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L-Theanine - does it actually increase dopamine?

theanine caffeine dopamine

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#1 nooguyz

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Posted 27 February 2018 - 09:30 AM


I've been looking through various supplements, and I found conflicting articles about L-Theanine. As I understand, it increases GABA, which means you get more relaxed, which should be great if you get the jitters from caffeine. I don't get too excited, and if I do get really excited, I love that state, because I actually am able to get off my ass and become productive rather than staring at the screen and waiting to sleep.

 

So I am wondering, for someone like me, is L-theanine a good idea? I need more dopamine in my brain, not less - I am yet to have had too much dopamine, and I have tried a lot of dopaminergic substances. Nicotine is something else that helps me, especially if combined with caffeine.

 

Macha tea, which is abundant in L-Theanine makes me sleepy sometimes, other times it makes me more focused (it's also pretty high in caffeine from what I understand), but still slightly too drowsy for my taste. I prefer being quick, because I feel that is my normal state.

 

Should I look further into Theanine and try supplementing it? I want to not spend any money on anything that isn't gonna work for me, because I am very low on finances.



#2 Galaxyshock

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Posted 09 March 2018 - 10:47 PM

Some increase in dopamine but the shift towards alpha brain wave activity that theanine does makes it not particularly stimulating or pushing like pure dopaminergics often do.


Edited by Galaxyshock, 09 March 2018 - 10:48 PM.


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#3 nooguyz

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Posted 10 March 2018 - 02:50 PM

Some increase in dopamine but the shift towards alpha brain wave activity that theanine does makes it not particularly stimulating or pushing like pure dopaminergics often do.

How would you describe its effects yourself? I of course prefer the pure dopamine shot to feel focused and more importantly - determined and wishing to do things.



#4 Galaxyshock

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 07:20 AM

Promotes calm and makes things feel less intense, some increase in focus especially with caffeine. I do think it can push you more towards flow state.


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#5 nooguyz

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 12:33 PM

Promotes calm and makes things feel less intense, some increase in focus especially with caffeine. I do think it can push you more towards flow state.

Hmm. Well, my experience with tea high in theanine is that it makes me more sleepy. Perhaps a slight increase in dopamine and other transmitters because I don't feel as bad, but at the same time, either because of too little dopamine or because of its effects, I'm prone to just feel slightly sluggish and still not do anything. If having a high dose of caffeine (another tea that is very high in caffeine), I can do things, but not as much as I would with just the caffeine. It does help me focus though.

 

I'm not sure how to interpret this, and I'm not sure if the actual supplement would work differently, but I would guess that I still need more kick in dopamine. Perhaps then it would work better towards making me feel motivated and relaxed and maybe less sluggish. I find myself more able to do things in a less relaxed state. I just had a cup of this tea and, and before this I had a high dose of caffeine, and I feel less like keep cooking which is what I actually need to finish. So I wish I didn't have it really. I am more focused though. Another high dose of caffeine would help, but I just made another cup of this just to see how it'll work. Of course I got some caffeine (maybe 1:1 or 1:0.75) with the tea too. I had the tea before too, and sometimes it just made me sleepy and feel like laying down and just go to sleep (even though I couldn't sleep due to the caffeine anyway).

 

How would you interpret this?



#6 nooguyz

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 01:43 PM

To add (can't edit my post), I also tend to get very sad soon after that tea. Maybe an hour after. There is no thoughts or other reasons why, I just feel great sadness that comes on within a few minutes. It doesn't happen with anything else, so it must be theanine. I'm also not sure how to interpret this exactly. At first at that point I notice feeling even less willingness to move, a couple minutes later I feel kinda weird, and then I just feel great sadness all of a sudden. No matter what I do, I can't cheer myself up, although since for a long time now I do not eat any sugar, I have not tried an insuling spike, which is a great mood booster for 10 minutes, haha. I still feel calm and focused though, but not inclined to do anything at all, just pure sadness. The amount of sadness increases with the amount of the tea I have. I actually forgot about this effect because I haven't had a high dose of the tea for a long time now, just small doses that I didn't steep for longer. It's an organic tea also, so can't be some weird additives or something, nor does it happen with any of the many non-organic teas I drink... Also, it comes and goes in waves, gets stronger and weaker, which is also interesting. Eventually I just become more and more tired, even if I cannot sleep. And if I start doing something, I get rather sleepy too, even though I can focus better. Now I remember why I didn't want to drink this tea often. The only thing that makes me wanna do something is the fact that I can focus some more and I kinda want to "use this time" while it lasts.

 

Could be too much epinephrine or more likely acetylcholine, but theanine doesn't seem to work on those, so I really have no idea what the cause is for this. I also don't have any headaches or anything like that. Perhaps I also get a little more sleepy, which definitely doesn't help with getting things done. So now I would like to dose caffeine again, much higher dose than before (and I already had a top up from this tea), but I would really just prefer to go and sleep because I feel too sad to feel like staying awake.

 

All in all, I would say that this tea (therefore probably theanine) is too calming for me for the energy levels that I prefer to have. I prefer being energetic, like I would be on lisdexamphetamines for example. Focused, concentrated, energetic, productive, motivated. In general I don't like being calm because I feel like it is not my "natural" flow of energy if that makes sense. I think that would say that I should not go with GABA-enhancing supplements or I should combine them with strong energizers? Or perhaps it comes from lack of other neurotransmitters or even something else? I really don't know to be honest. I mean even with caffeine before I wrote that I feel too "sedated" in a way, and my total L-theanine intake with this tea was at first probably around 40-80mg, then topped up with another 30-60mg (guessing here though). I have been awake for around 12-13 hours now, so I took it at the 10-11h range, and I slept for around 8h, I believe. Now I still feel wide awake and less sad as well as more able to concentrate, but the sadness is interfering with it severely, and I don't like the slowness in my moves. I can just sit and stare at the screen for 2 minutes with kind of empty mind (that's unusual because my thoughts are usually racing). I also tend to type a lot of useless information when I'm really really sad (I haven't felt this for a few weeks now actually - that time it was triggered by something, not caused by a substance), so I will stop editing this post, haha.

 

But I would really like to somehow interpret this experience, I think perhaps it will help to shift more towards specific supplements and exclude others, as currently I only have access to theanine, nicotine and caffeine, and as I wrote in my previous post, the money thing, I can't just order and test substances.


Edited by nooguyz, 11 March 2018 - 02:32 PM.


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#7 normalizing

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 06:32 AM

do you take matcha tea as powder? yes i have read the same it is high in theanine, but matcha powder is so caffeinated i only get anxiety. either theanine doesnt really do its job in it or im just special







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