New Perspectives on Sleep Regulation by Tea: Harmonizing Pathological Sleep and Energy Balance under Stress

Sleep, a conservative evolutionary behavior of organisms to adapt to changes in the external environment, is divided into natural sleep, in a healthy state, and sickness sleep, which occurs in stressful environments or during illness. Sickness sleep plays an important role in maintaining energy homeostasis under an injury and promoting physical recovery. Tea, a popular phytochemical-rich beverage, has multiple health benefits, including lowering stress and regulating energy metabolism and natural sleep. However, the role of tea in regulating sickness sleep has received little attention. The mechanism underlying tea regulation of sickness sleep and its association with the maintenance of energy homeostasis in injured organisms remains to be elucidated. This review examines the current research on the effect of tea on sleep regulation, focusing on the function of tea in modulating energy homeostasis through sickness sleep, energy metabolism, and damage repair in model organisms. The potential mechanisms underlying tea in regulating sickness sleep are further suggested. Based on the biohomology of sleep regulation, this review provides novel insights into the role of tea in sleep regulation and a new perspective on the potential role of tea in restoring homeostasis from diseases.