Green tea constituent supports slumber

Clinical study with Suntheanine reveals superior sleep quality

Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health in Japan have found that taking a pure L-theanine dietary supplement (Suntheanine) before bed produces a significant improvement in sleep quality.

The results were released at the Society of Physiological Anthropology conference in Tokyo, and have been accepted for peer review presentation at the 17th European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) Congress October 2004 in Prague. These collaborative findings support the significance of Suntheanine as an effective relaxing aid.

The research team's findings outline the first human study showing that L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, can enhance the quality of actual sleep experienced by young subjects. Participants who took Suntheanine reported a superior mental state prior to falling asleep and a decreased occurrence of nightmares.

"Our clinical study strongly suggests that Suntheanine supplementation can improve both the quality of sleep and the mental state of being refreshed upon awakening," offered Dr. Shuichiro Shirakawa, a professor at The National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry at NIMH in Tokyo. "These results add to previous human studies showing that Suntheanine supplementation can foster a relaxed state, which may improve one's entry into, and maintenance of, sleep," he added.

"We are quite encouraged by the results of this clinical trial with Suntheanine, which marry well with our previous findings of promoting a relaxed state." said Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., director of the Annapolis Center for Effective CFS/Fibromyalgia.