L-theanine is a special amino acid that you can find in tea leaves (of the Camellia sinensis plant). Scientific studies have shown that supplementation with L-theanine helps you sleep better, be less anxious, relax, improve mental focus, and even boost your immune system!
While there are some side effects to drinking a lot of green tea, there are no side effects when you take only the isolated L-theanine. This is why taking L-theanine supplements is an easy and efficient way to achieve calmness and have a good night's sleep without the side effects of caffeine. Of course, you should take the supplements in moderation under the recommended dosages. Find more info on this in the article below.
If you are interested in purchasing L-theanine, have a look at what we offer here.
L-theanine - Health Benefits
As a molecule, L-theanine offers the following health benefits:
- It is an antioxidant,
- It works anti-inflammatory,
- It is neuroprotective,
- It protects of the cardiovascular, kidney, liver, urinary, and intestinal systems.
L-theanine helps the body deal with stress and anxiety by affecting the concentrations of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. As a consequence, the levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease, your blood pressure drops, and you begin to relax. For these reasons, L-theanine can help you be less anxious and sleep better.
Other than that, L-theanine can improve your focus and cognitive abilities, such as solving simple tasks. Interestingly, L-theanine also has a very strong influence on boosting your immune system and helping you fight the common cold or flu.
There are some claims that L-theanine helps with weight loss as well, but these were not scientifically confirmed. Although there may be a correlation between drinking green tea (or taking L-theanine), and losing weight, it is unlikely that L-theanine is directly responsible for it.
Read more about green tea and the green tea extract here.
L-theanine - Scientific Studies
Even though there are many more studies done on the effects of L-theanine on laboratory animals, there is an equally important number of studies done on humans in clinical trials.
As an example, several smaller clinical trials looked into the effect of L-theanine on mental health, particularly on stress, anxiety, depression, and attention The overall conclusion is that L-theanine significantly helps decrease the levels of stress and improve sleep, cognitive abilities, and focus. You can find a review of these studies here (1).
