Lavender tea: what it is for, how to make it and contraindications

Lavender tea is highly recommended for reducing anxiety, combating headaches, improving sleep quality, relieving menstrual cramps and strengthening the immune system, because it has relaxing, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Furthermore, lavender tea, or lavender, also improves digestion and helps combat excess gas as it contains linalool, an essential oil that has carminative, tonic and digestive effects.

Lavender tea can be prepared with dried or fresh lavender flowers, or using sachets, which are sold in supermarkets, health food stores or open-air markets.

What is it for

Lavender tea can be recommended for:

1. Reduce anxiety

Lavender tea contains coumarin, linalool, β-oceminene and eucalyptol, bioactive compounds with relaxing and anxiolytic properties that improve mood and general well-being, helping to reduce symptoms of anxiety and stress. Check out other teas for anxiety.

2. Fight headaches

Because it contains essential oils and alcohols with analgesic and relaxing effects, such as linalool and β-oceminene, lavender tea is a home remedy that helps combat headaches and migraines, reducing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or sensitivity to light. See other teas for headaches.

Although lavender tea can be used to help reduce migraine attacks, it should not be used to prevent attacks, as in this case it can trigger the attack.

3. Improve sleep quality

Lavender tea improves sleep quality and general well-being, and combats insomnia as it has sedative, relaxing and anxiolytic properties, which help reduce anxiety and agitation.

To combat insomnia and improve sleep quality, it is recommended to drink 1 cup of lavender tea before bed. Discover other teas recommended to combat insomnia.

4. Relieve menstrual cramps

Lavender tea contains Linalool, β-oceminene, which are essential oils with analgesic and relaxing effects. Therefore, lavender tea is a good home remedy to help relieve menstrual cramps.

5. Improve digestion

Because it contains linalool, which is an essential oil with carminative, tonic and digestive action, lavender tea helps improve digestion and combat excess intestinal gas. Check out more home remedies to improve digestion.

6. Strengthen the immune system

Lavender tea strengthens the immune system because it contains eucalyptol, linalool and β-oceminene, organic anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial compounds that improve the action of immune system cells, helping to fight infections such as flu, allergies and colds.

Does lavender tea help you lose weight?

Lavender tea is a powerful tranquilizer that reduces anxiety and, therefore, can complement the treatment of binge eating, controlling excessive food intake and promoting weight loss.

However, to lose weight effectively, it is also essential to maintain a healthy and varied diet, and practice physical activity regularly.

How to make lavender tea

Lavender tea can be made with fresh or dried lavender flowers.

Ingredients:

• 1 dessert spoon of dried lavender flowers;
• 1 cup (tea) of water.

Preparation mode:

Boil water in a pan or kettle. After turning off the heat, add the lavender flowers, cover the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes. Strain and drink then. It is recommended to drink up to 3 cups of this tea per day.

Possible side effects

Lavender tea can cause drowsiness, constipation, headache, contact dermatitis, mental confusion and the presence of blood in the urine, when consumed in excess or in people who are very sensitive to this plant.

Who shouldn’t use

Lavender tea should not be used by children under 12 years of age. It is also not recommended for people with gastritis, gastric ulcers, pregnant or breastfeeding women.

As it can cause drowsiness, people who consume lavender tea should not drive or operate heavy machinery.

Furthermore, it is not recommended to consume lavender tea together with medications or substances that depress the Central Nervous System, such as alcoholic beverages, drugs or hypnotic and anxiolytic medications, for example.