That first study appears to be non-blinded, so I tend to discount it. I wasn’t aware of that second review. I’ll take a look. At a glance, most of the studies seem to be included in the 2020 review I did cite previously and I don’t seem to see much claim that it helps for stress–in fact, the opposite. It looks like the claim is that it helps with sleep and/or ADHD.
That said, as far as I know, theanine is very likely to be completely safe. And I think it’s totally possible given all the evidence that it does have a small effect on stress/anxiety and maybe some other things. So I don’t think there’s really any reason not to take it. I’m just 95% convinced that the people who claim it’s lifechanging for stress/anxiety are delusional.
Ah, fair enough - blinded is preferable of course, no argument here. It’s not enough for me to discount it entirely by itself is all.
I’m just 95% convinced that the people who claim it’s lifechanging for stress/anxiety are delusional.
I hadn’t heard about this but it totally makes sense that people would hype it like that.
I think the proposal for your it helps with stress is that the same mechanisms which provide benefits for sleep also work to reduce production of stress-induced hormones like cortisol. That does make sense to me; I’d need a biochemist to tell me if it’s right or wrong and why, though.
That first study appears to be non-blinded, so I tend to discount it. I wasn’t aware of that second review. I’ll take a look. At a glance, most of the studies seem to be included in the 2020 review I did cite previously and I don’t seem to see much claim that it helps for stress–in fact, the opposite. It looks like the claim is that it helps with sleep and/or ADHD.
That said, as far as I know, theanine is very likely to be completely safe. And I think it’s totally possible given all the evidence that it does have a small effect on stress/anxiety and maybe some other things. So I don’t think there’s really any reason not to take it. I’m just 95% convinced that the people who claim it’s lifechanging for stress/anxiety are delusional.
Ah, fair enough - blinded is preferable of course, no argument here. It’s not enough for me to discount it entirely by itself is all.
I hadn’t heard about this but it totally makes sense that people would hype it like that.
I think the proposal for your it helps with stress is that the same mechanisms which provide benefits for sleep also work to reduce production of stress-induced hormones like cortisol. That does make sense to me; I’d need a biochemist to tell me if it’s right or wrong and why, though.