Rooibos Tea Health Benefits Like Better Sleep

This was written in January 2012. Rooibos tea (also called red bush tea) is made from the tea leaves of a red bush that grows in South Africa. The scientific name of this plant is Aspalathus linearis . Rooibos is Africaans for "red bush." Any tea, like rooibos tea (pronounced "roy-boss"), that is not made from the tea plant (camellia sinensis bush), is called an herbal tea.

According to the news, most Americans have sleeping problems or insomnia. It could be trouble falling asleep or it could be like going to sleep and waking up after a couple of hours and not being able to get back to sleep. Doing yoga can help with relieving stress to help you to get to sleep. My article about the many benefits of yoga even has poses that can help you to get to sleep and heal insomnia.

There is the green rooibos tea that is not oxidized like the red rooibos tea (like with green and black tea). The oxidization is inaccurately referred to as fermentation. Rooibos tea contains no caffeine. Rooibos tea has a relaxing and calming effect, that helps one to deal with stress . It helps people to have a more restful and deeper sleep. It reduces tension, insomnia, headaches and irratability. Wikipedia says:

Rooibos is purported to assist with nervous tension, allergies and digestive problems.

Two rooibos flavonoids, quercetin and luteolin have been known to have cancer fighting qualities. Rooibos does not contain the antioxidant Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). [That is in green tea.]

Traditional medicinal uses of rooibos in South Africa include alleviating infantile colic, allergies, asthma and dermatological problems.

One place that you can buy it is at a Whole Foods store. Their own brand is the 365 brand and it is usually cheaper than the other products. They have the 365 brand of organic rooibos tea with natural flavors (each bag is 2 grams). It costs $4 for 40 tea bags so that is only 10 cents a bag. I see that Amazon.com has bulk tea (above on the right) that is not as convenient as tea bags. But it is very cheap since 16 ounces of organic rooibos tea leaves would make 224 cups of tea with 2 grams of tea in each cup.

Rooibos tea helps to protect you against cancer just like green tea. I am not suggesting that people drink this instead of green tea but in the evening, before you go to sleep, it is better to have the rooibos tea. It is high in antioxidants and this increases the productivity of carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes and also protects cell proteins, cell fats, and DNA.

The antioxidants and the high amount of zinc in this herbal tea strengthens your immune system to help your body to protect itself from colds, flu and cancer. It is also high in minerals like manganese and calcium that can help you to have stronger bones and teeth. It relieves stomach cramps and lessens colic in infants. Research in Japan has found that Rooibos tea increases several immune chemicals which can recognize and attempt to destroy the HIV virus.

Researchers at Iwate University in Japan recently found that Rooibos tea protects the brain and nervous system against a process known as "lipid peroxidation". Because the tea prevents this, it protects you against degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

There are many testimonials about this tea that indicate that it can help with cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure. Of course stress and lack of quality sleep may be worse for health than anything else. Research has shown that meditation can lower high blood pressure or hypertension. So it does that by reducing stress. This would also account for the anti-aging effects of rooibos tea.

Plenty of good quality sleep is extremely important for mental, emotional and physical health. Studies show that getting more sleep also helps people with weight loss or losing weight. So you should never get up early and miss sleep so you can exercise to lose weight. This would account for people who have lost weight while drinking this tea.

The first picture above has a link to a webpage with extensive scientific information on rooibos. It says:

Flavonoids: The polyphenol antioxidants identified in rooibos tea include the monomeric flavonoids aspalathin, nothofagin, quercetin, rutin, isoquercitrin, orientin, isoorientin, luteolin, vitexin, isovitexin, and chrysoeriol. Currently, rooibos is the only known natural source of aspalathin.

The antioxidants present in rooibos may help protect against free radical damage that can lead to cancer, heart attack, and stroke. Unfermented (green) rooibos has a higher amount of polyphenols than traditional fermented rooibos and generally demonstrates higher antioxidant and antimutagenic capabilities in vitro.

Recent research has shown that during sleep, the brain cleans out the toxins including those that cause Alzheimer's disease and dementia. There is an article called Sleep 'cleans' the brain of toxins. It says:

The brain uses sleep to wash away the waste toxins built up during a hard day's thinking, researchers have shown.

The US team believe the "waste removal system" is one of the fundamental reasons for sleep.