DO YOU KNOW, HOW REGULAR TEA INTAKE AFFECTS YOUR BRAIN!! : SUNDAY MIRROR

Since antiquity humans love tea. In every society, every civilization tea is used as a common beverage. Tea is consumed in diverse ways in different countries. Camellia sinensis is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family Theaceae whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea.

Effects of tea are derived primarily from the effects of its constituents: catechin, L-theanine, and caffeine. Tea has a great impact on brain activity resulting the increase in alpha waves of brain. Green tea has maximum positive impact on brain health.

Tea and brain health

Reduction in anxiety

L-Theanine helps to lower anxiety, makes you feel more relaxed and can help increase levels of dopamine.

Increases attention

L-Theanine, when combined with caffeine, can improve attention and brain function. Caffeine essentially boosts the L-Theanine and makes it more effective at what it does!

Boosts memory

Caffeine is probably the best known brain-booster found in tea. It helps in better working and immediate memory.

Decreases stress

L-Theanine is more calming . It relaxes without drowsiness. Caffeine also helps in stress reduction.

Increase alertness and decrease fatigue

Consuming this combination of caffeine and L-Theanine help reduce mental fatigue with increasing alertness.

Slows the ageing of brain

Various catechins exert a positive influence, in brain. They are antioxidants helping in slowing the ageing of brain. Green tea decreases the progression to Alzheimer’s.

Improves headache

The caffeine helps in headache as a supportive medication to primary pain killers. In hypnic headache and post lumbar puncture headache caffeine is the primary therapy. But prolonged intake can produce withdrawal symptoms causing headache.

Reduction in sleep

Tea is a neurostimulant. It increases alertness. Tea before bedtime increases sleep latency and causes several discomfort.

How much tea we should drink

Tea has caffeine which can cause addiction and sleep problems. The catechins decrease iron absorption. Along with it has several negative effects on our stomach. So according to different studies on average 3-5 cups of tea daily is good for health. More than 5 cups may cause gastritis and sleep problems. But the effect differs individually. Some people can tolerate more and some less.

Tea boosts brain health. It’s one of the brain enhancing beverages. Along with it has protective effect from several cancers. It helps in loosing weight. It can protect from type-2 diabetes and several heart diseases.

– Hozawa et al tested the effect of tea on stress in a population of 42,093 Japanese. This study found that drinking green tea was associated with less psychological distress (2).

– A study of 2,031 people aged between 70 and 74 found that those who drank tea–which contain micronutrient polyphenols, like EGCG–had better cognitive performance (3).

–Can tea affect brain health: yes definitely

– Does tea improve brain function: it increases several function.

– Can tea decrease stress: yes it can

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References

1: Cao C, Loewenstein DA, Lin X, Zhang C, Wang L, Duara R, Wu Y, Giannini A, Bai G, Cai J, Greig M, Schofield E, Ashok R, et al.. High Blood caffeine levels in MCI linked to lack of progression to dementia. J Alzheimers Dis. 2012; 30:559–72. 10.3233/JAD-2012-111781

2: Hozawa A, Kuriyama S, Nakaya N, Ohmori-Matsuda K, Kakizaki M, Sone T, Nagai M, Sugawara Y, Nitta A, Tomata Y, Niu K. Green tea consumption is associated with lower psychological distress in a general population: the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2009 Nov 1;90(5):1390-6.

3: Nurk E, Refsum H, Drevon CA, Tell GS, Nygaard HA, Engedal K, Smith AD. Intake of flavonoid-rich wine, tea, and chocolate by elderly men and women is associated with better cognitive test performance. The Journal of nutrition. 2009 Jan 1;139(1):120-7.

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