Yes, black tea helps relieve stress
Drinking tea is associated with stress relief, and many people believe that it helps them relax after facing a stressful day. Now, we have scientific evidence for the relaxing properties of black tea.
Here are the details of the study.
- 75 healthy nonsmoking men
- One group drank fruit-flavored caffeinated black tea; the other drank an identical-tasting mixture with the same amount of caffeine but no other active tea ingredients.
- The men underwent challenging tasks designed to mimic everyday stresses.
- 50 minutes after the stressful situation, levels of stress (as measured by cortisol levels) dropped more among black tea drinkers vs fake tea drinkers.
- Also, an increase in subjective relaxation after the stressful situation in the black tea drinkers vs fake tea drinkers.
OK, now we know for sure.
What we don’t know is which ingredients in black tea are responsible for stress recovery and relaxation. But there are lots of candidates including catechins, polyphenols, flavonoids, and amino acids.
10/10/06 20:12 JR
