are pushed down through the digestive tract.

You may also suffer with indigestion — also called dyspepsia or an upset stomach — which is discomfort in your upper abdomen. Indigestion describes certain symptoms, such as abdominal pain and a feeling of fullness soon after you start eating, rather than a specific disease. Indigestion can also be a symptom of various digestive diseases.

Although indigestion is common, each person may experience indigestion in a slightly different way. Symptoms of indigestion may be felt occasionally or as often as daily.

A scraggly, cannot kill, diehard in the garden, the mint family are a hardy, aromatic plant which sleeps in winter and rises in spring when its essential oils are found in the leaves and used in cooking, fragrance and in herbal medicine.

Peppermint leaves help relieve indigestion, heartburn and sooth headaches. To soothe these ailments, make a quick and simple mint tea by plucking six or seven fresh leaves and pop them into a saucepan with two cups of water and bring to the boil for two minutes. Allow to cool and strain.

This is the perfect tea to help soothe indigestion – especially at the end of your Christmas event or after a spicy dinner – but can also be taken before meals to prevent indigestion from happening in the first place.

Meadowsweet is a herb which is sometimes known as the meat eater’s remedy, helping relieve acidity and poor digestion. The therapeutic value of meadowsweet is much like over-the-counter antacids but it does not have the adverse side effects.

It contains tannins, brownish compounds found in plants which historically have been used to tan and dye leather. Tannins function like astringents and draw tissues together in the digestive tract. This makes meadowsweet perfect for healing peptic ulcers and treating gastritis.

It is a plant remarkable for its intensely bitter taste, invaluable in herbal medicine. Before the introduction of hops, gentian was occasionally used in brewing and is the principal ingredient in Agnostura bitters.

The herb gentian can also improve digestive functioning and calm a raucous stomach. It acts as a bitter tonic, like those taken historically for good digestion such as vermouth, flavour for the cocktail, Satan’s Whiskers. Gentian increases digestive juices to help breakdown food quickly, cleanly and quietly.

If you don’t have gentian handy, check your pantry for apple cider vinegar. Although apples are well renowned to keep the doctor away, over the centuries, apple cider vinegar have been used to alleviate many digestive discomforts.

A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar diluted slightly in water can help soothe a cranky stomach and have you ready for your next work day, which, hopefully, is a few days away from now.