Tea Drinking: The Original Immunity Booster

Are you looking to boost your body’s natural immune system capabilities this winter or throughout all the seasons? The practice of drinking tea can do just that. Not only is it packed with antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and fight oxidative stress in the body, but tea also often contains immune-boosting compounds that help your body better do what it is designed to do: fight off foreign threats. Some teas do this better than others. For a list of immune-boosting teas, click the link

Here are 3 big reasons why drinking tea can help you stay healthy all year long.

1. Tea is Full of Antioxidants

You may have heard of antioxidants before but you may not have realized how important they are to our health. Oxidative stress is the normal process of aging. Whether we like it or not it will happen to all of us. Our bodies break down, but there are definitely things that speed this process up. These can be external forces or internal forces. We can be exposed to external things that cause oxidative stress in our system or there are things we can take into our body either unknowingly or knowingly that contribute as well. Polutatants or smoking are two big examples of things that increase oxidative stress in the body.

Here is the good news. There are also things we can do to combat the oxidative stress that can slow down the aging process. Drinking tea regularly is one of those things because tea is high in antioxidants which help to better balance the body’s natural aging processes and prevent or at least mitigate further damage. They fight to keep free radicals better balanced within your cells. In fact, we have a list of some of the best teas for helping with slowing down the aging process. See anti-aging teas

2. Tea has Immune-Boosting Compounds

Teas such as both Green Tea and Black Tea contain polyphenols like theaflavins and a non-protein amino acid known as l-theanine which both work to support the immune system. L-theanine works alongside antioxidants to enhance their effects. Studies have shown that l-theanine can enhance t-cell activity. A T-cell is a type of immune cell that plays a crucial role in the body’s defense against pathogens. An increase in this activity leads to better immune surveillance and quicker responses to infections. An herbal tea known as tulsi is known to have an antioxidant known as eugenol making it a natural immunomodulator, helping to reduce the risk of infections, including colds, flu, and other respiratory conditions.

3. Tea has Anti-inflammatory and Antimicrobial Effects

There are many teas that have compounds that help reduce inflammation. These compounds help to regulate the immune system’s response and aid the body in reducing overall chronic inflammation. Due to their extensive studies, green tea, in particular, has antimicrobial properties that help the body fight infection.

Here is a list of some of our favorite immune-boosting teas. They are delicious, soothing, and packed with the good stuff to help your bodies do what they do but better.