Stress Relief

 

Tea drinkers have shown to respond better to stress than non-tea drinkers. This may be due to the effect of tea on the stress hormone cortisol. A study published in the journal Psychopharmacology found that people who drank tea were able to de–stress more quickly than those who drank a tea substitute.

Following a stressful event, tea–drinkers also had lower levels of cortisol in their blood when compared with a control group who drank placebo tea. “Drinking tea has traditionally been associated with stress relief,” said co–author Andrew Steptoe, of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. Until now, however, scientific evidence for the relaxing properties of tea has been quite limited, he said.

Stress hormone (cortisol) levels dropped by an average of 47 per cent in the tea drinking group compared with 27 per cent in the fake tea group,
following a stressful event. UCL researchers also found that blood platelet activation – linked to blood clotting and the risk of heart attacks – was lower in the tea drinkers, and that this group reported a greater degree of relaxation in the recovery period after the task.

In this section, you will find teas that can help manage and reduce stress levels.