Did You Know that L-Theanine Can Help With Mental Fatigue? by Article Motron
The health benefits of tea seem never-ending. Studies in
connection with its purported roles in treating just anything are
well underway, including the discovery of the polyphenolic
antioxidant catechin. In the past few years it has also been
associated with L-theanine widely known to reduce both physical and
mental fatigue. Having been granted the status GRAS, generally
recognized as safe, by the US Food and Drug Administration,
L-theanine is now commercially touted as a therapeutic agent for
stress-related illnesses with no adverse effects even in extremely
high dosages largely owing to the fact that it has adaptogenic
properties, which translates to warding off degradation at the
cellular level and repairing damaged cells.
Tea is a universal non-alcohol beverage with an unrivalled history
of consumption encompassing a multitude of cultures. The name
itself has transcended significant vernacular changes, having
derivatives that sound noticeably similar to the Chinese "te" or
"cha". It is a link to a number of cultural ties among nations
nowadays, even evolving into local practices, such as the Japanese
tea ceremony and the British tea culture. Its health benefits also
date back to its antiquity and have been rediscovered throughout
the centuries, explaining tea's overwhelming presence up to now.
When antioxidants became a popular subject in the twentieth
century, tea was revealed to be a natural source of polyphenols. In
addition, L-theanine was identified as a substance naturally
occurring in tea.
L-theanine has an effect on the production of the amino acid called
gamma-aminobutyric acid, more commonly known as GABA, which is at
the same time a neurotransmitter directly connected to the
supervision of muscle contractions. Low levels of GABA have been
tied to lesions in the upper motor neurons, contributing to a
reduction in the neural activities that influence muscles to
produce the desired force outputs, in other words muscle fatigue.
One of the causes of mental fatigue is related to neurocognitive
deficits in the brain, pointing to insufficient releases of
neurotransmitters, like GABA, implicated in processes involved in
every action the human body engages in. This is the reason why the
increased production of GABA due to L-theanine intake leads to
relaxing, anti-anxiety effects.
One neurotransmitter also known to be involved in mental fatigue is
dopamine. Dopamine influences the processes that mobilize other
substances in the body and coordinate their interrelated functions
under stress. These processes slow down as we engage in the same
kinds of activities for long periods of time, causing what we
experience as mental fatigue. Since we feel stressed out we do not
work as fast as we used to due to the mistakes we make, let alone
meet the desired levels of productivity. Chronic fatigue syndrome
results from the continuing decrease in dopamine levels among
others. There is strong evidence that L-theanine restores the
required dopamine levels in the brain, reversing the effects of
mental fatigue.
Back to Health