Tea is a great drink for clearing away oil and grease and refreshing the brain, but the health benefits of drinking tea go far beyond that. A small-scale study by the Department of Psychological Medicine at the National University of Singapore's Yeo Loo Ling College of Medicine found that drinking tea regularly can improve brain connectivity and slow down brain aging.

　　To determine whether drinking tea could lead to more efficient organisation of communication circuits in the brain, the researchers selected 36 middle-aged and older adults aged 60 or older, 15 of whom drank tea regularly and 21 of whom rarely or never drank tea. Participants provided detailed information about their general health, emotional psychology, and lifestyle, and underwent MRI scans and 12 tests of neuropsychological function and measures of cognitive function.

　　The researchers paid particular attention to the connectivity of the default mode neural network (DMN), a large network that connects multiple brain regions and whose important roles include self-awareness, empathy, moral reasoning and imagining the future. After comparing the test results of the two groups, the researchers found that the overall network of the tea drinkers' brains was more complete, with more efficient functional and structural connections. When connections between brain regions reflect stronger structural features, information processing can be performed more efficiently. The findings were published in the Journal of Aging.

　　The findings demonstrate, for the first time, the positive effects of tea drinking on brain structure, suggesting that regular tea drinking has a delaying effect on the ageing of brain tissue.

　　What are the benefits of drinking tea

　　1, improve muscle endurance

　　Drinking tea can improve muscular endurance, which is because tea also has an antioxidant substance called catechin, which can increase the body's ability to burn fat, improve muscular endurance, help fight fatigue, and increase the time of physical exercise. Drinking green tea regularly has the most significant effect.

　　2, resistance to ultraviolet rays

　　Tea polyphenols are water-soluble substances, wash your face with tea can remove facial grease, astringent pores, disinfectant, sterilisation, anti-skin aging effect, but also help to reduce ultraviolet light in the sun on the skin damage, is a natural "sunscreen".

　　3, keep fit

　　The Tang Dynasty, "Gleanings from the Materia Medica" on the discussion of tea has mentioned "long food is thin", modern scientific research has confirmed this. Caffeine in tea can promote gastric secretion, help digestion, enhance the body's ability to decompose fat. Overseas research also shows that regular tea consumption can reduce the waistline, reduce the body mass index (BMI), thus helping to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

　　4, against radiation

　　Overseas studies have shown that tea polyphenols and their oxides can absorb some radioactive substances, to protect cells from radiation damage, for the repair of damaged cells is also helpful. Clinical studies have shown that tea extracts can treat tumour patients in the process of radiation therapy caused by mild radiation sickness, treatment of radiation-induced haematocrit, white blood cell reduction, the effect is very good.

　　5, improve memory

　　Drinking tea to improve memory also has a certain role, with studies showing that tea polyphenols in tea can be localised to improve the brain, thereby increasing memory and improving learning efficiency. Foreign research has confirmed that drinking tea can prevent and treat neurological diseases, especially cognitive impairment in the elderly. In addition, caffeine can promote central nervous system excitation, have refreshing, beneficial to the mind, the effect of clearing the mind.

　　6, improve bone density

　　Although tea contains caffeine, which promotes calcium loss with urination, the content is extremely low. Even black tea with high caffeine content, only 30 to 45 mg per cup. In fact, tea contains more substances that help reduce calcium loss, including fluorine, phytoestrogenic substances and potassium. Taiwanese research has found that regular tea drinkers have higher bone density and a lower chance of hip fracture.

　　There are 7 kinds of people should not drink tea

　　1, constipated people

　　Constipation is not suitable for people to drink tea, because in constipation when the intestinal tract is relatively dry, suitable for eating some laxative food, and some of the ingredients in the tea on the gastrointestinal mucous membranes have a certain astringent effect, thus affecting the digestion and absorption of food, so that the stool is dry, causing constipation or aggravation.

　　2, neurasthenia, insomnia

　　Because of the caffeine in the tea on the human central nervous system, has a significant role in excitation, drinking tea, especially drinking strong tea, will make the human brain in a state of over-excitement and not rest.

　　3, anaemia

　　Because the tannins in the tea will make the iron in the food to form precipitates that are not absorbed by the body.

　　4、People with calcium deficiency or bone fracture

　　Because the alkaloids in tea will inhibit the absorption of calcium in the duodenum. At the same time can also promote the discharge of calcium in the urine, so that the human body calcium less in more out, resulting in calcium deficiency and osteoporosis, making it difficult to recover from bone fractures.

　　5, people with gastric ulcers

　　Because there is a kind of phosphatase in the human stomach that can inhibit the secretion of gastric acid by gastric wall cells, and the theophylline in tea will reduce the activity of phosphatase, so that the gastric wall cells secrete a lot of gastric acid.

　　6, gout patients

　　Because the tannins in the tea will aggravate the patient's condition, and therefore should not drink tea, and even more should not drink the tea soaked for too long.

　　7、High blood pressure or heart disease

　　Because tea contains caffeine on the human body has a strong cardiac excitation, and this excitation process will affect the body's physiological activities, improve some basic metabolism.