The best stress-relieving drinks include ginger, chamomile tea, valerian, black tea, coconut water, milk, green tea, coffee, lemon balm tea, water, and vegetable and fruit juice. Aromatherapy is another self-soothing practice shown to have benefits for mental health.
Matcha and green tea
Both have L-theanine with calming properties. Green tea is often in the form of crushed leaves and is steeped like traditional tea. Matcha is the entire tea leaf ground into a fine powder. It has a rich, buttery flavor when mixed as a drink.
Drinking a glass of rosé or having a stiff glass of scotch can, indeed, provide you with a bit of relaxation up front, releasing endorphins and boosting serotonin levels, Graham says. But that's only a short-term fix that leads to long-term problems.
Chamomile tea is a very popular herbal tea that has its origins in Europe and has been widely used to treat stress, anxiety and insomnia.
What we do know is that, if you're stressed, 'drinking to relax' is counter-productive: it doesn't help. That's because evidence shows that drinking more than the UK Chief Medical Officers' (CMOs) low risk drinking guidelines of 14 units a week can make feelings of stress harder to deal with.
You might find drinking alcohol to be an easy, accessible, and effective coping skill. After a long week of work or a stressful life event, alcohol can lower feelings of stress. However, it does not actually reduce or address the source of stress.
The people we polled said that certain forms of alcohol were more likely to give them different feelings. Men told us that wine, cocktails, and India pale ales (IPAs) made them happiest when they drank, while women said that cocktails, wine, and vodka left them with the most positive emotions.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety – Vodka has a calming effect on the body and can help to reduce stress and anxiety. However, it is important to drink in moderation, as excessive alcohol consumption can have the opposite effect and increase feelings of anxiety and depression.
Stress Reliever
A shot of whisky can help calm the nerves and reduce anxiety. So, if you have had a long and tiring day, relax and pour yourself a glass. But beware, if you are in a particularly anxious state, whisky will only make things worse, as well as all types of alcoholic drinks in general.
Chamomile tea, like warm milk, is another more traditional option in the world of natural sleeping solutions. Experts have recommended the use of chamomile for years as an aid for those who suffer from insomnia. Often, this tea is very calming and soothing — as well as being caffeine-free.
One way that people may choose to cope with stress is by turning to alcohol. Drinking may lead to positive feelings and relaxation, at least in the short term. Problems arise, however, when stress is ongoing and people continue to try and deal with its effects by drinking alcohol.
Alcohol is a depressant. It slows down processes in your brain and central nervous system, and can initially make you feel less inhibited. In the short-term, you might feel more relaxed - but these effects wear off quickly.
As we can all attest to, wine thankfully has several benefits to our physical and mental health, one of which is that wine can relieve stress and anxiety.
Pinot Noirs are packed full of the plant-based compound resveratrol, which not only has recently been found to help with anxiety and depression, but also in reducing stress levels.
Drinking moderate amounts of vodka can help reduce stress levels even better than red wine, as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovered. The ethanol content in vodka acts as a depressant on the central nervous system, which can reduce anxiety and stress levels.
Bananas can reduce anxiety because they're natural beta-blockers. This means that when you eat a banana, they prevent adrenaline from binding to beta receptors. This slows nerve impulses to the heart and counteracts the effects of adrenaline to keep a lower heart rate and calmer state of mind.
Another study, published in November 2013 in the Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, looked at vitamin C and vitamin E and found a significant decrease in anxiety levels in the vitamin C group compared with other groups. Eating fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and strawberries is a good place to start.
Carrots. They're full of beta-carotene, which you can also get from pumpkin, spinach, sweet potatoes, and cantaloupe. Studies have linked this nutrient to lower levels of depression. There's not enough evidence to say that it can prevent the disorder, but it can't hurt to get more in your diet.