Oct. 21, 2024
I often encourage my patients to drink tea. Black tea is a lower-caffeine alternative to coffee during the day, and decaffeinated tea can be a calming part of a nighttime power-down ritual before bed. Whatever time of day or night, drinking a cup of tea can be a soothing, relaxing ritual. I often drink tea myself&#;my favorite is my personal recipe for banana tea.
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In addition to its calming qualities, tea also contains compounds that deliver some real health benefits. One of those compounds: L-theanine.
Fortunately, you can also get L-theanine in supplement form, which can help with relaxation, focus, and sleep. Let&#;s take a closer look at L-theanine and its calming, centering, sleep-boosting abilities.
L-theanine is an amino acid that is found in tea leaves. It was identified in tea by Japanese scientists in . While tea is the most common dietary source for L-theanine, this compound is also found in some types of mushrooms. In foods, particularly green tea, L-theanine is thought to be a source of umami, the savory, brothy taste.
Scientists studying umami flavor have made some interesting discoveries. Umami has been linked to decreased risk for obesity. It may stimulate metabolism, boost sensations of fullness, and lengthen the time before hunger returns after eating.
There&#;s also evidence suggesting that L-theanine, when consumed in tea, may change taste perception, specifically diminishing the taste of bitterness in foods such as chocolate and grapefruit.
L-theanine promotes relaxation and facilitates sleep by contributing to a number of changes in the brain:
Improving sleep. With its ability to increase relaxation and lower stress, L-theanine can help in sleep in a number of ways. L-theanine may help people fall asleep more quickly and easily at bedtime, thanks to the relaxation boost it delivers. Research also shows L-theanine can improve the quality of sleep&#;not by acting as a sedative, but by lowering anxiety and promoting relaxation.
There&#;s evidence that L-theanine may help improve sleep quality in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A study examined the effects on the sleep of boys ages 8-12, and found that the supplement worked safely and effectively to improve the quality of their sleep, helping them to sleep more soundly.
Reducing stress and anxiety. L-theanine is what&#;s known as an anxiolytic&#;it works to reduce anxiety. Some anxiolytics, such as valerian and hops, have sedative effects. L-theanine, on the other hand, promotes relaxation and stress reduction without sedating. L-theanine can help foster a state of calm, attentive wakefulness.
L-theanine has positive effects on both the mental and physical symptoms of stress, including lowering heart rate and blood pressure.
Research suggests that L-theanine can help reduce anxiety in people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
Enhancing attention, focus, memory, and learning. Under stress, the body increases the production of certain hormones, including cortisol and corticosterone. These hormone changes inhibit some brain activity, including memory formation and spatial learning. L-theanine helps to lower levels of the stress hormone corticosterone and avoid interference with memory and learning.
L-theanine may help boost other cognitive skills. Research shows L-theanine can increase attention span and reaction time in people who are prone to anxiety. It may help improve accuracy&#;one study shows that taking L-theanine reduced the number of errors made in a test of attention.
Sometimes, L-theanine is used with caffeine to enhance cognitive skills. Studies show that combinations of L-theanine and caffeine can improve attention span, enhance the ability to process visual information, and increase accuracy when switching from one task to another.
Helping maintain a healthy weight. The anti-anxiety and sleep-promoting abilities of L-theanine may help people to maintain a healthy weight. After all, getting enough sleep and limiting stress are both key to sticking with a healthy diet and avoiding weight gain.
L-theanine may also play a more direct role in weight maintenance. There&#;s scientific evidence indicating L-theanine may help to limit fat accumulation and weight gain as well as protect against obesity.
Always consult your doctor before you begin taking a supplement or make any changes to your existing medication and supplement routine. This is not medical advice, but it is information you can use as a conversation starter with your physician at your next appointment.
Dosing
The following doses are based on amounts that have been investigated in scientific studies. In general, it is recommended that users begin with the smallest suggested dose, and gradually increase until it has an effect.
L-theanine is generally well tolerated by healthy adults.
People in these groups should consult with a physician before using an L-theanine supplement:
The following medications and other supplements may interact with L-theanine. Effects may include increasing or decreasing sleepiness and drowsiness, interfering with the effectiveness of the medications or supplements, and interfering with the condition that is being treated by the medication or supplement. These are lists of commonly used medications and supplements that have scientifically identified interactions with L-theanine. People who take these or any other medications and supplements should consult with a physician before beginning to use L-theanine.
Interactions with medications
Interactions with other supplements
Supplements that contain caffeine. L-theanine may interrupt the stimulating effects of caffeine and herbs or supplements that contain caffeine. Some of these include:
Supplements that lower blood pressure. L-theanine may lower blood pressure, and combining this supplement with other blood-pressure-lowering supplements may cause blood pressure to drop too much. Some of these include:
People have relied on the stress-relieving, sleep-promoting powers of L-theanine for centuries, by drinking tea&#;especially green tea. You don&#;t have to be a tea drinker to benefit from the soothing properties of this ancient herb&#;and even if you already enjoy a regular cup of tea, you may find an L-theanine supplement helps with relaxation, stress, and sleep.
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If you deal with daily stress or trouble sleeping, you&#;ve probably turned to a hot cup of tea to settle your nerves. Indeed, there&#;s good reason tea has a reputation for being so comforting. Research shows that tea can help with everything from lowering cholesterol to improving gut health.
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So, it&#;s natural to think about the ingredients in tea that make it so beneficial. Enter L-theanine &#; an amino acid that&#;s present in tea leaves. It&#;s also used as a supplement, as it may help with anxiety and sleep conditions.
Dietitian Julia Zumpano, RD, LD, talks about what l-theanine is and what you should know before you consider taking it.
L-theanine is an amino acid found in tea leaves, particularly green tea and loose-leaf tea, that has several potential health benefits. But first, let&#;s go over what amino acids are and why they&#;re important.
&#;Amino acids are proteins and they&#;re really the building blocks of our life,&#; explains Zumpano. &#;Amino acids are molecules used by all living things to make proteins. In total, we as humans need 20 different amino acids to function properly. But there are those 11 essential amino acids that our body really needs to get through food.&#;
While L-theanine isn&#;t essential for our survival, its presence in plants and fungi has been studied for its possible impact on our brain function.
L-theanine can be taken by drinking certain teas like green teas, white teas or matcha. It can also be taken as a tablet or pill form.
But if you&#;ve looked up the benefits of L-theanine, you may have started to scratch your head. Some proponents claim it can help you feel more alert, while others say that it can help with insomnia. So, which is it? As Zumpano points out, the best way to get the most use out of L-theanine has a lot to do with when you&#;re taking it and what you&#;re pairing it with.
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It&#;s also important to know that these effects may vary from person to person and that there&#;s still limited research on the benefits of taking L-theanine to help with mental and cognitive issues.
Here are some of the explored benefits of L-theanine:
You may have heard that taking L-theanine before bed can help if you experience disruptive sleep or have trouble falling asleep. A study explored the benefits of an L-theanine and GABA supplement combination on sleep quality and length. GABA, short for gamma-aminobutyric acid, is a naturally occurring chemical messenger in your brain that&#;s been linked to creating a calming effect. It&#;s also available as a dietary supplement. The study showed that this combination could potentially increase sleep duration and REM sleep.
According to Zumpano, if you&#;re looking to try L-theanine in tea or supplement form, it&#;s a good idea to take it in the evening before going to bed and not pair it with any coffee or caffeinated beverage. If you&#;re experiencing more serious sleep issues like insomnia or sleep apnea, L-theanine likely won&#;t do the trick.
Also, you should ask your healthcare provider before pairing any prescription medications with L-theanine before bed. L-theanine can be safely taken with melatonin, however.
Remember how a cup of tea can calm you down after a hectic day? Research shows that L-theanine supplements can elevate your levels of GABA, dopamine and serotonin, which promotes relaxation and reduces anxiety levels.
A randomized trial from found that healthy adults who took L-theanine over the course of four weeks had a decrease in stress-related symptoms. While these results are promising, it&#;s important to remember that stress reduction will look different for everyone, depending on what stress response you&#;re having and when you&#;re experiencing it.
If you&#;re feeling brain fog or a general blah feeling, L-theanine may be able to help give you a boost of mental clarity and enhance your ability to focus. According to the same study, L-theanine helped healthy adults with verbal fluency and the ability to stay focused. The benefits are heightened when taken with caffeine.
&#;If you&#;re going to take L-theanine to gain more alertness and mental clarity, you should take it during the day,&#; advises Zumpano. &#;It does seem to do better with coffee or a caffeinated beverage.&#;
L-theanine is generally considered safe and well-tolerated when taken at appropriate doses. In general, it&#;s recommended that you don&#;t exceed 500 milligrams (mg) a day. Most healthy adults can take between 200 mg and 500 mg a day.
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But like any supplement, it may cause side effects, particularly at high doses. You can also simply try upping your tea intake to help get a good dose of L-theanine.
&#;If you&#;re trying to get your L-theanine in the form of black tea or green tea, then you&#;re going to have similar side effects like having too much caffeine,&#; notes Zumpano.
Some of the reported side effects of L-theanine include:
It&#;s important to add that these L-theanine side effects are relatively uncommon and tend to be mild. L-theanine is generally considered safe for most people, but it&#;s always a good idea to talk to your healthcare provider before taking any new supplement, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or are taking medications. In addition, pregnant or breastfeeding (chestfeeding) people should also exercise caution when taking L-theanine, as there&#;s limited research on its safety in these populations.
&#;As of right now, the FDA has classified L-theanine as generally safe, but we don&#;t have specific guidelines on how to take it, just what the studies have shown,&#; adds Zumpano.
It&#;s also important to know that, like all supplements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn&#;t review or regulate L-theanine products. This means no one checks what&#;s sold to ensure it&#;s safe and effective. If you&#;re planning to try L-theanine in supplement form, you should look for a high-quality version with no added fillers.
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