Being one of the largest consumed beverages in the entire world, tea is considered to be a miracle drink that almost everyone adores. It cleanses our mind, body and soul. And in full honesty, there isn’t a better time to drink tea than in winters. The cold season makes our bodies more susceptible to sickness. Easing a winter flu is smoother when the benefits of tea are used to do so. Drinking tea in winters is like giving yourself a warm bath on the inside.
Winter is the time for warmth, for comfort, for good food, for the touch of a friendly hand, and for a talk beside fire. It inspires both joy and blues. While some cannot wait for the cooler weather and the holiday season, others dislike the frigid temperatures and the ailments that follow the cold air. According to a research, a quarter of our DNA changes with the changing weather. During the winter months our bodies pump up the levels of many genes linked with inflammation, triggering symptoms like swelling and uneasiness that our bodies use to protect us from cold and flu. In summer, on the other hand, a different set of genes get highly expressed, including some that help regulate our blood sugar potentially and help us burn off excess fat.
This is because some germs prosper in colder weathers. In fact, the Influenza virus (Flu) and Rhinovirus (common cold) spread easily in winters, for they thrive in low humidity, cold environments. The chilly weather makes it harder for the hairs and mucus in our noses to protect us against germs. Not just this, but our bodies barely produce any melatonin due to shorter sunlight hours. Plus, the frost brings about ache and pain in joints and old injuries. The stress of the festive season is just the tip of the iceberg. We overdo celebrations which tire our bodies, all the while staying huddled indoors. This only makes it easier for germs to transfer from one person to another, thus bringing about sickness. All of this can slow our immune system and make the holiday season barely bearable.
However, like there are remedies for everything, there is a natural remedy for the winter daze as well. And that is tea. The benefits of tea are many and winters only invite us to try a warm cup every day. It is a way to naturally cleanse our bodies of toxins and provide aid for our ailments.
Benefits of Tea for Winter Ailments
- Helps With Depression: Winter can bring about a dip in your moods and a gust of Seasonal Affective Disorders. Mellow moods can be pacified with the help of tea. Depression is often a combination of biochemical imbalance, unresolved emotional issues, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal imbalance. The amino acid L-Theanine found in tea helps promote hormones like dopamine and serotonin that fight these problems.
- Boosts Metabolism: A daily cup or two of tea can inflate our metabolic rate and promote fat oxidation in our body. Green tea, especially, has thermogenic properties. Thermogenesis is the process of burning calories while digesting and absorbing food as it’s being eaten. This in turn aids in weight loss. It becomes even more difficult to lose weight during winters as our bodies sweat very less. Green tea has closer to zero calories and improves our body’s energy burning efficiency. It is a natural diuretic, which makes it the ideal treatment for combating fluid retention problems and overall tissue inflammation. According to studies, drinking green tea regularly can reduce body fat by up to 19 percent.
- Gives Your Immunity an Extra Boost: Winters mean a lethargic immunity system. Our bodies are quick in picking up on germs. However, tea is useful for soothing sore throats, stopping sniffles and boosting our immunity system. Problems like chest congestion, fevers and common cold reduce if we consume at least 2-3 cups of tea every day. While being calming and delicious, it protects our body from potential sickness, viruses, or infections. When the weather gets colder, pouring yourself a delicious cup of tea will make your immune system thank you!
- Helps Soothe Winter Aches and Pains: One of the lesser known benefits of tea include its ability to ease winter aches. While pains and body aches can happen any time of the year, the symptoms become even more prominent in the cold and wet season. The warmth produced by tea along with its anti-inflammatory properties help reduce joint pains and gout.
- Gets Rid of the Winter Laziness: Since our bodies absorb less sunlight, we feel more sleepy and lethargic during winters. To get rid of this tiredness, we need an additional push in our diets to keep us running on our feet. The stimulants present in tea, like caffeine, L-theanine, theobromine and theophylline, energise your body. These energisers work as vasodilators (exercising of the heart) and elevate the mood of the consumer. Tea excites our brain and the central nervous system. The ‘caffeine high’ attained by coffee consumption also gives us a sudden ‘caffeine crash’ which depletes all of our energy. Tea, on the other hand, allows slower absorption of caffeine, so the energy release is stable and more manageable, making it a better energy stimulant than coffee.
- Prevents Teeth Sensitivity: Tooth sensitivity occurs when the protective layers of teeth are worn out and a bony tissue called dentin is exposed. Exposed dentin allows hot and cold liquids and foods to come in close contact with the nerve endings in the teeth, which cause pain. If left exposed for long, dentin also becomes vulnerable to cavity formation. Out of all teas, green tea contains Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which not only prevents tooth erosion but also prevents plaque formation. Not just this, but its anti-inflammatory properties can help reduce swelling and inflammation in the gums. Green tea also acts as a natural mouth freshener.
Best Tea for Winter
The sweeping benefits of tea are many, and it only becomes a blessing in the cold season. Here are some important teas that should become a part of your life, especially during winter:
- Chamomile Tea: The queen of herbal teas, chamomile has the ability to relax your mind, get rid of inflammation from bug bites and reduce dark circles. The relaxants present in this tea helps ease winter time anxiety.
- Ginger Tea: A naturally energising blend, ginger tea stimulates blood circulation, speeds up digestion and enhances immunity. The stronger taste of this tea cures sore throat and helps subside cough and chest congestion.
- Peppermint Tea: This minty concoction may seem like an odd choice for a winter tea, but it actually helps cure nausea and upset stomach. The acidity caused by over-eating during holiday season can be countered with the help of this tea.
- Mulethi/ Licorice Root Tea: A centuries old ayurvedic herb, mulethi can counter many problems all at once. However, its top benefit includes easing congestion and cough. A cup of Mulethi tea can warm you up and relieve you of a scratchy throat.
- Rose, Passion Flower & Ashwagandha Tea: Winter coldness can bring about uneasiness and raise the blood pressure of some. A blend of rose, passion flower and ashwagandha can help relieve the holiday stress and stabilise your blood pressure.
- Stinging Nettle Tea: Stinging nettle has been used by people for centuries to cure a variety of problems like arthritis, reproductive system ailments and seasonal allergies. If you suffer from constant allergic reactions in winters, then Stinging Nettle tea is the natural answer for your problems.
- Fennel, Orange Rind & Lemon Peel Tea: This tea helps ease the after celebration ‘food coma’. It removes toxins from the body, while boosting the digestive system. A cup of this after a few hours of eating helps ease any kind of digestive anxiety in your body.
- Lavender Tea:The best natural remedy for a festive hangover is Lavender tea. An aromatic blend that counters anxiety due to intoxication, it boosts mood and emotional health. Also, it has sedative effect on the body, relieving from headaches and pain, while providing a sound sleep.
Whether you’re looking for a warm cup of spice or a calming tea, there are unlimited choices to go for. The abundant benefits of tea give us a better option than running back and forth between the doctor’s clinic and the pharmacy. Tea for winter is a wonderful choice as it will not only warm up your bodies, but also exhilarate your minds.