5 Instant Things That Could Happen To You When You Switch From Coffee To Tea
Team coffee or team tea? Whether you want to make a change in your diet, health or lifestyle, we researched 5 (almost instant) changes your body will most likely go through if you want to switch from drinking coffee daily to tea.
Approximate Caffeine Dose Reference For An 8oz. (approx. 236ml) “Small-Sized” Cup
Coffee: 80 – 100 mg of caffeine
Black Tea: 47 – 90 mg of caffeine
Green Tea: 20 – 45 mg of caffeine
White Tea: 6 – 60 mg of caffeine
#1. Ouch! You May Get Some Headaches
Unfortunately, the world of switching to tea isn’t all sunshine and roses. Reducing your caffeine intake can cause a caffeine withdrawal.
Caffeine narrows the blood vessels in your brain through a thinning process. When your dose changes drastically, this can cause the blood vessels to widen again, which can create unpleasant headaches.
Caffeine is a stimulant and creates a chemical dependency in your body, and anything you develop a dependency on will cause some kind of withdrawal when you quit. Luckily, this is temporary, and your withdrawals won’t last forever. Within a few days to a few weeks drinking tea your body should re-regulate itself and these headaches should fade.
Best case scenario: taper down caffeine intake as you make the transition instead of abruptly making the change.
#2. Decreased Muscle Cramps (Which Gives You No Exuses To Skip Leg Day)
Caffeine can make people more susceptible to muscle cramps. This is because of the way it thins blood vessels, as we discussed in the above section.
Tea can be a great way to reduce your high caffeine dose at once and avoid these unpleasant cramps.
Dehydration, heat and over exertion can all cause cramping as well, so don’t be too quick to blame caffeine, though it is true that caffeine can make it easier for all of these things to cause cramps.
Cramps happen when your muscles can’t get enough oxygen, and it’s easier for this to happen with thinner blood vessels. Switching to tea will help your mornings feel lighter and keep away this physical discomfort.
Sources:[1] Livestrong/ Jerry Shaw [2] American Journal Of Medicine
#3. Heart Love: You Will Lower Your Cholesterol
Coffee is known for increasing cholesterol and can cause cardiac problems over time, making tea an appealing solution for people with cholesterol issues – this is due to coffee having compound in it called cafestol, which can hinder your body’s ability to internally regulate cholesterol.
Keep in mind, drip coffee (filtered coffee) filters catch the majority of the cafestol in coffee grounds, so this method works best if you have issues with cholesterol but want to stick to your cup of joe. This is bad news for people who prefer French press coffee or most espressos because the cafestrol is not filtered, leading to higher amounts of LDL “bad” cholestrol.
Sources: [1] WebMD/ Sabrina Felson,MD [2] Science Daily
#4. You Can Eliminate Caffeine-Induced Anxiety & Jitters
Coffee is a quick-acting stimulant, activating within 20 minutes to an hour of consumption. If you suspect coffee is making you jittery, it’s probably because you’re more sensitive to this quick release, and would handle caffeine better in less concentrated amounts.
You shouldn’t consume more than 400mg of caffeine in a day in order to stay within safe amounts, and never consume more than 200mg at a time. If you find yourself getting the jitters often, it’s possible that you’re closer to this upper limit than you think, try experimenting with lower doses or more extended consumption.
Tea is a great solution to this, helping to reduce the jitters by necessitating a slower intake. If you like the energy coffee gives you but not this physical discomfort, tea is a great solution.
Sources: [1] Healthline/ Lisa Wartenberg, MFA, RD, LD [2] Science Direct
#5. You’ll Stay More Hydrated
One great benefit of switching to tea is that it will keep you more hydrated. This is because tea, on average, has a much lower concentration of caffeine as opposed to coffee.
Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning that it encourages your body to urinate more frequently. This can lead to coffee drinkers loosing a lot of water, and when their coffee is highly concentrated, it’s hard to gain that water back.
Because tea is less concentrated, you need more of it to reach the same dose of caffeine, meaning you’ve consumed more liquid and you’ll be more hydrated throughout the day.
Please note that this article, or any posts published on this website, is not intended to be a substitute for any medical diagnosis, advice or treatment – it’s always important for readers to consult with their medical healthcare professional.
