Wondering about these two words: theanine anxiety?

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As I do from time to time I want to discuss something natural shown to be of benefit to those suffering from anxiety: theanine(or L-Theanine).

You may already be aware that green tea is full of many antioxidants and is a great wellness drink but there is more evidence coming forward in the scientific community demonstrating that another substance in green tea called theaninecan improve cognitive skills and help with relaxation and reduce stress, both mental and physical.  Yes it has been suggested that theanine can be helpful for anxiety.

Theanine is not an antioxidant but an amino acid.

Here are just some of the benefits of theanine, in addition to helping out with anxiety*:

- Have a calming effect

- Protect and restore the brain

- Stimulate the immune system, and even make cancer chemotherapy more effective with fewer side effects.

- Induce deep states of relaxation without sedation

- Relieve some PMS and menopausal symptoms

- Increase focused attention and improve learning

- Relieve nicotine addiction

- Prevents jitters caused by caffeine (while increasing mental clarity)

- Promote sleep

Theanine is said to have the relaxing effect (helping with anxiety) without making one feel drowsy so this would certainly be preferable.

You would, however, probably have to drink at least 5 cups of green tea to get the minimum dosage to feel the effects of theanine (reducing anxiety) but one option to consider is drinking green tea and supplementing it with a supplement containing green tea extract.  This would have much higher levels of theanine.

Another idea to boost your theanine levels is to purchase a green drink, which is a health drink that can have many benefits for your body, containing adequate amounts of green tea extract.  This should all be listed on the label.  Like many natural things that can be helpful for anxiety, I would not suggest that theanine is a "cure-all" for anxiety but I would suggest that many sufferers of anxiety may find theanine a helpful aid in dealing with anxiety.

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