If you’re feeling stressed, it’s only natural to seek relief.
While occasional bouts of stress are difficult to avoid, chronic stress can take a serious toll on your physical and emotional health. In fact, it may increase your risk of conditions like heart disease and depression (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
Interestingly, certain foods and beverages may have stress-relieving qualities.
Here are 18 stress-relieving foods and beverages to add to your diet.
1. Matcha powder
This vibrant green tea powder is popular among health enthusiasts because it’s rich in L-theanine, a non-protein amino acid with powerful stress-relieving properties.
Matcha is a better source of this amino acid than other types of green tea, as it’s made from green tea leaves grown in shade. This process increases its content of certain compounds, including L-theanine (5Trusted Source).
Both human and animal studies show that matcha may reduce stress if its L-theanine content is high enough and its caffeine is low (6Trusted Source).
For example, in a 15-day study, 36 people ate cookies containing 4.5 grams of matcha powder each day. They experienced significantly reduced activity of the stress marker salivary alpha-amylase, compared with a placebo group (7Trusted Source).
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