Black Tea Reduces Stress and Lowers Cortisol

You may have heard of the hormone cortisol, which is released in the body during times of high stress. Cortisol helps prepare the body for the fight or flight response, and unleashes a hormonal cascade within the body within minutes. Too much cortisol has been linked to all kinds of health problems, including low energy, muscle atrophy, decreased immunity, poor sleep, increased bone loss, and decreased skin health and skin regeneration.

A new study in the journal, Psychopharmacology, offers up an intriguing new stress reduction option- and it’s no further than your morning cup of tea.

As a daily tea drinker, (my favorites are Twining’s English Breakfast, and Twining’s Irish Breakfast), I always thought that my morning cup of tea relaxed me because of the ritual. It’s my habit to make a cup of tea pretty soon after I get up, and I spend the first hour of my morning drinking tea, writing here, and just hanging out. This quiet, tea-time each morning really helps me feel relaxed during the day.

But now, I find out that it may not just be the ritual. British scientists have found that black tea eases stress by lowering body levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.

A six week study of 75 people who drank black tea found that the tea drinkers were able to calm down and relax more quickly compared to others who drank a tea substitute.

Participants were assigned stressful tasks while their cortisol, blood-platelet, blood pressure, and self reported levels of stress were measured. During these tasks, members of both groups demonstrated large increases in feelings of stress, and in blood pressure and heart rate.

In less than an hour after the stressful tasks, the black tea drinkers showed a cortisol drop of 47% (average), compared to 27% in those who drank the tea substitute.

Black tea drinkers also showed lower levels of blood platelet activation. High blood platelet activation is linked to blood clotting and increased risk of heart attack.

Scientists are currently unsure why black tea helps reduce stress, but are clear that it does.

As for me, I’ll keep drinking my black tea each morning, enjoying the ritual, and stress reduction benefits.