L-Theanine as a sleep aid

I've tried it and didn't find any additional benefit for sleep, either getting to sleep or staying asleep. A caveat--I didn't try it independent of other medications I take for restless leg syndrome, gabapentin and pramipexole.

Tim, Thanks for your input. As soon as I finish a bottle of a sleep aid I am using (partially successful) now, I am going to try L-theanine in addition to my 10mg of melatonin. If I have success with it, I will report it here.

I use a sleep aid with it and it works well for me.

It gave me a body rash.

I’ve tried it and while helps it only helps on rare occasions and is known to make dreams and nightmares more vivid. Watch Andrew Huberman Sleep podcast on YouTube. Also with Melatonin less can be more and it has been suggested that going over 3mg can disrupt sleep while 1-3mg can aid in sleep. Apigenin 50mg, GABA 100mg, Glycine 1,000mg, and Magnesium Threonate are supplements that have been proven to help sleep by helpinG the mind and body relax and from personal experience I’d suggest looking into them as they have worked well for me and enabled me to come off my 3mg Lunesta I’d been taking for over 15yrs. I’m full transparency I am also taking prescription Trazodone 25mg to help with sleep - this is also a medication where less is better anything higher can be counter productive. Good luck as sleep is one of the best things you can do for your health.

Do you intend to also taper off of the Traxadone. I tried it once at 100mg. and had an allergic reaction.

If you use Melatonin, you might consider Montmorency tart cherry from King Orchards instead. The Melatonin from that species of tart cherry is shown to be closest to human. The 10 mg. You get from the store doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier as well, thus you have to take 10 mg.

200mg L-Theanine (I use the Sports Nutrition brand, it’s very clean and free of the extra fillers that can mess with absorption).

Glycine Powder (The NOW brand is a single-ingredient powder, nothing else. It’s naturally sweet-tasting and easy to take in a few sips of water or oat milk. You can play around with the dose, but 1000–3000mg is typical for sleep support.) This brand is very affordable and I find because it is a single ingredient and they do third-party test their products, that I can get away with not going with the fancy brands for this one.

Inositol (Vitamin B8) (I use the PureBulk brand, they will send you their certificate of third party testing, it is very reasonably priced because it is in bulk, plus it is by far the best thing I’ve ever added to my routine. Dosing is flexible: anywhere from 800mg to 2 grams before bed works well.)

Quicksilver Liposomal Magnesium L-Threonate, which crosses the blood-brain barrier (Make sure it's in the form of Magtein; otherwise, you may not be getting real threonate. Quicksilver is the only clean, liposomal version I’ve found so far. If taking capsules, Sports Nutrition brand is a close second without a bunch of weird fillers that truly mess with the absorption of this particular supplement, but the liposomal delivery is 100% worth the extra cost for me and my sleep, this is when I pay the money for what I know works really well and is a trusted brand)

I take the L-theanine 2 to 3 hours before bed to help me wind down without feeling drowsy. It’s calming, but it won’t knock you out. So, I usually read a book or do something calming, and stay away from screens and blue light. I turn on laps in my house that I have changed to red or amber bulbs. IF I am going to watch a movie, I will do it on my laptop instead and have f.lux installed which adjusts my screen to cut the blue light in half and it really doesn't make the color impossible to watch.

Then, one hour before bed, if watching a movie I cut that out, I mix my two powders (glycine + inositol) in oat milk and add a squirt of Magtein under my tongue. The synergistic quality of these three is, honestly, better than any sleeping pill I’ve tried, and definitely better than melatonin, which isn’t great to take long-term (especially not in doses over 3mg). Melatonin really should only be used in micro doses if you need to reset your circadian rythem but honestly i just stopped bothering with it becasue the stack above works so well.

The best part is that these are all nutrients your body already needs:

Magnesium is essential.
Glycine is an amino acid your body uses daily.
And B vitamins are critical for nervous system support.

Simple, nourishing, and it really works. I hope that it helps you too! Sending you sweet dreams and bright mornings!

I have tart cherry juice concentrate, a product of Dynamic Health. It does not state what type of cherry it is produced from. I didn’t realize Montmerency had extra melatonin. The fresh Monmerencies are in season now (last wk of June 2025) and on sale at Trader Joe’s. Maybe I’ll buy, pit, and freeze some. Thank you.

That is my hope to taper off but I need to get my sleep wake system regulated after the long aren’t with Lunesta. 100mg of Trazodone is a lot - I feel drunk the next day with 50mg and doubt I could function on 100mg. I was told that Lunesta is not good for the brain and Trazodone was a much safer option.