The prevalence of depression and anxiety is increasing among the elderly around the world. The use of lavender herbal tea is one of the treatments that have significantly grown in most countries in recent years. Now, experts in a new study, say that consumption of lavender herbal tea can reduce depression and anxiety scores.
Although people have been drinking tea for centuries to soothe ailments like sleep disorder, sore throats, and anxiety, researchers are just now finding evidence to support lavender herbal tea to help stabilise people’s mood.
In the study, 60 elderly subjects who referred to the Health Center of Larestan city in the south of Iran in 2019 were assigned to both the intervention and control groups. The two groups were similar in terms of age, gender, educational level and marital status and there was no significant difference.
The intervention consisted of using two grams of lavender tea bag, which was prescribed to be used two times as decoction in the morning and night over two weeks. The control group did not receive any placebo.
According to the study, the mean score of depression in the intervention group before and after drinking lavender herbal tea was 17.80 ± 1.49 and 16.33 ± 1.49, respectively. The mean score of depression between intervention and control groups after drinking herbal tea was 16.33 ± 1.49 and 18.33 ± 1.84, respectively. This indicated the effect of herbal tea on reducing depression.
The clinical trial study concluded in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine that “The results of the present study showed that consumption of lavender herbal tea can reduce depression and anxiety scores and since it is inexpensive and accessible, it is suggested to be used as a complementary treatment in reducing anxiety and depression.”
Previously, researchers also found lavender herbal tea helpful in relieving sleep disorder, fatigue, and depression; and in improving maternal-infant attachment during the early postpartum period. Its positive effects were limited to the immediate term.
This study, conducted in Taiwan involved 80 Taiwanese postnatal women with poor sleep quality and with no history of allergy to herbal teas, foods, or medicines. The participants in the experimental group were instructed to drink one cup of lavender tea after spending time to appreciate and smell the aroma each day for a period of two weeks, whereas their control group peers received regular postpartum care only.
In 2018, a triple-blind, randomised, controlled clinical trial to compare the effect of lavender and bitter orange on anxiety in the Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice journal corroborated that they can both be used to decrease anxiety in women after menopause.
While lavender herbal tea might be a go-to scent for soothing anxiety and stress, ingesting it also helps to relax muscles and nerves, helping to relieve stress and tension while warding off headaches and muscle pain.
People use lavender in the following ways, in making tea from the leaves; using the oil in aromatherapy; mixing the essential oil into base oil for massage and adding the oil or flowers to baths.
One of the key reasons teas like lavender herbal tea is so beneficial for health is due to L-Theanine, an amino acid that helps to balance mood. Although theanine levels differ because of many different factors, teas also contain a number of beneficial ingredients that can help to settle the mind and reduce stress on the body.
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