You’ve been reading up about L theanine? It’s a great supplement that can help you feel calmer and more focused. It’s a great thing to take if you have a difficult test coming up and need to study. Or if you have a tough project at work and you will need to be laser-focused for the day. Oh, and did I mention that it’s also a great supplement to take if you suffer from anxiety? Many people who experience anxiety find that it no longer controls their life when they start taking L theanine. But what about the l theanine side effects?
Theanine is a great supplement. And many people therefore think that it must have some negative side effects. After all, what goes up must come down, right? Well, in the case of l theanine this seems to be untrue.
Many studies have been and none of them has shown any negative theanine side effects. And this is also the case in my own experience. There are however, 2 things you need to watch out for when taking l theanine. I’ll discuss these later in this article.
Theanine side effects
There are no real theanine side effects.
As we’ve said before. Studies have been down to try and see if theanine has any negative side effects. After all, if you’re taking anything for your health (or to focus or get rid of your anxiety). Then it’s a great thing to know whether it has any potential negative effects.
Luckily for us, these studies did not find anything. So you can safely take your theanine if you want to feel better or focus.
And did you know that in Japan companies can put as many theanine in their products as they want. They even put it in many sodas and other dishes. So there are no regulations there. And if it would be bad for your health – than something like this would never be possible.
So, L theanine is a great supplement. It works very well if you want to focus, be calm or less anxious. And there are no negative theanine side effects whatsoever! So feel free to take it.
However, there are 2 things I want you to bear in mind:
Watch out with habituation
The first thing is that when you take L theanine every single day, you might experience some habituation. The effect will still remain and it’s not anything like caffeine or alcohol tolerance.
But what I’ve found (and many others) is that if you take it for concentration purposes, the concentration bonus can get less after 3-4 days of taking it. This is mainly because you will start experiencing the extra focus as normal. And you will still be able to focus better – it’s just not as pronounced as it was in the beginning.
And talking about focus – I highly recommend you make a short To Do List or plan when taking L theanine. Knowing what you will do with the extra focus is necessary. Because if you don’t, you might find yourself being so incredibly focused on your Facebook wall or WhatsApp chats that 2 hours might go by and you’ve gotten nothing accomplished!
Or feeling too relaxed
This is the next thing to watch out for. It’s not a negative thing – but taking 300+ mg of L theanine can make you very relaxed or sleepy. This is great on many occasions. However, if you’re already tired and you still need to drive somewhere, this can be a bad thing.
So if you still have things to do that require you to be fully awake, then don’t take more than 300 mgs of theanine. Or if you do, drink a cup of coffee with it to make you feel awake again!
So what is the right way to take theanine?
The right dosage of L theanine depends on for what purpose you take it. The 3 main reasons why people take L theanine are:
Here is how much L theanine you should take in each of these occasions:
L theanine to reduce anxiety
If you want to reduce anxiety I recommend you take 200 mg of theanine in the morning. This is a good dosage to make you feel calmer throughout the day. If you want to, you can also take 200 mg more in the afternoon. You can safely take it every day because the anxiety releasing effect will stay and does not habituate.
L theanine to become more focused
If you’re using L theanine to become more focused and getting work done. Then I recommend you take around 100 mg twice in a day. For the best effect you can add it to c good cup of coffee. You can expect around 2-4 hours of good focus. So if you take 100 mg at 8 in the morning, you can then take 100 mg more after lunch.
For lasting concentration results it’s better not to take it more than 3 days per week. This will make sure that your brain won’t habituate and start seeing L theanine as the new normal.
L theanine for relaxing and sleeping better
If you sleep badly, and want to take L theanine to sleep better, than I recommend you take around 200 mg 2 hours before you go to bed. You will find that all the thoughts in your brain will start calming down. This will help you fall asleep. As a bonus, your sleep quality will also be better!
If you take L theanine to relax at night, or to sleep better, then you can take it every day of the week. There is no need to take days off. Although you could do that to if you would want that. But there is no harm in taking it for a longer period of time.
P.S. want to find out more about L theanine? I have written a comprehensive L theanine review in which you’ll find out everything that theanine can do for you!