Who doesn’t love a nice cup of tea during the day? Tasty, invigorating, and warming in equal measure, around 3.7 billion cups of the stuff are consumed each and every day around the world. However, for some, the fact it contains caffeine can be a problem, which is why many turn to decaffeinated tea.
Some people have an issue with sleeping at night when they consume too much caffeine for their constitution. To better explain how decaffeinated products help with this, let’s first take a look at what caffeine does to the mind and body.
Caffeine: A Natural, Psychoactive Substance
Obviously, the reason why decaffeinated tea is different is that it’s had what is a natural psychoactive substance removed. Caffeine is found in a variety of plants from kola nuts to cacao pods to tea leaves and coffee beans. Sometimes, it’s even produced synthetically.
Primarily consumed in beverages, the most potent form of caffeine can be found in coffee – hence the reason so many people drink it in the morning! Other sources of caffeine include sodas, but they pale in comparison – with a can of cola, for example, containing just a third of the amount you’d find in a cup of joe – depending on who made it, of course.
What Caffeine Does to the Brain
When a person opts against a cup of decaffeinated tea in favor of a caffeinated beverage, caffeine is absorbed quickly by the stomach and then the small intestines. Generally speaking, you’ll get the full effect – alertness – around ½ hour to an hour after drinking it, and on its way around the body, it eventually makes its way across the blood/brain barrier.
Once inside the brain, caffeine is able to block your adenosine receptors, which create a sleep-enhancing chemical that’s secreted slowly during the day. The longer a person stays awake, the more adenosine is produced, making us feel sleepier and more ready to snooze.
How It Disrupts Sleep
If excessive amounts of caffeine are consumed during the day or it’s ingested too close to bedtime, then the lack of adenosine build-up will mean you’re not sleepy when you should be. This is obviously a problem, as you’ll not be able to drop off in the usual way.
Also, studies have shown that caffeine disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm, knocking your sleep pattern off kilter for the longer term. This natural rhythm is meant to follow night/day patterns, but when interfered with in this way, your sleep naturally gets affected.
Decaffeinated Tea – All The Taste Without the Sleep Disruption
So, as we can see, drinking tea that has all the taste, but none of the caffeine means that you’ll have a much better chance of restful, unbroken sleep.
The body’s natural balance is easy to knock, but with a beverage like this one, you get to enjoy the wonderful flavors that tea has to offer, without the sleep disruption.
If you love tea, but not the tossing-and-turning that caffeine can cause, why not try a nice cup of decaf tea today instead?
