Research findings from the University College London (UCL) suggest daily cups of tea help in the recovery from stresses of everyday life and lower stress hormone levels in the body.
In the study, 75 regular tea drinkers were divided into two groups and monitored for six weeks. One group was given a fruit flavoured caffeinated tea mixture made up of the constituents of an average cup of black tea. The second group received a placebo – identical in taste, but missing the active ingredients present in the regular tea. The beverage was consumed four times a day for six weeks.
Both groups were subject to challenging tasks designed to raise stress levels. Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, blood pressure, blood platelet and self-reported levels of stress were monitored.
The tasks caused similar stress levels in both groups, however 50 minutes after the task, cortisol levels had dropped by an average of 47 percent in the tea drinkers, compared to 27 percent.
The findings, published in the journal Psychopharmacology suggest tea drinkers are able to de-stress more quickly than non-tea drinkers.
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