Healthy Aging, One Habit at a Time
I love tea. My favorites are Darjeeling black and Jasmine green. I buy loose tea, store it in tins, and make it in my favorite teapot from Paris whose top is held together by Gorilla Glue because I can’t bear to throw my keepsake away.
Drinking tea is generally considered a healthy habit. Tea appears to play a role in preventing cancer, lengthening our telomeres (helping to slow aging), and counteracting a natural decline in artery function. The flavonoids in tea are anti-inflammatory, scavenging unstable oxygen molecules and stopping free radicals from forming.
There are two areas, however, where tea can have negative effects. Timing is everything when it comes to these two.
Iron absorption
Tea (and coffee) can inhibit iron absorption, and most vegetarians and vegans need to optimize iron absorption. We can get plenty of iron in plant-based meals, especially from grains, legumes, and dark leafy greens. But to make sure that enough iron gets absorbed, plant-based experts agree, one should refrain from drinking tea and coffee an hour before and an hour after meals.
Sleep
Tea, because of its caffeine, can also interrupt a good night’s sleep. Recently I used an app called Timeshifter to help me minimize jet lag on an international trip. Starting a few days before the trip, the app told me when to go to sleep and wake up, when to get light exposure, and when to start and stop consuming caffeine. Timeshifter recommended no caffeine for nine hours before bedtime, a much longer window than I’d expected. I’ve since found research articles that say caffeine can last 12 or more hours in your system.
Now that I’m in my early 60’s, I grapple with getting a good night’s sleep, like many people my age. (If you’re young and getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, enjoy it while it lasts!) Before I got the Timeshifter app, I aimed to drink my last cup of tea by 2:00 in the afternoon, but often that stretched until 3:00 or even 4:00.
New routine
Because of how well the Timeshifter experience went (I highly recommend it!) and to optimize iron absorption, I’m practicing a new routine.
No green or black tea after lunch
No tea an hour before breakfast or an hour after breakfast
Wait to eat lunch an hour after the last morning cup of tea
This means that I usually have 1-2 cups when I wake up, wait an hour before and after breakfast before another 1-2 cups in the mid- and late-morning.
I’ve noticed an improvement in my sleep, both getting to sleep and getting back to sleep when I wake up. Still, I miss a nice cup of black tea when I take food photos in the afternoon. It was a meaningful part of helping me work, whether it was the caffeine or the comfort.
Now in the afternoons I’m drinking more herbal teas. My current favorites are licorice spice, hibiscus-berry, peppermint, and chamomile. I still want black or green tea after lunch and have been tempted to break the new regimen, but it’s becoming more normal every day.
One habit of many
Aging well takes work, I am discovering. Tweaking the timing of my tea-drinking sounds small, but, like most habits, it was deeply ingrained, and the new habit still doesn’t feel natural. No doubt I’ll find other, more difficult habits to modify. I hope this kind of practice makes it easier each time.