10 ms·

I love the stuff!Improves caffeine absorption and is great for performance anxiety. I use it before bike racing or public speaking. The mental state I would des

I love the stuff!Improves caffeine absorption and is great for performance anxiety. I use it before bike racing or public speaking. The mental state I would describe as clear, calm, present and focused.

colecut 8y ago
Out of curiosity, do you ever take it on its own, or always with caffeine?
- thrownblown 8y ago
  i'm almost always drinking coffee. so probably not.
gameswithgo 8y ago
how many watts/kg though?
- thrownblown 8y ago
  i do track sprinting, so like 7-20 depending on the event
polskibus 8y ago
What dosage do you use( coffee and l-theanine), how do you take them (regularly, at standard times or occasionally)? Do you use any other nootropics?
amelius 8y ago
I tried it, several times and at different dosages, but it doesn't work for me. No effect whatsoever. I wonder why ...
- akiselev 8y ago
  L-theanine is a structural analog of L-glutamate and L-glutamine, amino acids that are common in neurotransmitters, so the effects of taking it will be highly variable by person just like any psychiatric drug - although the effects are far less pronounced so it's much safer (liver toxicity aside). Chances are, your diet already has plenty of those building blocks for your unique brain chemistry so you're at an equilibrium where adding more L-* just gets balanced out by the body or it could be that it's saturated so you have to try other levers (although that is much harder since metabolic pathways are nonlinear and incredibly complicated).
  - chillingeffect 8y ago
    interesting. theanine makes me very frustrated when i take it. ive dialed down the dose a few times, but stil get irritated. your explanation if helpful.
    - pasbesoin 8y ago
      And this reminds me of trying Zoloft and a couple of other things. 15 - 30 minutes into one starter dose, and I felt terribly worse. No professional explanation. It was only years later, when I ran across reporting about serotonin poisoning, that I had a possible explanation. The symptoms certainly fit. A friend has used Zoloft for years, to what she feels is positive effect. And in many ways, we are fairly similar -- certainly, our psychological profiles align substantially. Nonetheless, what works for her, does not for me at all.
      - bloopernova 8y ago
        Serotonin syndrome is nasty, nasty, and more nasty. I've experienced it once, after a particularly incompetent new pain management doctor made me try a cocktail of anti-depressants for pain relief. (their reasoning being that "it's all in your head"). I felt utterly awful, pulse racing, severe anxiety and horrible mixing of panic and terror. It's imperative that people on multiple medications take Serotonin Syndrome very, very seriously. I'm very sorry you experienced it, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. (The pain management doctor was fired a couple of months later by the university hospital. Complaints from patients, nurses, pharmacists and insurers had been mounting.)
- com2kid 8y ago
  Did you take it on its own? Almost no effect for many people if taken solo. Take it with a cup of coffee and the caffeine boost lasts longer and is much smoother.
nkozyra 8y ago
Anecdotally, I noticed a super mild effect. I drink between 8-10 cups of coffee a day and if I hit that upper limit it dulls the anxiety but not in any pronounced way.
- komali2 8y ago
  >8-10 cups of coffee a day Is this... Safe? I mean, if I told me dentist this she would slap me, let alone my cardiologist.
  - nkozyra 8y ago
    Probably not, frankly. That said, the body will acclimate. I'm past the "beneficial" range of caffeine consumption, though.
  - X6S1x6Okd1st 8y ago
    In the metaanalysises that I've glanced over 8 cups is on the high end, but doesn't seem to negatively affect mortality. One of them: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/180/8/763/2739131 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/180/8/763/2739131
  - kpil 8y ago
    Yes probably. I think the warning against coffee haven't really been based on anything else than "common sense" and possibly that it's a recreational drug. Maybe it's border line if you already have arrhythmia, but recent studies seems to show positive effects up to that limit, and it doesn't seem to cause arrhythmia. Might upset your stomach though, but I'm pretty sure your dentist will be happy to polish your teeth for a modest price... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26394673?otool=karolib&tool=karolinska https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26394673?otool=karolib&t... There seems to be several positive effects on breast cancer , diabetes, Parkinsons, ms, and stroke. https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13058-015-0521-3 https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10... Etc...
- cryoshon 8y ago
  from one caffieneist to another, you may want to cut your consumption in half. at minimum, it saves on bean costs.
PascLeRasc 8y ago
L-Theanine fixed my mild stutter and has helped me tremendously in the gym with focusing on every rep. It's a wonderful supplement. I especially love biking after having some, I get into a great flow state and can go much longer.
kup0 8y ago
I've used it before job interviews and it kept me much less anxious throughout.

colecut 8y ago

Out of curiosity, do you ever take it on its own, or always with caffeine?

thrownblown 8y ago
i'm almost always drinking coffee. so probably not.

gameswithgo 8y ago

how many watts/kg though?

thrownblown 8y ago
i do track sprinting, so like 7-20 depending on the event

polskibus 8y ago

What dosage do you use( coffee and l-theanine), how do you take them (regularly, at standard times or occasionally)? Do you use any other nootropics?

amelius 8y ago

I tried it, several times and at different dosages, but it doesn't work for me. No effect whatsoever. I wonder why ...

akiselev 8y ago
L-theanine is a structural analog of L-glutamate and L-glutamine, amino acids that are common in neurotransmitters, so the effects of taking it will be highly variable by person just like any psychiatric drug - although the effects are far less pronounced so it's much safer (liver toxicity aside). Chances are, your diet already has plenty of those building blocks for your unique brain chemistry so you're at an equilibrium where adding more L-* just gets balanced out by the body or it could be that it's saturated so you have to try other levers (although that is much harder since metabolic pathways are nonlinear and incredibly complicated).
- chillingeffect 8y ago
  interesting. theanine makes me very frustrated when i take it. ive dialed down the dose a few times, but stil get irritated. your explanation if helpful.
  - pasbesoin 8y ago
    And this reminds me of trying Zoloft and a couple of other things. 15 - 30 minutes into one starter dose, and I felt terribly worse. No professional explanation. It was only years later, when I ran across reporting about serotonin poisoning, that I had a possible explanation. The symptoms certainly fit. A friend has used Zoloft for years, to what she feels is positive effect. And in many ways, we are fairly similar -- certainly, our psychological profiles align substantially. Nonetheless, what works for her, does not for me at all.
    - bloopernova 8y ago
      Serotonin syndrome is nasty, nasty, and more nasty. I've experienced it once, after a particularly incompetent new pain management doctor made me try a cocktail of anti-depressants for pain relief. (their reasoning being that "it's all in your head"). I felt utterly awful, pulse racing, severe anxiety and horrible mixing of panic and terror. It's imperative that people on multiple medications take Serotonin Syndrome very, very seriously. I'm very sorry you experienced it, I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. (The pain management doctor was fired a couple of months later by the university hospital. Complaints from patients, nurses, pharmacists and insurers had been mounting.)
com2kid 8y ago
Did you take it on its own? Almost no effect for many people if taken solo. Take it with a cup of coffee and the caffeine boost lasts longer and is much smoother.

nkozyra 8y ago

Anecdotally, I noticed a super mild effect. I drink between 8-10 cups of coffee a day and if I hit that upper limit it dulls the anxiety but not in any pronounced way.

komali2 8y ago
>8-10 cups of coffee a day Is this... Safe? I mean, if I told me dentist this she would slap me, let alone my cardiologist.
- nkozyra 8y ago
  Probably not, frankly. That said, the body will acclimate. I'm past the "beneficial" range of caffeine consumption, though.
- X6S1x6Okd1st 8y ago
  In the metaanalysises that I've glanced over 8 cups is on the high end, but doesn't seem to negatively affect mortality. One of them: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/180/8/763/2739131 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/180/8/763/2739131
- kpil 8y ago
  Yes probably. I think the warning against coffee haven't really been based on anything else than "common sense" and possibly that it's a recreational drug. Maybe it's border line if you already have arrhythmia, but recent studies seems to show positive effects up to that limit, and it doesn't seem to cause arrhythmia. Might upset your stomach though, but I'm pretty sure your dentist will be happy to polish your teeth for a modest price... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26394673?otool=karolib&tool=karolinska https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26394673?otool=karolib&t... There seems to be several positive effects on breast cancer , diabetes, Parkinsons, ms, and stroke. https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13058-015-0521-3 https://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10... Etc...
cryoshon 8y ago
from one caffieneist to another, you may want to cut your consumption in half. at minimum, it saves on bean costs.

PascLeRasc 8y ago

L-Theanine fixed my mild stutter and has helped me tremendously in the gym with focusing on every rep. It's a wonderful supplement. I especially love biking after having some, I get into a great flow state and can go much longer.

kup0 8y ago

I've used it before job interviews and it kept me much less anxious throughout.