Thursday, June 26, 2008

Cure Insomnia With Tea

At first glance, this idea may seem somewhat counter intuitive. After all, tea contains caffeine. And doesn’t, caffeine tend to keep you awake. Well yes – But… This is largely anecdotal, but I have found a correlation to drinking tea and sleeping very well at night.

While I was doing research for some of the articles on my website TeaInYourLife.com and most specifically “Caffeine In Tea”, I came across a fact that I had not previously known. That is that while tea definitely contains caffeine, it also contains a chemical or substance called Theanine. And Theanine apparently has a calming effect such that it will help to keep your mind from racing at night. A racing mind is what is usually happening to me when I can't sleep.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but I do remember that I was experiencing terrible sleepless nights or going to bed and not being able to get to sleep as my mind reviewed every thing I had done, was going to do, needed to do, and problems in my life. I would lay there sleepless for hours. In the morning after I had finally gone to sleep and then woke up in the morning, I was not rested. I started taking pills to assist me. I didn’t like that though as it was making me groggy in the morning.

Then I started drinking more tea. It wasn't because I was trying to do something about my insomnia, but I just decided to get back to drinking more tea like I did years before, in part due to my love for it and my decision to do this blog and website on the subject. Now a few months later, I have noticed that I am sleeping like a baby, and I don’t fear going to bed and not being able to get to sleep any more. I remembered that article I wrote that mentioned the Theanine. It must work. I'm even going to bed earlier, unafraid of laying there in the dark solving the problems of the world (and my own).

I am now drinking two or more cups of Green Tea a day and occasionally have a cup of something else like Cocoa Chai Tea (mmmm) or Oolong tea. Now that I have linked drinking tea to a restful night’s sleep, combine that with all of the other benefits of drinking Green Tea, I think I will continue drinking the stuff. After all, it can’t hurt. I may even do some more research on it and post the findings here. So tune in next week.

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1 comment:

Tea Lady said...

In my own personal life, I too have found a correlation to drinking tea and sleeping well. I have even tried it with my two boys who are 8 and 12. We often drink oolongs before going to bed. The tea doesn't make us sleepy, but it does relax us and we sleep well. I can tell a big difference when my kids drink other caffeinated beverages such as Coke and even some rootbeers with caffeine. They definitely sleep on the nights with tea versus the night with other caffeinated drinks.

Amy Lawrence

www.afternoontoremember.com