It's tea time. Brew a cup or pot of tea, pull out some cookies or pastries and enjoy this tasty drink. What do you do with your used tea bags, though? Do you just pitch them when you're done?
You might be surprised to know that tea bags have a number of ways they can be used for your health. Tea contains tannin, which helps fight bacteria, inflammation and infection. Knowing this, check out six ways you can get further use out of tea bags after you drink the tea.
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1. Puffy eyes. The puffy eye or baggy eye look that greets you in the mirror first thing in the morning sometimes rears its ugly head later in the day. To help reduce puffiness under your eyes, WebMD recommends taking a used tea bag and placing it in the refrigerator. Once it's cool, place it on your eyes for a few minutes, letting the tea bags cool the area and restrict the blood vessels.
2. Insect bites. Insect bites are itchy and bothersome. If calamine lotion isn't handy, Johns Hopkins Medicine advises putting a wet tea bag on the area for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Bleeding gums. If you have to pull a tooth or have some kind of trauma to the soft tissue in your mouth, slow the bleeding by putting a moist tea bag on the area for 15 to 20 minutes, according to WebMD.
4. Mouth pain. Medical News Today notes that if you're suffering from a toothache, you can place a cold, wet tea bag against the area until the pain subsides.
5. Injection site. When dealing with an injection site from an immunization, Reader's Digest recommends using a wet tea bag on the site until the soreness is gone. It works on the same principle as soothing a toothache.
6. Boils. ACS Publications notes that tea has antibacterial and wound healing properties. To drain a boil, Reader's Digest recommends placing a wet tea bag on the boil overnight.
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Tea is good for your body both internally and externally. The next time you need to treat an insect bite or a toothache, enjoy a cup of tea and put the bag to further use.