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My 16-month theanine self-experiment

(dynomight.net)
817 points dynm | 6 comments | 09 Mar 25 03:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source | bottom
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pazimzadeh ◴[09 Mar 25 05:51 UTC] No.43306628[source]▶
> I’ve long found that tea makes me much less nervous than coffee, even with equal caffeine. Many people have suggested theanine as the explanation, but I’m skeptical. Most tea only has ~5 mg of theanine per cup, while when people supplement, they take 100-400 mg. Apparently grassy shade-grown Japanese teas are particularly high in theanine. And I do find those teas particularly calming. But they still only manage ~25 mg per cup

It's not uncommon for a substance to have different, even opposite effects at different doses. For example high dose melatonin can keep you up, and stress you out, whereas in most people you only need up to 1 mg to promote sleep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis

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1. JackMorgan ◴[09 Mar 25 10:14 UTC] No.43307785[source]▶
About ten years ago both my wife and I had to switch to extremely low caffeine coffee because we would get panic attacks. It still happens now, just this week we were accidentally served caffeinated coffee at breakfast diner and both were having panic attacks by 4pm.

It's absolutely wild that I can drink a mug of a beverage that everyone else drinks by the liter but be crippled with anxiety. Brain chemistry is weird.

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2. ◴[09 Mar 25 10:17 UTC] No.43307799[source]▶
3. calmoo ◴[09 Mar 25 10:46 UTC] No.43307893[source]▶
Do you not think it’s interesting that if affects both of you the same way, as far as to cause panic attacks in both of you? For an individual I could just about accept that it’s just how you react to caffeine, but the fact both you and your partner have the same result suggests some sort of influence on each other?
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4. kqr ◴[09 Mar 25 11:00 UTC] No.43307952[source]▶
Assortative mating. Partners' genetics are not independent.
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5. FollowingTheDao ◴[09 Mar 25 11:21 UTC] No.43308072[source]▶
I am the same way. I cannot even eat chocolate before bed or I am up all night.

I have Bipolar Disorder with an Anxiety Disorder and drinking coffee triggers a lot of paranoid manic thoughts as well.

But Tea is even worse for me, because, I think, of the theanine. I think I am very sesitive to Glutamate and really glad the blogger talks about it. It is one of the most under utilized neurotransmitters in psychiatry.

Also, cutting out foods with some certain additives helped me as well. Like isolated pea protein, autolyzed yeast extract, and malted barley flour to name a few. Theyare all flavor enhancers that contain glutamate.

6. rapfaria ◴[09 Mar 25 13:03 UTC] No.43308759{3}[source]▶
Even more crazy than caffeine interaction.