Cortisol is Released in Response to Stress
Chronic life stresses include:
- Divorce
- Death of a family member
- Prolonged illness
- Loss of job
- Unhappiness in the workplace
- Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami
- Pharmaceutical drugs
Daily living causes us to be stressed out, too. Factors include:
- Long daily commutes
- Trouble paying bills
- Family worries
- Constant clamor
- Sleep disorder
- Separation
- Risky behavior
- Unresolved conflict
Fight stress with four cups of black
tea a day
ISLAMABAD: Drinking at least four
cups of black tea a day could help you
fight the stresses of everyday life,
evidence shows.
Tea has traditionally been associated
with stress relief, and many people
believe that the beverage helps them
relax after facing the stresses of
everyday life. However, scientific
evidence for the relaxing properties of
tea is quite limited.
In the new study, researchers at
London’s University College studied 75
young male regular tea drinkers
splitting them into two groups and
monitored them for six weeks, states a
release posted in the university
website.
While one group was given a
fruit-flavored caffeinated tea mixture
made up of the constituents of an
average cup of black tea, the other was
given a caffeinated placebo identical in
taste but devoid of the active tea
ingredients.
Both groups were subjected to
challenging tasks, while their cortisol,
blood pressure, blood platelet and
self-rated levels of stress were
measured.
In one task, volunteers were exposed to
one of three stressful situations
(threat of unemployment, a shop lifting
accusation or an incident in a nursing
home), where they had to prepare a
verbal response and argue their case in
front of a camera.
The tasks triggered substantial
increases in blood pressure, heart rate
and subjective stress ratings in both of
the groups. In other words, similar
stress levels were induced in both
groups. However, 50 minutes after the
task, cortisol levels had dropped by an
average of 47 percent in the tea
drinking group compared with 27 percent
in the fake tea group.
Researchers also found that blood
platelet activation - linked to blood
clotting and the risk of heart attacks -
was lower in tea drinkers, and that this
group reported a greater degree of
relaxation in the recovery period after
the task.
This is one of the first studies to
assess tea in a double-blind placebo
controlled design - that is, neither we
nor the participants knew whether they
were drinking real or fake tea, UCL
Professor Andrew Steptoe said.
"Nevertheless, our study suggests
that drinking black tea may speed up our
recovery from the daily stresses in
life. Although it does not appear to
reduce the actual levels of stress we
experience, tea does seem to have a
greater effect in bringing stress
hormone levels back to normal."
This has important health implications
because slow recovery following acute
stress has been associated with a
greater risk of chronic illnesses such
as coronary heart disease, Steptoe said.
Adrenocorticotropin Cortisol
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