Can I drink green tea if I have high blood pressure?

Green tea is a relatively important type of tea and is also a tea that many people like to drink. Practice has also proved that drinking green tea regularly can improve many health conditions of the human body, especially improve diseases of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system and promote the health of the cardiovascular system. For patients with hypertension, drinking green tea is very good, but there are certain requirements for them when drinking green tea.

1. Hypertensive patients should pay attention to drinking tea

Patients with hypertension should drink tea in moderation and avoid strong tea. Because the caffeine in strong tea excites the central nervous system, making people excited and insomniac, speeding up the heart rate and increasing the burden on the heart, it is not conducive to rest and is not good for patients with hypertension.

2. Green tea and oolong tea are suitable for patients with hypertension

Recent studies have found that drinking tea can reduce the chance of high blood pressure. If you drink more than 120 ml of green tea or oolong tea every day for more than one year, your risk of developing high blood pressure will be reduced by more than 40% compared to those who do not drink tea.

3. Don’t drink too much

A large amount of fluid entering the blood vessels will itself increase the burden on the heart. In addition, the caffeine and theanine in tea are stimulants, which will increase the human heart rate and blood pressure. The elderly have poor heart function, especially those with coronary heart disease, cor pulmonale, and hypertension. Drinking too much tea will cause uncomfortable symptoms such as chest tightness and palpitations. In addition, drinking a lot of strong tea will dilute the gastric juice and reduce the concentration of gastric juice, thereby causing symptoms such as indigestion, abdominal distension, and abdominal pain. The elderly with poor stomach should pay special attention to this.

4. Don’t drink before bed

Tea has a refreshing and diuretic effect. The elderly all have sleep disorders to varying degrees, so don't drink tea at night to avoid excitement, insomnia, polyuria, and affecting sleep quality. It is not advisable to drink tea within 2 hours before going to bed. If you are thirsty, drink boiled water instead.

5. Do not drink when taking medicine

The tannins and theanolide in tea can react chemically with certain drugs. In particular, the elderly should not take hypnotic, sedative and other drugs, as well as iron-containing blood tonics, enzyme preparations, protein-containing drugs, etc. with tea to avoid affecting the efficacy of the drugs. Chinese medicinal herbs such as ginseng, Codonopsis pilosula, Corydalis yanhusuo, Datura, Cyathula officinalis, Ephedra, Uncaria rhynchophylla, and Coptis chinensis should not be mixed with tea.

6. Do not drink overnight

It is better to drink tea immediately after it is brewed. If tea is left for a long time, not only will its health benefits be weakened, but its taste will also be greatly compromised. If the tea is left for too long after brewing, it will deteriorate due to oxidation and microbial growth, and drinking it will be harmful to the body. Therefore, you should never drink overnight tea.