Everyone feels a little anxious now and then. But instead of powering through your nerves the next time you feel uncertain about an event, what if you could drink on a cup of tea to calm down? That’s exactly what medical studies say is just one of the potential benefits of passion flower tea.Â
Besides anxiety, passion flower tea may also help to promote a healthy sleep cycle, healthy-looking skin, and abdominal comfort.
The first written discovery of the plant occurred in the 1500s by Spanish explorers in Peru. When they happened upon the passion flower, they believed the 10 petals and sepals represented the 10 disciples present at Jesus’ crucifixion. The explorers believed this symbolized Christ’s passion and his approval for their exploration.
Today, passion flower is the official state flower of Tennessee, where it is also called maypop, wild apricot, and ocoee.
Potential Benefits of Passion Flower Tea
Different parts of passion flower can be used to flavor food and provide homeopathic support for a variety of health conditions. You’ve probably heard of people drinking passion flower tea or using extracts, tinctures, and infusions. If you haven’t tried passion flower tea, here are a few reasons why you should go for it:
- You may feel less anxious. Many people rely on passion flower tea or extract to ease feelings of anxiety before a particularly stressful event or during a difficult period in life. While more research needs to be done to determine the effect of passion flower on anxiety levels, a study in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics concluded that passion flower extract might be an effective drug for the management of generalized anxiety disorder.
- It could promote better sleep. A Phytotherapy Research article investigated the possible connection between passion flower tea and sleep. The study of 41 participants found that a dose of passion flower tea before bed results in better sleep as compared to a placebo. Based on this study, it’s possible that drinking passion flower tea could help you get better shut-eye at night, too.
- Get support for stomach pain. More research is needed to provide evidence that passion flower tea could help ease stomach pain in humans. However, some animal studies have shown promising signs that passion flower can provide support for pain associated with stomach ulcers. For example, one Indian study found that passion flower alleviated the presence of stomach ulcers in rats. A 2011 study in BioMed Research International supported those results, finding that an extract created from passion flower stems and leaves also showed promise for use with occurrence of ulcers in rats.
- Support healthy-looking skin. While there aren’t many modern-day studies that back up the connection between passion flower tea and better skin, passion flower has been used for centuries to help treat skin problems. An African medical study has found that passion flower tea may provide support for the disruption of bacterial survivability, making it potentially suitable for use on the skin for additional support.
How to Use Passion Flower
Passion flower tea is an easy introduction to the potential health benefits of this plant. However, many people also rely on passion flower tinctures and extracts to help reach their personal health goals. At Natural Healthy Concepts, we offer several passion flower teas designed to help with a variety of health goals, from better sleep to a calm mind, to a soothed stomach. If you’d like to try another form of passion flower, we have a variety of passion flower supplements and extracts that might meet your needs, too.
Have you used passion flower? If so, share your experiences in the comments below. We’d love to hear about the products that have worked for you!
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I’m passionate about healing. I use food as medicine, a proven approach for healing from chronic disease. When you are tired of taking prescription medication or are ready to take a different approach to your health, let me teach you which foods can help you live a healthy life!
