Daily Stress of Life and How Tea can Address the Same

In modern industrialized society stress is as bad as cancer. It lurks deep inside your mind and feed itself on your vulnerabilities, weaknesses and shortcomings. Stress crops its head up whenever a situation overwhelms you and you start believing yourself inferior to overcome the situation. Sounds familiar?

We often portray stress as a villain; but all is not bad about stress. Psychologically speaking stress has positive sides too. It prepares our body and mind to face any danger and perform better under pressure or in emergency. Our nervous system and our body’s defense mechanism get into an automatic high-alert mode to protect us from any possible harm. It is called “stress response”.

However, too much of anything is bad. So, frequent exposure to emergencies and threats causes stress responses to persist; making permanent damage to human mind and body. At this point stress becomes negative and harmful. Some of the common symptoms of stress going overboard are:

  • Depression
  • Pain in body, especially joints
  • Sleep disorder
  • Digestion problem
  • Skin diseases
  • Poor memory and attention
  • Autoimmune diseases

Managing stress

It takes regular monitoring and controlling of stress levels once a person is diagnosed with chronic stress. Such process is commonly called stress management. There are different tools and psychotherapeutic techniques for managing stress. However, for relief from your daily stress there are a few home remedies and having herbal tea is one of them. Yes; it might sound trivial but they are tested and trusted therapies.

Let us discuss common varieties of teas, which are highly effective against stress.

Mint green tea

This is a variety of Green tea blended with Mentha Piperita or common mint. Its rich aroma soothes nerve and relieve anxiety. When under stress, our muscles contract to prepare our body for emergency. Mint extract is natural muscle relaxant.  So, if you are feeling irritated or anxious having a cup of mint tea is exactly what you need.

Chamomile tea

Chamomile is daisy like plant with lots of medicinal usage. Generally, Green tea is used as base in making chamomile tea from its dried flower petals. However, chamomile infusion can be taken without green tea. It is a natural sleep inducer; traditionally, used as herbal medicine in treating sleep deprivation. Mild flavour of chamomile has relaxing effect on nerve. A cup of chamomile tea before bed time can erase your everyday stress.

Tulsi tea

Negative stress has lots of toxic impact on our body and health. We need to detoxify regularly for overcoming torments of daily stress. Tulsi tea is considered having strong detoxifying impact. Natural anti-oxidants in Tulsi infusion also rejuvenates your nerves and make your body gain back the lost energy naturally.

Along with all these herbal infusions, green tea, on its own, is also a very good stress buster. Polyphenols in Green tea helps you to fight anxiety. It is adaptogenica and keeps you alert without causing drowsiness.

How to prepare these herbal infusions?

You can prepare any of the above infusions at home with right ingredients. They are simple to prepare but time-consuming; might not be an option in your busy schedule. Another alternative is using naturally blended green tea varieties from TE-A-ME Teas. They are available in tea bags for instant usage; natural blending of these herbals with green tea keeps all the medicinal qualities intact. So, we don’t have to worry about the healthy goodness.

Different Green Tea, Different Timings and Impact

Green tea is a superb source of natural anti-oxidants and other active compounds with serious health benefits. The best part is that these compounds are highly bioavailable. That means when you drink green tea your body can absorb all the goodness effectively and efficiently and retain. So, make your regular cups of green tea an integral part of diet.

How will it be if naturally potent green tea is enriched with variety of herbal goodness? Yes. Let us see what are the varieties naturally enriched green teas; their benefits and suitable timings.

Mint green tea

Mint or menthe leaves are aromatic and have culinary and medicinal usage worldwide. Mint leaves offer specific health benefits like;

  • Improve appetite & helps in digestions
  • Relieve nausea and common headache
  • Aid breastfeeding mothers
  • Reduce muscle fatigue
  • Prevent allergies and inflammations
  • Work as natural oral germicide
  • Prevent respiratory disorder

With naturally blended mint green tea, you can have the best of both the ingredients – mint and green tea. Mint green tea is particularly popular in Indian subcontinent and Middle Eastern countries, like, Morocco. You can have this variety as many times as you want in a day.

Time of the day – mint tea with its refreshing aroma will be great to have after a busy day’s work or in the middle of hustle and bustle of work hours.

Jasmine green tea

Jasmine is a well-known flowering plant and the tea is made from jasmine blossoms. Naturally, green tea is used as base for jasmine tea. The practice of drinking jasmine tea was first observed in China; later it was introduced to India and other parts of the world. Jasmine green tea offers health benefits; like,

  • Inhibit LDL-Oxidation; reduce bad cholesterol
  • Improve glucose metabolism; control diabetes
  • Catechins in jasmine tea prevent gastrointestinal problems
  • Eliminate effects of E. coli to certain extent
  • Inhibit unwanted oxygenation in cells; reduce inflammation

Along with all these natural benefits, Jasmine green tea is also the best choice for filling your senses with it rich and refreshing aroma. Have a cup and boost up your saggy mood.

Time of the day – it is a morning and evening tea; though no one said you cannot have it in the afternoon or by midday.

Kashmiri Kahwa tea

Kahwa tea is a common traditional drink in Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, Punjab, Kashmir valley and in some parts of Malabar region. This variety of tea is mostly taken after heavy food like, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It uses green tea as base along with rich spices like, cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. Together they are boiled with green tea to prepare Kahwa tea. Some of the unique benefits are;

  • Better digestion due to improved metabolism
  • Burns fat boosting metabolism
  • Reduce cholesterol level in blood
  • Relieve throat and chest congestion

Kashmiri Kahwa tea is generally taken without milk. But for elderly and sick, you can add milk. Its spicy aroma is value addition to all the healthy goodness.

Time of the day – evidently the best time to have this variety is after a sumptuous meal for its digestive quality.

Honey lemon green tea

Individually honey, lemon and green tea are full of goodness. When taken together as tea you can expect only the bests. Some of the health benefits of honey lemon tea are;

  • Help cleansing bowel and in digestion
  • Honey-lemon is alkaline; burns fat
  • Lower cholesterol in blood
  • Relieve throat congestion

Time of the day – it’s an all-day green tea variety. For its instant energy boosting quality you can also have this tea after physical strenuous work. Green tea alone is also a very rich source of anti-oxidants and various polyphenols. It is good for your skin, immunity, heart and metabolism.

How to prepare different varieties of green tea?

It is important to maintain natural blend while preparing these teas. You can prepare them at home by arranging the all the ingredients. However, that can consume lot of your time and efforts.

TE-A-ME Teas offers naturally blended green tea varieties in different packs and options along with loose green tea leaves. Tea bags are particularly best choice if you want to avoid hassles and have your regular cups.

Green Tea for Hair Loss Prevention

Hair loss is distressing; especially if you are in your 30s and 40s. In a society, where scalp full of hair is considered as a symbol of youthfulness and vitality, losing hair can seriously dent self-image and cause psychological stress. In this article we shall see what causes hair fall and how herbal remedy like green tea can aid arresting hair fall.

Baldness, alopecia, hair fall 

Hair is nothing but protein filament growing from follicles or pores in dermis; a layer of skin. It is common to see elderly people with a receding hairline; thin hair and low volume of hair; because hair fall is part of natural aging. However, hair loss in young age has different reasons behind. We still do not know exactly what causes hair fall and how that works; but there are scientific research backed evidences. As per those evidences, premature or early hair fall happens mostly due to any of the following reasons;

Genetics – It is a major reason behind pattern hair loss among male; though pattern hair fall among women is not affected by genetics.

Infections – This is the most prevalent factor. There are various types of infections that can cause your hair to fall prematurely; like, dissecting cellulitis, tinea capitis or other fungal infection, micro-mite in sebaceous gland. Often these infections cause dandruff, which weaken follicles.

Trauma – Excessive pulling, bending of hair regularly can also cause hair fall along with childbirth, poisoning, major surgery etc.

How to managing hair loss

Hair fall is not completely curable once it has started. However, you can manage it by either lowering the rate of hair fall or adding new volume of hair. There are various treatments available, starting from applying steroid based ointments on scalp to surgical procedures, which can implant new hair from other parts of our body. Though, all these have shown only moderate success and are not-so-reliable as long term solution. So, we need to consider preventive care.

Compared to these expensive treatments you can try green tea to prevent as well as manage your hair loss. On regular use, green tea can offer good health to your hair. Let us see how that happens.

Vitamin for hair growth – Green tea extracts and brewed green tea contains Vitamin C and minerals and various B complex vitamins, like, penthenol, thiamine etc. These micronutrients help to strengthen hair shaft and control hair splitting. It has been studied that hair splitting is one of the major reasons behind premature hair loss.

Polyphenols and catechins – Active anti-oxidants, like, epigallocatechin gallate or ECGC, present in green tea are effective for hair health. They can stimulate hair follicles and cell structure; also following application on scalp, green tea extracts can elongate hair.

Anti-inflammatory benefits – Regular cleansing of scalp with green tea extracts can control micro-mite and other pathogenic infections within hair follicles. It has been observed that infections are one of the major reasons behind early hair loss.

Balancing oil on scalp – Green tea is natural astringent and control excess sebum secretion on scalp skin. This way it helps to keep scalp free from excess oil and promote hair growth by stopping follicles from clogging.

Dihydrotestosterone or DHT blocker – DHT plays a crucial factoring behind early hair fall among men. 5-alpha-reductase in green tea extract blocks DHT and helps to arrest rate of hair fall.

So, continue having your regular cups of green tea and also start rinsing your scalp with green tea extracts. It has no side effect like other steroid based treatments and not expensive like operative procedures. Prevent early hair fall; live a happy life.

Address Pimples and Acne with Green Tea

Are you losing goodnight’s sleep over pimples and acne? Don’t think you are alone; because these skin diseases are affecting over 630 million people around the world and and stand 8th in the list of common diseases. It is important to understand what is pimple and acne; what causes them and how we can control them for a better skin. Let us see.

What is pimple and acne? 

Pimples and acnes are hair follicles or pores clogged with dead skin cells, mostly seen on facial skin. Below our skin there are sebaceous glands secreting oily or waxy substances, medically called sebum. These substances help to maintain skin lubrication and water resistance quality of our skin. Due to constant exposure to external environment, human facial skin naturally experiences maximum sebum secretion.

Pimples and acnes crop up when dead skin cells, mixed with sebum, become gluey and get trapped inside hair follicles. Gluey dead skin cells block hair follicles and stop freshly secreted sebum from flowing out through pores. Situation becomes ugly when infection and inflammation occur due to bacterial growth in blocked sebum. Casual practices, like pimple-popping, aggravate infection and inflammation.

Reasons behind pimple and acne

There can be multiple reasons behind first outbreak of pimples and acnes, like, hormone, skin infection, diet, stress and environment. The most common among them is hormonal changes during puberty, when human skin loses its natural baby-softness. Sebum secretion increases and simultaneously increases cases of pimples, acnes.

Stress, it has been studied and observed, is one of the key factors that aggravate the situation and make the problem persists. It has been studied multiple times across the world that stress is linked to increased eruption of pimple and acne cysts. Among students in their adolescence, similar situations are observed just before their school tests – an event of significant stress. During summer vacations, when stress is absent or significantly low, eruption reduces considerably.

How does stress impact?

Multiple studies is being conducted to find out impact of stress on pimple and acne outgrowth and to understand how the impact works. It has been confirmed repeatedly that stress does aggravate the situation, causes flare up; however, it is not yet clearly evident how the impact works. Scientific studies and dermatological researches indicate 2 root causes; they are:

  • Increasing sebum secretion; and
  • Increasing susceptibility to inflammation and infection.

When under stress, sebaceous glands under our skins secrete more sebum. It makes skins oily, increasingly clogging hair follicles with dead skin cells. Stress also makes us susceptible to pathogens, Propionibacterium acnes, causing infections and inflammations. Clogged follicles also become prone to infections causing further flare up of pimples and acnes. So, managing your stress can help us control further flaring up of pimples and acnes.

How green tea can help in this regard?

Green tea is less processed leaves of Camellia sinensis or tea plants; it contains lots of active ingredients like, naturally occurring polyphenols. Drinking green tea increases polyphenol level in our body and this affects sebum production and impact severity of pimples and acnes. Also, anti-oxidants in green tea boost our immunity against common bacterial infections. EGCG, the most abundant catechins found in tea, is a key compound against acnes and pimples. Anti-microbial quality of catechins and other polyphenols help fighting acne-related bacterial infections.

Other than oral intake, topical use of green tea on skins with acne and pimple is also an effective treatment. Active compounds in green tea show good skin penetration and human skin is also capable of retaining majority of polyphenols available in green tea extracts.

So, start fighting pimples and acnes with daily brew of green tea. Regular drinking of green tea can give you no-scar naturally glowing skin. TE-A-ME Teas offers different variety of green tea; naturally mixed with different herbal ingredients for your holistic health.