15 Surprising Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea before Bed
When it comes to a healthy diet, green tea is the first thing that pops up in our head. Green tea is loaded with several good components. It helps your body fight many health issues, from allergies to diabetes and cancer. Drinking a cup of green tea before bed can improve your digestive system, and it also works as a detox.
In this article, we are going to see the health benefits of green tea before bed and how it improves our entire system. We will also see the nutritional breakdown of the green tea components and learn the side effects of the same.
Green Tea Nutrition
Green tea is a zero calorie beverage. It is made from fresh tea leaves and helps people lose weight. Drinking green tea before bed has enormous benefits. It contains antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidants, and catechins that contribute to improve immunity. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals.
Green tea speeds up metabolism and helps you digest your food efficiently. It helps you lose weight by burning calories faster. Here is a list of nutrients present in a 100ml glass of green tea
| Nutrient | Amount |
| Calories | 2 |
| Total fat | 0 g |
| Calories from fat | 0 |
| Monounsaturated fat | 0 g |
| Saturated fat | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Potassium | 27 mg |
| Trans fat | 0 g |
| Magnesium | 2 mg |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 3 mg |
| Vitamin C | 6 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 2 g |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 0 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Folic Acid (Folate) | 16 g |
| Calcium | 3 mg |
| Iron | 0.2 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.05 mg |
| Manganese | 0.31 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.01 mg |
In this article, we will further see how these nutrients help you. These benefits are best sustained when the tea is made from fresh green tea leaves.
Health Benefits of Green Tea
Drinking green tea before bed can help you in many ways. Let’s see some of the important health benefits of drinking green tea at night:
1. Reduces Cancer Risk
Green tea before bed can potentially reduce the risk of many harmful diseases, cancer being one of them. There are polyphenols in green tea that kill or reduce the growth of cancerous cells in our body.
However, there is no evidence about green tea directly curing cancer. There are studies that have shown a positive impact of green tea on the following types of cancer:
- Breast Cancer
- Bladder Cancer
- Ovarian Cancer
- Lung Cancer
- Prostate Cancer
- Skin Cancer
- Stomach Cancer
- Esophageal (throat) Cancer
- Colorectal (bowel) Cancer
It is estimated that drinking 2 to 10 cups of green tea can show cancer-preventive effects in the body.
2. Helps Improve Heart Health
Green tea contains catechins and polyphonic compounds which have a protective effect on the body. The catechins and polyphonic compounds protect the cardiovascular system and help you reduce the risk of several heart diseases.
A study conducted on over 40,000 Japanese adults showed people who drank five cups of green tea in a day had much lower risk of cardiovascular death than individuals who drank less than a cup in a day. The study was published in the Journal of American Medical Association.
3. Lowers Cholesterol
It is proved that the consumption of green tea before bed on a regular basis can help decrease bad cholesterol level or LDL. Antioxidants in the green tea help reduce the bad cholesterol and improve your heart health. The antioxidant EGCG in green tea helps your body manage the cholesterol levels.
4. Potential Diabetes Treatment
Diabetes is a metabolic disease that occurs due to imbalanced insulin and excess glucose production. In a Japanese study published in Diabetes and Metabolism Journal, it was found that people who drank at least six cups of green tea are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Polyphenols in green tea help in vasodilation. They widen the arteries helping your body reduce the cholesterol and high blood pressure levels.
5. Helps Fight Gum Diseases
Gum diseases are very prevalent these days. These can be painful and irritable as it leads to inflammation of the gums.
Green tea has anti-inflammatory properties which help reduce the inflammation and prevent periodontal diseases. Several studies indicate that people who regularly drink green tea before bed are less likely to get gum diseases than people who don’t.
6. Helps Manage Healthy Weight
Green tea before bed can also help you in weight management. This is one of the most popular health benefits of green tea.
A meta-analysis conducted by Rick Hursel and published in the International Journal of Obesity: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity shows that catechins in the green tea can significantly help to reduce weight and maintain healthy body weight.
7. Improves Vision and Eyesight
Consuming green tea before bed improves your eyesight. Vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and zeaxanthin in green tea are the vital ingredients that strengthen the eye tissues. Green tea before bed is the best natural supplement to keep your eyes protected from diseases like glaucoma.
According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research green tea extracts has anti bacterial, anti-androgen and immunomodulatory properties which are used for treating dry eye.
8. Helps Control High Blood Pressure
Green tea contains flavonoids which regulate blood pressures and improves your heart health. Consumption of green tea before bed shows a 50% decrease in the risks of high blood pressure.
A meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials cited by PMC, US National Library of Medicine National library of Health, shows that consumption of green tea significantly decreases systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The polyphenols have a positive effect in balancing the level of blood pressure.
9. Anti-inflammatory Benefits
Green tea contains catechins which makes it an excellent antioxidant. Antioxidants reduce interleukin-8 which is responsible for inflammation. According to a study people who consume green tea are less prone to inflammation than people who do not.
10. Fights Allergies
Green tea has many antioxidant properties which help you eradicate allergies. It contains compound methylated epigallocatechin gallete which blocks the cell receptors that trigger allergies. So if you want to get rid of these allergies, green tea before bed is what you need.
11. Ease Bowel Movements
Green tea contains anti-inflammatory properties which help to manage the irritable bowels. If you are suffering from symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, bloating and abdominal pain then it is possible that you are suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
One thing which is to be kept in mind is that green tea contains caffeine which may not be suitable for people suffering from IBS, so get a decaffeinated version of green tea.
12. Helps Manage Depression
If you are suffering from symptoms like loss of appetite, lethargy, unexplained sadness, self-loathing and loss of interest in daily activities; it is possible that you are suffering from either depression or anxiety. Consuming green tea before bed can be a great solution to lift up your mood and feel fresh.
According to a Japanese study which was conducted on 1058 elderly individuals has proven that people who consume green tea before bed on a daily basis are less prone to depression than people who do not.
13. Antibacterial Properties
Green tea has some great antibacterial properties. Drinking two cups of green tea can be helpful in eradicating harmful bacteria and detoxifying your body. It is so effective that is has properties which can be useful in killing E. coli bacteria.
14. Potential Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease
Green tea can be very useful in treating the Parkinson’s disease as it has a neuroprotective effect on the people who are suffering from this disease. Parkinson’s is a disease of the nervous system which can be detected or diagnosed by tremors or rigid muscle movements.
Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s researched on 400 patients in which they were treated with both placebo and green tea polyphenol. The results have shown that people who were given green tea showed significant and rapid recovery than patients who did not.
15. Helps Reduce Smoking
According to research, it is shown that consuming green tea can reduce a smoker’s urge to smoke. It can inhibit the tumors for smokers and is also useful for healing lung cancers
Green tea can also help:
- Treat headaches
- Get rid of bad breath
- Improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients
- Reduce the effects of sunburns
- Fight common cold
- Recover from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Regulate teeth loss
- Get rid of kidney stones
- Treat athlete’s foot
Side Effects of Drinking Green Tea before Bed
In particular, there are no side effects of green tea before bed, but there are some risk complications that should be kept in mind while consuming green tea on a daily basis.
Green tea contains many substances that are active and can react with other herbs and substances in the body. Below are few things to be taken care of:
- If you are sensitive to caffeine, this may be a problem for you as you may experience insomnia, nausea, anxiety, irritability and an upset stomach. Avoid green tea if you have caffeine sensitivity or look for decaffeinated options.
- If you take any blood thinners (anticoagulant drugs) such as Coumadin/warfarin, you should avoid green tea as it has high vitamin K content which can be harmful. Avoid green tea along with aspirin because they directly affect the clotting abilities of the platelets.
- If you take some stimulant drinks avoid green tea with the same as it may increase blood pressure and increase the heart rate.
- Pregnant and breastfeeding ladies should avoid green tea. People with anxiety disorders, stomach ulcers, and kidney and liver problems should avoid green tea too.
These points should be kept in mind if you are planning to add green tea to your regular diet. If not, then green tea is the best supplement for a healthy body ahead.
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Sources:
Ware M., “Green Tea: Health Benefits, Side Effects and Research,” Medical News Today web site, March 28, 2017; https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269538.php.
Nichols H., “30 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Green Tea,” Well Being Secrets web site; http://www.well-beingsecrets.com/benefits-of-green-tea/, last accessed October 16, 2017.
“Effects of Green Tea Consumption on Blood Pressure: A Meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials,” NCBI web site, September 01, 2014; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4150247/.
“Efficacy of Green Tea Extract for Treatment of Dry Eye and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction; A Double-blind Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Study,” NCBI web site, February 01, 2017; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5376801/.
“The effect of Green Tea on Weight Loss and Weight maintenance: A Meta-analysis,” NCBI web site, September, 2009; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19597519.
“The Effects of Green Tea and Type 2 Diabetes,” NCBI web site, June 14, 2013; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19597519.
“Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study,” NCBI web site, September 13, 2006; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16968850.
