Less Stress, More Focus, Better Sleep? L-Theanine: The Latest Research Findings

Weekly Book Recommendation:

In this easy-to-follow handbook, you will learn simple steps to grow & harvest 65 herbs, and easy-to-create herbal remedies for everything from first aid needs to common illness solutions.

Forget The Pharmacy - Grow Your Own Medicine: The Homesteader's Ultimate Self-Sufficient Guide to Grow Herbs, Craft Natural Remedies

Research Article of the Week:

“The link between prenatal exposures and latent health outcomes suggests that these exposures may result in long-term epigenetic reprogramming. Toxic metals and endocrine disruptors are two major classes of contaminants that are ubiquitously present in the environment and represent threats to human health.”

Effects of prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptors and toxic metals on the fetal epigenome

---

What is L-Theanine? 

L-Theanine is a unique amino acid found primarily in tea leaves, particularly green tea. In fact, in green tea leaves, L-theanine comprises between 1 to 4% of the dry weight. It has been used for centuries in traditional medicine for its calming and relaxing properties and boasts many powerful health benefits. 

One of the most notable effects of L-Theanine is its ability to reduce stress and anxiety. Studies have shown that L-Theanine can increase the levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, GABA, and serotonin, which play a crucial role in regulating mood and emotions. One of the key benefits is it’s ability to promote relaxation without causing drowsiness. 

This makes it a popular alternative to prescription sleep aids, which can cause side effects such as grogginess and dependency. L-Theanine can also help to improve sleep quality by reducing the time it takes to fall asleep and increasing the duration of deep sleep. This leads to a healthier human.

In addition to its effects on mental well-being, L-Theanine has also been found to have positive impacts on physical health. For example, it has been shown to lower blood pressure and improve immune function. It may also help to reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Simply put, L-Theanine has been consistently shown to improve cognitive function, mood and stress, sleep, immune function, GI function, and can help you age in a healthy way. 

Does L-Theanine sound too good to be true? Let’s dive into the literature.

---

The HEALTH BENEFITS: 

As mentioned, L-theanine exhibits a variety of health benefits, such as:

• Antioxidant

• Anti-inflammatory

• Neuro-protective

• Anticancer

• metabolic regulatory

• cardiovascular protective

• liver, and kidney protective

• immune regulatory

• urogenital and intestinal protective effects

Neuro-Protective, Focus, Cognitive Enhancer: 

Many clinical trials have been carried out to verify the role of L-theanine in mental health and cognitive enhancement. Studies in mice indicate that it improves behavior under stress conditions, suppresses deterioration of learning ability under social stress, and improves memory impairment.