The Scoop SPRING 2019 | Page 19

More Than Just A Cup of Leaves

We drink tea pretty much every day, most days, or occasionally. We drink it because this beverage is tasty, whether it's cold or hot. Though, refreshing yourself with tea is not the only good side of tea. It goes beyond that which is that it can improve your health. The different types of tea also have various health improvement, but you can think, despite the differences, it will have most of what will be listed.

Tea has antioxidants.

Antioxidants help protect your cells from damages that are caused by harmful molecules. In addition to that, it may help prevent cancers like breast, colon, colorectal, skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine cancers. Do not entirely rely on tea to rid cancer, however. A lot of studies do show that tea can fight cancer, but not all researchers agree with that. It's a mix of perspectives, though, you can trust that tea is beneficial for you either way.

Prevents blindness

Blizzard or not, studies showed that tea could prevent blindness. Antioxidants are found largely in eye tissues upon drinking them because the eye tissue can absorb such tea antioxidants like green tea antioxidants and run some antioxidant activities in there. With the great ability of antioxidants, they put cataracts—clouding of the lens inside the eye—to occur at a lower chance.

Lowers cortisol levels

Cortisols are stress hormones that contribute to belly fat and can make your skin age faster. A study showed that drinking 4 cups of tea a day may reduce your cortisol level. If you just felt very stressed, another study in 2006 showed that drinking daily for six weeks will drop your cortisol back to normal much faster. Moreover, tea may decrease the impact of cortisol, making your skin age slower.

Less caffeine than coffee

Herbal blends don't have caffeine while traditional teas have 50% of the caffeine found in coffee. Fortunately, the low amount of caffeine does not impact your nervous system with harmful effects as much as coffees do. Some tea can give you enough energy to start the day.

To diet

Instead of all those sugary beverages, tea is a good substitute. Simply because we all know that tea is low calories. However, water is essential as well, so don't just drink tea. Sometimes, you need some pure water for your body.

Anti-allergen

The spring season has become a burden for anyone with allergies. A study from 2007 found that the tea polyphenol may help to reduce pollen allergies. Through quercetin, drinking tea might also decrease the allergic response. Quercetin is a flavonol in tea that is known to alleviate histamine (a chemical that causes symptoms of allergies) response. Adding honey to tea would double the power of anti-allergen ability.

Increases your memory, focus & concentration

Sometimes, we can't focus on doing the tasks we have at hand. A combo of caffeine and L-Theanine (a natural amino acid in tea) boosts reaction time and memory at the same time of increasing focus and concentration. A sip of white tea would be best to prepare yourself to be ready for a test or meetings.

Lastly, anti-inflammatory

With all these antis, now you gain a better insight into how favorable tea is. Here's the last anti of the list. Compounds found in the tea eases the levels of inflammation and inflammatory reactions. Majority of modern ailment like arthritis, metabolic syndrome, and depression is linked to inflammatory. If you are experiencing inflammation, you can drink tea to help you look and feel thinner from looking puffy. Also, another 2007 study stated that reduced levels of inflammation from green tea could shield you from cardiovascular diseases.

Juan Lopez