My 16-month theanine self-experiment

For anyone looking for a sleep supplement, before you go down the rabbit hole of Theanine, Mg, etc. Try an OTC Azelastine or Fluticasone nasal spray for a month.

Turns out my chronic poor quality, restless sleep was a dust mite allergy that I should have figured out and treated a decade ago. Would wake up with a stuffy nose and very dry mouth but didn't have too many issues during the day. I was allergic to my bed.

Been using antihistamines, and a dehumidifier for several months now and sleeping better than I have in years. Given how extremely common mite allergies are there's got to be a lot of folks with undiagnosed issues here.

Antihistamines could even work without any allergy since they are typically used as mild sleeping aids. They are also used often off-label for stress reduction. [0]

[0] https://fherehab.com/learning/surprising-antihistamine-anxie...

I find the steroids even more effective but they seem to exacerbate my anxiety after a few days though. Still haven't figured that out.

With regular use antihistamines quite quickly lose their drowsiness effects. But it's definitely a nice side effect for sleeping challenged folks. Azelastine is a second generation antihistamine so not particularly drowsiness inducing.

One of the interesting Azelastine quirks, is it's apparently somewhat antiviral [1].

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38140540