Though there’s been widespread belief that tea and coffee contain caffeine that causes diuretics, studies have proven otherwise; when consumed moderately they don’t negatively impact hydration levels.
Herbal teas offer a convenient way of adding delicious and hydrating ingredients into your diet, while providing many health benefits, including improved digestion, decreased nausea and eased cold symptoms. Furthermore, herbal tea can offer numerous mental and emotional wellbeing benefits, including stress reduction or aiding sleep.
Herbal teas are typically prepared by steeping dried herbs, roots, seeds and flowers in hot water for several minutes to release their abundant vitamins and nutrients into your system. Incorporating more plants into your diet with drinking tea provides another great way to reap its rewards – plus herbs are packed with antioxidants which may benefit overall health!
Tea has many flavors to choose from and can be enjoyed both hot and cold. Some popular types of herbal tea are chamomile, peppermint, green tea, yerba mate, and black tea – with each variety helping alleviate symptoms like menstrual cramps, improve metabolism or soothe arthritis pain. Herbal tea may even serve as a useful means of hydration since its caffeine-free components may aid your body absorb more liquid.
To prepare herbal tea, simply boil water and steep your ingredients of choice for an extended period. There are a few methods of tea preparation – infusion, maceration and decoction are among the more commonly employed – but infusion remains the preferred approach for creating this beverage.
Hydration herbal teas should have low to moderate caffeine levels. Popular South American beverage Yerba Mate boasts natural caffeine levels approximately half those found in comparable cups of black tea; similarly many rooibos and pu-erh teas possess relatively low caffeine concentrations.
Other herbal teas that provide effective hydration include those containing ingredients that promote healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels, like chamomile tea for stress relief or elderflower for hydration in hot weather. Furthermore, high doses of vitamin C in herbal teas such as dandelion, horsetail, nettle or birch teas may help the body excrete excess sodium more easily by aiding water retention by helping the body excrete excess water retention from your system.