When You Drink Green Tea Every Day, This Is What Happens To Your Body
Is choosing to drink green tea every day all it's cracked up to be? Well, the health and nutrition industry has long been obsessed with finding magical supplements, vitamins, and other items that can help people live their best lives. While no supplement is actually magical, there's no denying the fact that most everyone wants to live a long and healthy life, and there are certain products out there that claim to help with that.
One such product is, of course, green tea. The beverage dates all the way back to 2737 B.C. when it was discovered by a Chinese emperor, according to HackberryTea.com. Since then, the health benefits of green tea have long been praised, and people swear it's the healthiest thing you can drink — other than drink water every day. But what would happen to your body if you drank green tea every day? Turns out you would definitely notice a few perks to enjoying the healthy beverage.
Drinking green tea every day might just be one of the best things you can do for your health. From your brain to your heart, to your mouth, green tea can make a huge impact on your body's health in a great way.
If you drink green tea every day, you'll probably have lots of energy
Many adults drink some form of caffeine to help them get through their day and have enough energy to function. While caffeine comes in many forms, it's often consumed in coffee, which is one of the most popular hot drinks out there. But many people end up adding a lot of sugar and cream to their coffee, which isn't exactly healthy. Fortunately, coffee isn't the only way to get the caffeine you might need, and it turns out that green tea might be a healthier form of caffeine than coffee is.
According to Healthline, the way caffeine levels work in green tea might be better for people who are sensitive to the stimulant. "The key active ingredient is caffeine, which is a known stimulant," the website reports of green tea. "It doesn't contain as much as coffee, but enough to produce a response without causing the 'jittery' effects associated with too much caffeine." So, if coffee usually leaves you all jittery, then choosing to drink green tea every day might just be the solution you need.
Not sure what beverage to drink in the morning? First, it's important to know what really happens to you body when you drink coffee — and the signs that you're drinking too much caffeine.
You likely won't have as much anxiety if you drink green tea every day
Green tea has an ingredient that can help with anxiety. According to Healthline, green tea contains the ingredient L-theanine, which has a great effect on your body. "L-theanine increases the activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which has anti-anxiety effects," noted the website.
Additionally, a study from the Unilever Food and Health Research Institute found that "L-theanine significantly increases activity in the alpha frequency band which indicates that it relaxes the mind without inducing drowsiness." In short, drinking green tea can help calm you down if you're anxious or worried, but it won't put you to sleep. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety, and that's clearly no small number. While choosing to drink green tea every day isn't going to completely heal anyone's anxiety, it might help. So, yes, green tea is one of the teas you should be drinking.
Your heart health may improve if you drink green tea every day
When you drink green tea every day, your body will definitely reap the rewards of the beverage. Though green tea does contain caffeine, that doesn't mean it's bad for you or your heart. In fact, quite the opposite is true of the ancient drink. According to Healthline, "green tea can improve some of the main risk factors for [cardiovascular] diseases," including heart attacks and strokes.
Specifically, one study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that people who drink green tea have up to a 31 percent decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, another study discovered that "moderate tea drinkers had slower progression of coronary artery calcium and reduced risk for cardiovascular events."
Heart health is no joke at all, and the fact that green tea might decrease the risk for heart disease is pretty incredible. If you drink green tea every day, that doesn't guarantee you'll have a perfectly healthy heart, but it may just help your ticker.
If you drink green tea every day, you may put yourself at a decreased risk for diabetes
Deciding to drink green tea every day might not be the answer to all your problems, but it can certainly help prevent a world of illnesses and diseases that can end up threatening your life. All over the world, people struggle with diabetes, and it can be a deadly disease. Specifically, 400 million people suffer from type 2 diabetes, according to Healthline, and there's no real cure. However, green tea has been shown to reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes, which could be a real game-changer for people who are pre-diabetic or run any type of risk for diabetes.
Healthline noted, "Some controlled trials show that green tea can cause mild reductions in blood sugar levels." Because of that, it "may also lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes." Additionally, a study from the department of social and environmental health at Osaka University found that "consumption of green tea and coffee was inversely associated with risk for diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and other risk factors."
You could lose weight if you drink green tea every day
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 71.6 percent of American adults are obese or overweight, which means that a majority of Americans struggle with their weight. Because of that, the weight loss industry is worth an estimated $72 billion, as noted by Business Wire. But instead of spending a ton of money on diet pills or exercise programs, you may want to try green tea to help with weight management.
One study reported, "The consumption of green tea and green tea extracts may help reduce body weight, mainly body fat, by increasing postprandial thermogenesis and fat oxidation." According to Healthline, green tea "may be particularly effective at reducing the dangerous abdominal fat." So, in addition to all of the other health benefits that come with the beverage, green tea can also help with weight control. Though this beverage isn't some magical potion that will quickly help you drop a few unwanted pounds, it has been proven to help reduce body fat over time, so it's a great idea to drink green tea every day.
Your brain will function at a higher level when you drink green tea every day
There's certainly no denying the fact that caffeine can help increase energy in adults, and that can make you feel like you're ready to take on the world. But the caffeine that's found in green tea is different than the caffeine found in coffee, for example, and it's because of the L-theanine found in green tea.
According to Healthline, green tea "contains the amino acid L-theanine, which can work synergistically with caffeine to improve brain function." In fact, a study from the Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory found that L-theanine, in combination with caffeine, was found to improve cognitive abilities. Because green tea contains both caffeine and L-theanine, it's basically a super-drink that delivers energy and a higher level of brain function. If you drink green tea every day, you'll likely see an increase in productivity because of those key ingredients. Although, of course, that isn't a guarantee, and you'll still have to work hard no matter how much green tea you drink.
Your mood could improve if you drink green tea every day
Most adults deal with a variety of moods throughout the day, and it's common to find yourself in a bad mood or a sad mood and simply have to deal with it. While green tea won't make you feel completely better or lift your spirits entirely, it has been proven to improve mood.
As Healthline reported, consuming green tea "consistently leads to improvements in various aspects of brain function, including improved mood, vigilance, reaction time and memory." In fact, a study from the Food Quality and Design Group at Wageningen University discovered that green tea ingredients L-theanine and caffeine can lead to a mood boost. Per the study, "L-theanine alone improved self-reported relaxation, tension, and calmness starting at 200 mg. L-theanine and caffeine combined were found to particularly improve performance in attention-switching tasks and alertness."
Being in a good mood can change your entire day, and a cup of green tea might just do the trick.
If you drink green tea every day, your athletic performance could improve
Anyone who works out regularly will tell you that they don't always have enough energy or motivation to get up and go to the gym. That's why so-called pre-workout supplements are popular among those who want to improve their athletic performance. But it turns out that deciding to drink green tea every day might just be the solution to their problems.
According to Healthline, one of the main ingredients in green tea, caffeine, has a huge impact on athletic performance. Per the website, "caffeine has been shown to increase physical performance by 11-12%, on average." Additionally, a study from the Division of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Luton found that "caffeine reduces RPE (ratings of perceived exertion) during exercise and this may partly explain the subsequent ergogenic effects of caffeine on performance."
Not only does green tea give you a healthy dose of caffeine, but that healthy dose can help you achieve all your fitness and athletic goals, which is never a bad thing.
You might have a decreased risk of cancer if you drink green tea every day
For many people, it can feel like there's nothing that can be done to prevent cancer, as it's one of the most common causes of death throughout the world.
However, there have been several studies that prove drinking green tea on a regular basis can help prevent cancer. As one study found, women who drank green tea had a 20 to 30 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer. Another study found that men who drank green tea had a 48 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer. Clearly, the antioxidants in green tea have a huge role in the beverage's health benefits. As Healthline reported, "Green tea is an excellent source of powerful antioxidants, so it makes sense that it could reduce your risk of cancer, which it appears to do."
If you drink green tea every day, you might just decrease your risk of developing cancer, which is a pretty big deal.
You could lower your risk for Parkinson's if you drink green tea every day
One of the more prominent benefits of choosing to drink green tea every day is that it may help prevent you from developing Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease.
According to Healthline, the "catechin compounds in green tea can have various protective effects on neurons in test tubes and animal models, potentially lowering the risk" of Parkinson's disease. In fact, one study from the USA National Parkinson Foundation Centers found that "green tea polyphenols are now being considered as therapeutic agents in well controlled epidemiological studies, aimed to alter brain aging processes and to serve as possible neuroprotective agents in progressive neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's."
When you drink green tea on a daily basis, you might just be protecting yourself from developing Parkinson's when you get older, so you might want to head to the grocery store to pick some up immediately.
If you drink green tea every day, your risk for Alzheimer's could lower
Anyone who has watched the emotional Nicholas Spark movie The Notebook knows that Alzheimer's Disease is a devastating illness that can ruin lives and sadly eventually take them. So, it's only natural that you would want to prevent that from happening to you. And fortunately, green tea might just be the answer. Green tea reportedly has the potential to lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease. According to Healthline, "Alzheimer's disease is the most common neurodegenerative disease in humans and a leading cause of dementia."
Additionally, the website reported that "bioactive compounds in green tea can have various protective effects on the brain," noting, "They may reduce the risk of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's." Really, there's no reason not to drink green tea every day, but the fact that it might prevent Alzheimer's is certainly a leading one.
You probably won't get sick as often if you drink green tea every day
Because green tea is full of powerful nutrients, it's not really all that shocking that it can also boost your immune system and help you to not get sick as often.
According to Healthline, "EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) is one of the most powerful compounds in green tea" and "has been studied to treat various diseases and may be one of the main reasons green tea has such powerful medicinal properties." Additionally, "Green tea also has small amounts of minerals that are important for health," per Healthline. A study from Konkuk University found that "green tea by-product extracts to be a promising novel antiviral resource for animals." And while the study was done on animals, it still shows that green tea can protect against illness, which is no small feat.
When you drink green tea every day, you might just be warding off a ton of illnesses, and that's pretty powerful.
Your oral health could improve if you drink green tea every day
While you might not think that drinking green tea could improve your oral health, it actually can. That might not sound like much, but you could have a decrease of cavities and other oral health problems, which is actually pretty awesome.
According to Healthline, "Streptococcus mutans is the primary harmful bacteria in the mouth" and can cause "plaque formation and is a leading contributor to cavities and tooth decay." But the catechins found in green tea "can inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutan," per Healthline. Furthermore, a study from the Department of Oral Biological and Medical Sciences at the University of British Columbia found that "green tea was very effective in reducing oral malodor temporarily because of its disinfectant and deodorant activities, whereas other foods were not effective." So, if you drink green tea every day, you might just find that you have less cavities in your teeth, which means less pain and less time at the dentist.
You might even live longer if you drink green tea every day
Though all of the purported benefits of green tea are pretty extraordinary, the fact that it might even help you live longer might just take the cake. If you drink green tea every day, you could literally live longer, which is basically what everyone wants.
According to Healthline, "green tea drinkers are likely to live longer than non-tea drinkers." Specifically, a study from the Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine suggested that "green tea consumption is associated with reduced mortality due to all causes and due to cardiovascular disease but not with reduced mortality due to cancer."
In short, drinking green tea every day doesn't only prevent a lot of diseases and illnesses, but it could also potentially increase your overall life expectancy. Of course, green tea isn't a magical cure-all for everything that's wrong with you, but it definitely has a lot of benefits, most of which could make a real impact on your health.