TEA: The Anti Stress

According some some british researchers, tea really does reduce stress hormones in your body.

Now, you WILL still get stressed when you drink tea... but you'll RECOVER much more quickly.

At least... that's the general idea...

Tea's properties help lower stress hormone

LONDON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The next time you're asked if you want a cup of tea, take it and possibly reduce the level of a stress hormone, British researchers said.

University College London researchers said stress hormone levels in tea drinkers dropped nearly twice as much as those who were given a tea substitute, The (London) Telegraph said.

The participants were tea-drinkers who stopped their normal tea, coffee and decaffeinated habit for six weeks, drinking one of two "tea" mixtures four times a day instead, the Telegraph said. One mix had black tea properties; the other didn't.

After six weeks, the participants were placed under stressful situations. Both groups showed high levels of stress measured by increased levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, increased heart rate and higher blood pressure. Later, though, cortical levels and other indicators from the group drinking the real tea fell by 47 percent compared to 27 percent in the other group, the Telegraph said.

Since neither participants nor researchers knew who was drinking what, researchers concluded that differences noted were because of the tea's ingredients, the Telegraph said.