When Is The Best Time To Take L-Theanine? Is It Morning Or Night?

When do you usually take L-Theanine? Do you know the best time to Take L-Theanine? It’s important to understand that taking it at different times can provide different types of support. Some believe that taking L-theanine at night helps with relaxation and supports sleep. Taking it in the morning or before activities may enhance focus or reduce stress. Is this true? Let’s explore this in this article!

What is L-Theanine?

L-Theanine is a natural amino acid primarily found in tea leaves, especially green, white, and matcha. If you love tea and regularly drink it, you've likely already been consuming L-Theanine. It’s the main compound that helps you feel relaxed and calm.

Scientifically, amino acids are the building blocks of proteins essential for all bodily functions. It’s important to note that L-Theanine is not an essential amino acid, meaning you don’t need it to survive, but its benefits are significant. L-Theanine has been shown to benefit the brain, promoting relaxation, reducing stress, and even improving sleep quality [1].

Nutrition expert Julia Zumpano states that L-Theanine helps the body relax without making you feel sleepy. You can get L-Theanine from tea or in supplement form, which is very convenient.

L-Theanine Benefits & Side Effects You Need to Know

L-Theanine provides numerous health benefits. These include antioxidant effects that help combat chronic diseases, neuroprotective properties, cardiovascular support to enhance blood circulation and overall heart health, regulation of metabolic processes, protection for the liver and kidneys, immune system strengthening, and support for maintaining a healthy weight [2]. These benefits contribute to both mental and physical well-being.

Mental Health Benefits of L-Theanine [3]:

• Helps you sleep better: If you often struggle with sleeplessness, L-Theanine helps relax your body, reduce stress, and improve deep sleep, especially when combined with natural substances like melatonin.
• Reduces stress: L-Theanine boosts the production of “happy” chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, making you feel calmer without making you tired during the day.
• Improves focus and memory: L-Theanine is a great choice when you need to work or study effectively. Combined with caffeine, it helps you stay alert and focused without causing jitteriness or stress.

A randomized, double-blind study on Japanese individuals aged 50-69 showed that L-Theanine can improve attention, working memory, and executive function. After a single dose, L-Theanine reduced reaction time and increased accuracy in cognitive tests. After 12 weeks of use, these positive effects were maintained, highlighting the potential of L-Theanine in supporting brain function in middle-aged and elderly individuals [4].

Moreover, L-Theanine easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and takes effect quickly, usually within 30 minutes after consumption. This makes L-Theanine ideal for those needing quick stress relief or a focus boost during high-performance tasks [5].

While L-Theanine is generally considered safe and has few side effects when taken in appropriate doses, consuming too much tea containing L-Theanine may cause some issues, such as headaches, insomnia, nausea, discomfort, and stomach pains. These symptoms are often caused more by other compounds in tea, such as caffeine, rather than by L-Theanine itself [3].

Also, note that L-Theanine is not recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding women, those allergic to green tea, or individuals taking certain medications such as sedatives or antidepressants.

When is the Best Time to Take L-Theanine?

You can track the characteristics, benefits, and drawbacks of each time you take L-Theanine in the table below:

Additionally, L-Theanine can be used on an empty stomach without causing discomfort, but since its effects can vary from person to person, it's best to experiment at different times to find what works best for you.

Taking L-Theanine Before Bed

The most common time to use L-Theanine is before going to bed. Thanks to its mood-enhancing properties, L-Theanine can help you fall asleep more easily and enjoy deeper sleep. Studies show that this effect may be due to L-Theanine's influence on brain chemicals, promoting relaxation by stimulating alpha waves in the brain without causing side effects like traditional sleep aids [7].

Taking L-Theanine in the Morning

The benefit of using L-theanine in the morning is that it can help improve your focus and cognitive abilities.

The study "Effects of L-Theanine on Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Subjects" showed that L-Theanine could help improve attention, memory, and executive skills in middle-aged and older adults. After using L-Theanine, participants had quicker reaction times in attention tests and scored higher in working memory tests [4].

Moreover, research has shown that it can improve cognitive function, especially when combined with caffeine [8]. If you feel these effects, using L-Theanine in the morning or throughout the day may be more effective.

Taking L-Theanine Pre-Workout

When combined with caffeine before a workout, L-Theanine can help smooth out the unwanted side effects of caffeine, such as stress and energy crashes when caffeine wears off. You may feel more focused without the "jitters" from caffeine. It helps improve workout performance, sustain energy, and reduce stress.

Research indicates that L-theanine can help improve athletes' immune systems after intense workouts. Specifically, L-Theanine lowers IL-10 levels and helps balance the immune system despite a decrease in certain immune cell numbers. Therefore, L-Theanine can support recovery and protect athletes' health [9].

Conclusion

L-Theanine is highly beneficial for reducing stress, improving sleep, and enhancing focus. Using L-Theanine at different times throughout the day can offer optimal effects: before bed to support sleep, in the morning to enhance cognitive abilities, and before workouts to boost focus and reduce caffeine side effects. While L-theanine is very safe when used properly, paying attention to dosage and personal health conditions is important to avoid unwanted side effects.