Do you know the benefits of drinking tea?

I have to admit that I don’t drink tea.  I like my herbal teas but lets face it, they don’t actually contain any tea.  In a morning I like my decaf americano.  But having done the research on tea,  I may need to change my habits.

Prof Feng and his team in collaboration with Essex University and Cambridge have been researching the impact of long term tea drinking habits.  They concluded that individuals that drank either green tea,oolong tea or black tea at least four times a week for about 25 years had better brain health than people who don’t drink tea.

So what are the other benefits of tea?

  • Daily consumption of tea reduced the risk of cognitive decline by 50% in older people.
  • Improves mood.
  • Protects agains cardiovascular disease.

Reference

https://www.aging-us.com/article/102023/text

https://jphysiolanthropol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1880-6805-31-28

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jgs.12011

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123419/

Related Posts

  • Stress and the immune system – Part 3

    In part 1, I explore the immune system and in part 2 the impact of short term or accute stress on the immune system.  In this post I want to explore the impact of chronic or long term stress on the immune system. 1. Distant Stressors – traumatic experiences that occurred in the past yet are still causing long lasting change in both emotional and cognitive behaviours that result in modification of immune system function.  For example, having been a prisoner of war. 2. Chronic Stressors – these pervade a person’s life and there is no awareness of when it might end.  This for of stress suppresses both specific and natural immunity.  Some examples of chronic stressors are

    • demanding jobs
    • financial difficulties
    • challenging relationships
    In summary the stress hormone corticosteroid can suppress the effectiveness of the immune system (e.g. lowers the number of lymphocytes). Stress can also have an indirect effect on the immune system as a person may use unhealthy behavioural coping strategies to reduce their stress, such as drinking and smoking. Managing stress therefore is intrinsically linked to wellbeing and keeping well. Reference https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/

  • Hints and Tips on Grounding

    In this blog post, I want to share with you some hints and tips based on my experiences of being ungrounded and grounded over the years. Sensations in [...]

  • Why a good nights sleep is a dieter’s best fiend..

    Inadequate sleep has been linked to many things including an adverse impact on:

    • Mental health
    • Fertility
    • Immunity
    Long term lack of sleep can lead you to put on weight because it changes the levels of two hormones:
    • Leptin - which is the satiety hormone
    • Ghrelin - which is the hunger hormone
    Sleep deprivation increase ghrelin and decreases leptin so you feel hungry and never feel full - not a good combination, especially if you are on a diet. The prefrontal cortex is the brain's CEO - it makes the sensible decisions.   You can think of your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex as being in a tug of war.  When you haven't slept well the amygdala is much more reactive and stronger and the prefrontal cortex is diminshed.  This doesn't make for good food choices!  This is also why you stuggle to concentrate when you are tired.