Calm and alert
First, a brief word about supplements. Many of us are turning to supplements of various kinds in order to avoid getting caught up or further entangled in the health care system. It's difficult to know how to evaluate a vast array of products that range from tried and true remedies that have been in use for many years and are known to be safe, to cutting edge experimental items that most of us have never heard of. I'd like to offer a few suggestions based on my own use of supplements. First, get your information from legitimate sites that evaluate real research. The makers of this particular product, L-Theanine, have an extensive site full of articles written for the layperson, along with citations for the laboratory research on which the articles are based. Look up the condition you're intending to treat and make a list of the possible treatments; you'll find many possibilities. Take Amazon reviews with a grain of salt; no two people will respond the same way to almost anything. Someone else's "useless snake oil" might be your miracle cure. Make your choice of supplements based on the most informed opinions you can find. Start with the most common and the cheapest. Basics like fish oil, vitamin C, garlic, are outstanding treatments for a variety of conditions and they are inexpensive and easy to obtain. No matter what condition you're treating, there will be a place to start with a supplement that is cheap, safe, and available Check on the recommended dosage of your chosen supplement. Make sure you're taking enough to make a difference - not always the amount suggested on the bottle. Again, read up at a reputable site. After you've determined your dosage, stick with it long enough to see results or to be sure you will not have any. Some natural treatments take longer to manifest a result than pharmaceutical drugs, so you may want to give as long as three months for some supplements. Keep in mind that even the most effective remedies (aspirin, for instance) don't work for everyone and aren't effective every time even for those who are typically helped by them. We simply don't know why this is. For instance, ibuprofen (a common and highly effective analgesic) doesn't help me a bit. Your body chemistry is unique to you. Now, on to the supplement in question. L-theanine is synthesized from green tea, a natural product. It is said to have a calming effect, while at the same time promoting clear thought. This combination is unusual. We're all aware that a cup of strongly caffeinated coffee does help to clear the mind, but certainly does nothing to promote a calm and peaceful attitude. Likewise, a cup of warm milk or chamomile tea may bring a degree of calm but along with it comes unwanted sleepiness and fuzzy thinking. I cannot say L-theanine will work for you, but two people close to me have found it invaluable in dealing with extraordinary stress. There is no zombie-like effect, no sleepiness, no jitteriness - just a moderately calming quality and a feeling of the mind clearing in the same way that your mind clears as you pass from sleep to a wide-awake state. There are no side effects and no problems of dependency. Unlike some supplements that work over a long period of time, you will know right away if L-theanine is going to be helpful for you. The Life Extension Foundation, which makes this supplement, has been at the forefront of finding ways to make products more effectively cross the blood/brain barrier, making them more available for your body to use, and this is among the products they make that take effect very quickly. It has recently been discovered that there may be other benefits to L-theanine besides those affecting mood, including the possibility that stroke victims may suffer less damage if given L-theanine within the first 24 hours after stroke has occurred. For those who are dealing with great stress, especially the kind caused by overwork, L-theanine should be on your list of possibilities. Read more