I was given some L Theanine by a friend of mine, because I complained about not being able to silent my thoughts when I sleep. Apparently, L Theanine is great at reducing this mental crosstalk. I tried some for a few nights, but I didn't notice an appreciable change. Did you notice the effects after taking it for a few weeks, or do you get them immediately?
The Theanine effect is quite immediate and pretty noticeable.
But, if someone weren't anxious before or noticed enough that they have unwanted thoughts, I could see how the effects may not be apparent.
Caffeine usually has my heart racing. Even breathing slowly doesn't bring my pulse down. Within 20 minutes of ingesting Theanine, my pulse feels normal. My mind is no longer panicky.
Thoughts are mainly about work and problems that I need to solve. When I am trying to sleep, I will sometimes work on a problem in my head because it's "bothering me", and this can postpone my sleep by up to an hour.
This happened to me a lot in college on homework sets. Some sets would take hours to complete, and if I could not solve a problem before sleeping, I would "give up" and go to sleep, only to continue thinking about the problem.
The best way to describe what is happening is: I'll be trying to sleep, and I will think about the problem statement. Sometimes I will find a new perspective, and follow that. If it doesn't lead anywhere, I will go back to the problem statement, and the process repeats. Sometimes I'll just repeat the problem statement in my head hundreds of times over the course of an hour, hoping I'll find a different path to the solution.
It's tempting to keep thinking and not sleep. In my experience, this is an affliction more than it is an asset. This is why I am interested in L Theanine.
And this, too. I can sleep really well if I am not working on anything that spans multiple days, or if the problem I am stuck on is succinct and self-contained. A lack of closure on whatever I was last working on is the root cause for my disturbed sleep. Do you also feel this way, or is there some other source for you?
