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Re:When did people stop being drunk all the time? by ubercore on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @07:18AM (#36875813)
I've heard this too, but green tea, for whatever reason, absolutely ratchets up anxiety for me. Black coffee can if I have too much, but is surprisingly less likely to
Re:When did people stop being drunk all the time? by dopylitty on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @07:38AM (#36876017)
Same here. I got into loose leaf tea to cut down on coffee drinking. I tried all sorts of greens but had to stop drinking it because it made me some combination of anxious and easy to anger.
Re:When did people stop being drunk all the time? by ubercore on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @08:02AM (#36876271)
Yes! I also get irritable, just forgot until you mentioned it. I wonder if it's the theanine.
Re:When did people stop being drunk all the time? by meowface on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @10:43AM (#36878534)
tl;dr Possibly

Extremely speculative and based on nothing but pure, unadulterated dubious armchair/reddit science, but: L-theanine is a (mild) depressant/anxiolytic with reported effects not wholly unlike GABAergic substances' (benzodiazepines, pregabalin, gabapentin, phenibut, alcohol) reported effects. GABAergics modulate or increase GABA-related activity. (GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter.) L-theanine is structurally similar to glutamate (the primary excitatory neurotransmitter) and interacts with glutamate receptors in a way that inhibits their normal activity. Increasing GABA-related activity and reducing glutamate-related activity can potentially have similar "mellowing" brain effects, like the equivalency of pushing a "slow-down" button with more force and pushing a "speed-up" button with less force.

For some reason, GABAergics make some people more prone to irritability, and, in some cases, can reduce the threshold for anger and rage. Despite not being a GABAergic, I could see L-theanine potentially causing a similar effect in some people.

(To anyone with neuroscience knowledge, please feel free to address errors/leaps here.)

Re:When did people stop being drunk all the time? by heavyset_go on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @08:30AM (#36876537)
I experience the same effect and have heard others say the same thing. L-theanine activates excitatory neurons and also increases dopamine levels in the brain.