According to a Mental Health Foundations 2018 report, 82% of people in the UK report feeling stressed during a typical week, with some 8% of us feeling stressed all the time. While it is important to target stress at its root cause, sometimes it’s not possible to remove these stressors from our lives completely, and instead we need to come up with ways of coping with stress. Alongside positive behaviors like meditation and regular exercise, certain natural supplements have been found to help enhance relaxation, including l-theanine.

Relaxation without sedation

L-theanine shouldn’t be lumped in with other natural relaxation supplements like lemon balm that can also increase drowsiness. L-theanine relaxes without sedation, meaning that it can be taken at times you still need to concentrate on the task at hand. This is because L-theanine increases brain activity in the alpha frequency band. In layman terms, it relaxes without causing drowsiness. Studies show it can also help with perception of stress and slightly improve attention.

For when you shouldn’t have had that third cup of coffee…

One of l-theanine’s most significant benefits is in reducing some of the undesirable side effects of excess caffeine consumption. While caffeine can be perfectly healthy and quite useful when consumed in moderate amounts, many of us will be familiar with a situation where we find ourselves feeling anxious and jittery after one cup too many. In this situation, l-theanine is known to help ‘take the edge off’ – either by having caffeine and l-theanine at the same time (like in matcha tea) or by taking an l-theanine supplement after to counteract negative effects.

Where to get it

L-theanine is considered a non-essential amino acid, in that it is not required in the diet. It is found in various doses in several types of tea including green tea, black tea, white tea and matcha. For a more substantial dose, you can find l-theanine in certain supplements, like Link Nutrition’s Relax supplement. It contains 60mg of l-theanine alongside a blend of B vitamins, turmeric, Siberian ginseng, plus lion’s mane and reishi mushrooms. Relax is formulated to help with busy modern lifestyles and the stress they produce. Try it for 20% off until 31/12/2018 using discount code STRESS20.