Top 10 healthy reasons for drinking Rooibos

 Health and wellbeing have become increasingly hot topics in recent years. Modern lifestyles, with full-on schedules, high stress, poor diet, and sedentary occupations take their toll.

Life expectancy at birth (the average length of time that you are expected to live) increased from 69.9 years to 78.9 years between 1959 to 2016. But since then it has slowly declined. Add in Covid and things are definitely going the wrong way!

Rooibos is a remarkable beverage with unique biochemistry that has the power to combat many of ills that are causing this decline. In this post, we list 10 of them and explain how a regular cup of Rooibos can help you stave off these problems.

Stress

Too much stress is bad for you on many levels, causing several of the problems we cover later in this article. In addition, it encourages some people to rely heavily on drugs and/or alcohol. Drug overdoses and alcohol-related illnesses are on the up and cited as major reasons for the decline in life expectancy. A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a steady increase in suicide rates. Stress and alcohol/drug abuse are contributing factors. Stress kills, directly or indirectly.

A cup of Rooibos can reduce stress – our promise of “creating moments of calm in a world of crazy” is not wishful thinking. Just “taking five” for a cuppa will help but there’s more to it than this. Rooibos is caffeine-free, so unlike coffee and regular tea, it won’t get you even more buzzed up. Also, it has traces of magnesium (known as “nature’s tranquilizer”) and has the ability to suppress the amount of cortisol (a stress hormone) your body produces.

Sleep

Rooibos helps you sleep – for all the reasons outlined above. Good quality sleep is essential for optimum physical and mental health – it helps your body heal, it boosts your immune system, it improves concentration and productivity. Regular poor sleep puts you at risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, depression, and anxiety – in short, it shortens your life expectancy.

  

Obesity

Poor sleep is strongly linked to weight gain (see the previous point). But even more important than this is the fact Rooibos is sugar-free and naturally sweet enough on its own. If you drink Rooibos rather than tea, coffee, and any other sugar-laden drink then you are much less likely to pile on the pounds and suffer from all those obesity-related problems.

 

Heart

Caffeine can raise blood pressure and cause heart palpitations – so Rooibos is healthy on that score too. As we’ve noted above drinking Rooibos also calms you down – again good for heart health. It also helps keep your weight down, another positive as far your heart is concerned. 

Some small studies have also shown that Rooibos tea could help with ACE (Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme) inhibition. This enzyme can contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and drinking Rooibos may mean there’s less of it in your system.

Rooibos is also the only natural source of the antioxidant Aspalathin, a unique compound that protects the heart by suppressing vascular inflammation and the build-up of plaque.

Diabetes

While Aspalathin is good for your heart it also helps prevent you from developing type 2 Diabetes. Studies show it enhances insulin activity and improves blood glucose levels. Green Rooibos, even richer in Aspalathin, was shown to be especially effective at lowering raised blood glucose levels.

Diabetics are two to four times more likely to die from heart diseases or stroke – this reinforces the argument made above that Rooibos has significant cardiovascular benefits.

Cancer

Rooibos is not only rich in Aspalathin but two other antioxidants, Quercetin and Chrysoeriol. Research suggests this trio may help prevent damage caused by excess free radicals in the body and guard you against cancer as well as heart disease.

 

Immune system

The antioxidants in Rooibos can also strengthen your immune system. The drink’s ability to reduce stress and improve the quality of your sleep also helps in this regard – Rooibos Rocks when it comes to fighting off infection.

 

Anti-aging

As we’ve already explained Rooibos can keep us fit and healthy for longer – so in that sense, it has multiple anti-aging properties. But studies suggest it can even delay the formation of wrinkles by protecting the layer of fat directly beneath our skin.

  

Anti-inflammatory

The calming effects of Rooibos that we mentioned above not only reduce stress but inflammation. This makes it excellent for treating skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or nappy rash. These properties also help to relieve digestive disorders such as nausea, vomiting, heartburn, cramps, constipation, and even colic in children. These qualities, plus the fact it contains two bioflavonoids with antihistamine properties make it effective in relieving unpleasant allergy symptoms such as itchy eyes, sneezing, and runny nose.

 

Bones, teeth, and hair

Rooibos contains calcium, magnesium, and potassium as well as the antioxidants luteolin and orientin – all of which help preserve your bone density, support healthy teeth, and promotes hair growth.

  

Put the kettle on

Phew, that’s quite a list! But not complete – we could add that it helps digestion, is great for pregnant mums and their bumps and helps restore hormonal imbalances. All true, but we don’t want to overload you with too much information all in one go. Time for a well-earned cuppa - one that’s going to do you the world of good! 

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