L-Theanine for Wellness
If you experience anxiety, poor sleep, attention issues, or depression, you might want to consider adding L-theanine to your supplement regimen. A substance found in green tea has been shown in multiple research studies to have beneficial effects without significant side effects. This article explains some of the research findings for L-theanine.
Disclaimer: I am a therapist. I don’t prescribe medications and can’t advise the use of supplements in individual cases. However, I encourage my clients to be well-informed about effective treatments as adjuncts for therapy. Do your research. Talk with your provider to craft your most competent care plan.
What is L-theanine?
L-theanine is an amino acid found in tea and some mushrooms. Some people take it via drinking green tea and others use over-the-counter supplement capsules found in pharmacies.
Is L-theanine recommended For mental health treatment?
The short answer is: no. If you look at the WebMD page for L-theanine, you’ll see that at this time the assessment is that we lack enough research evidence to say definitively that it has particular therapeutic benefits. But, I suggest that you consider why this is the case.
Many studies have shown that l-theanine seems to have beneficial effects to lower stress and anxiety, improve concentration, improve sleep quality, and help with other mental health issues. However, so far, these studies can’t support long-term use as they mostly report on findings of courses of daily dosings for eight weeks or less. More studies will have to be done to investigate long-term use and use with children and/or pregnant women to have a comprehensive understanding of overall safety.
Does this mean we should ignore L-theanine?
This is up to you. There are many interventions lacking the gold standard level of research which people explore to get beneficial results. Many commonly used substances have long histories of use prior to our establishing clear understanding of the science to explain their actions. For example, St. John’s Wort was used as an herbal medicine for two thousand years before research established that it actually works as an antidepressant. (Important note: I personally caution people from using it without doing diligent education as it can have side effects. See my discussion of this supplement.)
In my opinion, there are some studies which suggest that adding L-theanine as a daily supplement could be very beneficial for some people, especially those with anxiety, sleep issues, stress, ADHD, or depression. All of the studies I’ve reviewed have reported very low, or no, side effects from the daily dosing with L-theanine.
Here are some of those studies:
L-theanine and anxiety
Multiple studies (1,2,3) have found that daily doses of 200-400mg of l-theanine result in benefical anxiety-lowering effects. These include subjective reports of lowered anxiety as well as objective measurements of lowered cortisol levels, improved sleep quality, and enhanced brain function. Cortisol is a stress hormone that can be dysregulated such that it diminishes sleep quality and produces subjective anxious distress (such as feeling anxious or having panic attacks). L-theanine is also thought to help with the release of GABA which is a chemical in the body that reduces anxiety.
L-theanine and ADHD
Some people take l-theanine for focus. Some studies suggest that l-theanine may enhance executive function and it may have a synergistic effect with caffeine. Unlike caffeine, l-theanine doesn’t seem to make people jittery.
L-theanine and depression
A 2017 study of twenty people clinically diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder given an eight-week course of 250mg of L-theanine daily found that the subjects with active depressive symptoms at the time of the study showed a significant decrease in symptoms during the study. This study also reported that the subjects showed a reduction of anxiety.
A 2023 study of fifty people being treated with sertraline for depression gave half of the subjects an adjunct dose of 200mg L-theanine daily on top of the antidepressant. That study found that subjects with the added L-theanine showed a greater reduction of depressive symptoms compared to the subjects who received the placebo.
I hope this information is helpful. Remember: Do your own research and talk with your provider before taking any new supplements.
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