Peppermint tea:
According to our research, there are eight specific health benefits of drinking peppermint tea (which we’ll paraphrase here), and they are:
1. Makes you stress-free, because the menthol in the peppermint acts as a muscle relaxant and overall relaxant for mental health.
2. Help you sleep because, just like the stress-free feature above, the menthol helps you to relax and fall asleep.
3. Helps you to lose weight, simply because the tea leaves you feeling full for a longer period and so it satisfies your cravings and you don’t ingest as many calories.
4. Helps with an upset stomach again thanks to the menthol that calms and soothes your stomach.
5. Improves digestion again thanks to menthol. The menthol “… is responsible for the antiseptic and antibacterial properties… for improving digestion.”
6. Boosts your immune system thanks to peppermint’s antibacterial properties, and those in turn help to fight off disease, which helps to improve your immune system.
7. Fights bad breath. There’s a reason all of the gum and breath mints use peppermint! The menthol in peppermint helps to promote fresh breath.
This all sounds pretty good to me! It sounds healthy, relaxing, and mouth-freshening.
In comparison, I wondered what health benefits green tea touted, and so we looked into that. We learnt that green tea could be helpful to stave off heart diseases. You could put up with the bitter taste of green tea for some incredible heart-health! You might not like the taste of green tea but that might change after reading about the ten health benefits that green tea gives us.
Green tea:
According to our research there are ten health benefits to drinking green tea, and just like above, we will paraphrase them here.
1. It contains healthy bioactive compounds. And what exactly does that mean? Well, in short, “the green tea plant contains a range of healthy compounds…” And those include helping to reduce inflammation and helping to fight cancer due to natural antioxidants.
2. May improve brain function. This has to do with green tea’s key ingredient: caffeine. “Research has consistently shown that caffeine can improve various aspects of brain function, including mood, vigilance, reaction time, and memory. However, caffeine isn’t the only brain-boosting compound in green tea. It also contains amino acid L-theanine, which can cross the blood-brain barrier.”
3. Increases fat burning. Well, isn’t that something that most of us want? Green tea does this because it boosts metabolism and therefore increases fat burning.
4. Antioxidants may lower the risk of some cancers. There’s a lot involved in this, but in (very) short, green tea’s antioxidant elements are what help to lower the risk of cancer.
5. May protect the brain from aging. “Not only can green tea improve brain function in the short term, it may also protect your brain as you age.”
6. May reduce bad breath.
7. May help prevent type 2 diabetes. Diabetes involves elevated blood sugar levels and green tea may “improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar levels.”
8. May help prevent cardiovascular disease. This is the big one for me personally. “Studies show that green tea may improve some of the main risk factors for these diseases [heart disease and stroke], which includes improving total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.” And here’s a pretty impressive fact: “…people who drink green tea have up to a 31% lower risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease.” Well, if that doesn’t seal the deal, then I don’t know what does!
9. May help you lose weight. Green tea helps you lose weight due to it helping to boost your metabolic rate.
10. May help you live longer. I think this is a pretty important point, perhaps the biggest “seller” for why one should drink green tea. But the reason that drinking green tea can help you live longer has to do with how it helps to protect you against cancer and heart disease, and therefore you live longer.
After doing a test of drinking tea everyday for a couple of weeks you'll see that you'll feel calmer and healthier. Perhaps it’s a little bit of the placebo affect, but you know what? We’re not getting any younger and why not seize control of your health in all ways that you can? If that involves drinking a few cups of tea a week, why not do it? You’ll feel better! Plus you’re hydrating, you’ll sleep better, and internally your body and the tea are helping to make you stronger and healthier. Sounds like a win-win to us!
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