Drinking a cup of tea could make you more creative, reveals a new study.
Scientists have found that a simple cuppa sparks an instant burst of brainpower by putting people in a good mood.
Minutes after downing a brew, students scored better in creative and cognition tests than those who had drunk a glass of water.
Although tea contains caffeine and theanine, both associated with increased attentiveness and alertness, these do not usually take effect instantly.
Instead, it is believed tea create a ‘positive’ mood which in turn sparks the brain’s cognitive regions into life.
The findings, made by Chinese researchers, are the latest to delve into the benefits of drinking tea.
They come after a major study in December concluded that drinking a daily cup of tea could slash the risk of developing glaucoma.
How was the study carried out?
Nearly 50 students were monitored for the experiment, which was published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
Half were given a cup of black tea to drink, while the rest were given half a glass of water before taking two different tests.
The first cognitive test saw them asked to make an ‘attractive and creative’ design out of building blocks, Peking University scientists noted.
Lead researcher Yan Huang said the participants were asked to come up with a ‘cool’ name for a new ramen (noodle) restaurant in the second.
Their results were judged by other, non-participating, students for creativity and design and marked on a scale by the researchers.
In the block building test, the tea drinkers scored 6.54 points against 6.03 points for the water drinkers. In the name test, the tea drinkers scored 4.11 against 3.78.
What did the results show?
The results show tea helped divergent thinking – coming up with a number of new ideas around a central theme. This is what most people define as creativity.
The report said: ‘This work contributes to understanding the function of tea on creativity and offers a new way to investigate the relationship between food and beverage consumption and the improvement of human cognition.
‘Two biological ingredients, caffeine and theanine, have beneficial effects on attention, which is an indispensable part of cognitive function.
‘But the amount of tea ingredients our participants absorbed was relatively small. Also, theanine facilitates long-term sustained attentional processing rather than short-term moment-to-moment attentional processing.’
Instead, tea is a ‘mood enhancer’ and this may have been why it worked so well in the short term, it added.
What other benefits does tea have?
Other studies have concluded that drinking tea every day can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in older people by 50 per cent.
And for those who are genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s, a cup of tea daily can reduce the risk by as much as 86 per cent.
Drinking tea could help to prevent type 2 diabetes, scientists claimed in March.
Consuming the popular beverage helps to smooth out spikes in blood sugar levels that are triggered by snacking on sweet treats.
