@chaos 101 wrote:

What about l-theanine? I heard something about it being a better way to increase GABA than directly taking GABA.

L-Theanine is an amino acid. It is one of the active ingredients of Green Tea – in addition to caffeine. It counteracts some of caffeine’s actions to promote stress. L-Theanine’s sum effect is to promote calm alertness. It has very very complicated biological effects on the nervous system, all of which I do not know.

L-Theanine increases dopamine, serotonin, and GABA signaling in the nervous system. It is one of the few substances that increase both dopamine and serotonin simultaneously.

It can be used to reduce restless legs – a condition where dopamine activity is reduced. It doesn’t last very long, however. I estimate that L-Theanine lasts about 4 hours.

L-Theanine doesn’t strongly increase GABA. Otherwise, it would cause drowsiness or sedation – which it generally does not.

Currently, the strongest and most specific way to increase GABA signaling is by using a substance that increases GABA receptor sensitivity – such as by using a benzodiazepine or Zolpidem or similar substance.