The Stress-Busting Natural Secret To A More Relaxed Life

Everyone could use a little more relaxation—but if you’re like most people, even a few minutes of relief from the onslaught of daily stress can be practically impossible to come by. Luckily, though, you don’t have to book plane tickets to the nearest private island to give your mind and your body a much-needed vacation from a stressful job, family and financial demands.

In fact, the secret to a calmer life may be as simple as a daily dose of green tea… or rather, its active component, the amino acid L-theanine.

A recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 18 university students set out to identify L-theanine’s effects on stress-related measures like attention, relaxation and reaction time. Researchers divided the subjects into two groups, based on each participant’s assessed levels of unease and frustration. Both groups received 200 mg of L-theanine along with 100 ml of water, as well as a placebo, on separate occasions.

The subjects were then evaluated using both visual attention and audio response tests approximately 15 to 60 minutes after ingesting either L-theanine or the placebo. Researchers also administered a standardized test to determine the subjects’ levels of unease and frustration. Finally, physical responses—including heart rate and electrical activity in the brain—were measured, as well.

Results offered a crystal clear snapshot of the natural calming power of L-theanine. Researchers found that, among those subjects predisposed to greater unease and frustration levels, supplementation with this tea-derived amino acid was able to both reduce heart rate and enhance relaxation-associated brain waves on electroencephalography (EEG). What’s more, L-theanine also enhanced these same subjects’ performance on both visual attention and reaction time tasks—while no change was noted among subjects with low propensity toward unease and frustration.¹

The study authors’ conclusion: L-theanine can have a dramatic effect on both attention and reaction time in subjects more prone to stress… offering all-natural hope for those buckling under a jam-packed schedule with zero vacation time in the bank.

You can find L-Theanine as a daily supplement, available from Complementary Prescriptions®.

Reference:

1. Higashiyama A, Htay HH, Ozeki M, Juneja LR, Kapoor MP. Effects of L-theanine on attention and reaction time response. J Funct Foods. 2011 Apr 19. Published Online Ahead of Print.