Posted on 06/07/2022 4:36:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
You may have heard that drinking too much tea too close to bedtime can disrupt your sleep, but according to a new study, long-term tea consumption may also reduce the health impact of chronic insomnia .
In the study published in peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on Monday (June 6), researchers from Westlake University in China found that habitual tea drinking was linked to a lower risk of disorders related to the gut flora — the tiny organisms that live in our digestive tracts — and bile acids from the liver.
Imbalances in gut microbes and bile acids are closely related to cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs), a group of illnesses that includes type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"Chronic insomnia could potentially cause metabolic disorders of gut microbes and bile acids," said Zheng Ju-Sheng, who led the study.
"Drinking tea might be one of the ways to regulate [these metabolic disorders]."
Chronic insomnia, a long-term pattern of difficulty sleeping, is a common disorder affecting around 10 to 20 per cent of adults worldwide, according to studies. Symptoms include difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently, tiredness and mood swings.
Over six years, the research team tracked the sleeping patterns of 1,809 participants living in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, as well as their dietary intake and other factors.
They found both that chronic insomnia had a strong relationship with specific gut microbes and bile acids, and that these gut microbes and bile acids were associated with CMDs.
But after comparing participants who habitually consumed tea, coffee, fruit, dairy products and other food and drinks, the researchers found that those who drank tea over the long term were less likely to have disorders of gut microbes and bile acids, so they were at lower risk of getting CMDs.
These participants mainly consumed oolong tea, green tea, Puer tea and black tea, which the study said are beneficial to metabolic health.
The association of these types of tea with fewer disorders of gut microbes and bile acids may be attributed to "the rich content of tea polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids and various antioxidant compounds, which are reported to modulate the gut microbiota composition and bile acid metabolism and improve the circadian rhythm systems of the brain and gut", the paper said.
However, Zheng said the results did not prove the extent to which tea drinking could reduce the risk of CMDs, or which tea had the most obvious effect on risk reduction for these diseases.
He said the next step would be to do genetic research on the cause-and-effect relationship between drinking tea and reducing the risk of contracting a CMD.
And it may still be wise to avoid that cup of caffeinated tea late at night if you have trouble sleeping.
"Insomnia caused by drinking tea is usually short-term, [while] our study focused on the long-term effects," Zheng said.
"We are not saying that drinking tea can cure insomnia, but it can potentially reduce the harm caused by chronic insomnia. Overall, drinking tea may benefit our gut ecosystem."
Sleepy Time Extra works just spiffy.
I don’t need no stinking tea. All I have to do is sit down for 10 minutes in the evening, and I start nodding off.
So does reading a book before turning the light out. Tea might help me to get to sleep, but it would get me up in a couple of hours to get rid of it. Old age is not your friend.
Sometimes what you read will keep your mind focusing on what you’ve just read. You should be thankful then that tea gets you up during the night. One old guy was asked how he managed to live so long and he said it was tea getting him up several times a night. :)
Nah. I’ve never had trouble falling to sleep after reading. I simply turn the light off once I’ve started nodding off. I’m an old lady, so running to the bathroom during the day is a regular for me. I prefer not having to do it once I’ve fallen asleep. I don’t like tea to begin with. Tea has caffeine too. Doctor told me caffeine stimulates the bladder, so I limit myself to two cups of coffee each day. I sip caffeine-free Diet Pepsi the rest of the day.
Reading chemistry books does the same thing.
What you do protects you but others that try to follow what you do could do them in. LOL
Or a nice hibiscus.
LOL!! Hadn’t heard that Twain line yet. I did visit his grave in Elmira, New York several years ago. I went there to see if I could find the site of the Civil War POW camp there, and figured I’d look for his grave while I was there. Also visited Woodlawn Cemetery, a VA cemetery in Elmira. The first Confederates buried there were victims of a bad train wreck in Shahola, Pa, in July 1864. They were on their way to the Elmira camp. More POW’s joined them in the cemetery as the war continued. I’m waiting to see if the Democrats will kick them out of that cemetery, Arlington, Gettysburg, and others, seeing as they’re so hot to take down Confederate statues and memorials at the battlefields.
I visited the MIA/POW Civil War prison camp in Andersonville, GA. Haunting.
I visited Andersonville twice over several years, but it was my first visit that has stayed with me. As I walked around what had once been the camp, I experienced a very strong sense of sadness and dread. I could put it off as having read a lot about the camp, and the experiences of the men who were imprisoned there, but I'd previously been to many of the Civil War battlefields on numerous occasions, and never felt anything like what I felt at Andersonville. The other thing I remember quite well when I was there, were the numerous signs stuck in the ground telling people to beware of snakes. Yikes!! Never saw any other signs like that anywhere else.
Did you visit the cemetery there? Did you read why there were four graves set aside from all the rest?
Yes, I visited Woodlawn, and the included VA Cemetery, probably read, and knew about those separate headstones at the time, but it's been over 35 years since I was there, and I don't remember any specifics now.
Yep, read where those guys turned in some troops (as I remember) and they were hanged and buried separate from the rest of the Union dead.
Thanks...I actually don’t remember that, and please don’t ask me what I had for supper last night🤪
M’kay - don’t want to spoil your evening. :)
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