Natural Stacks Smart Caffeine
For many people, caffeine causes jitters. Sometimes, caffeine is very over stimulating. It can also cause anxiety in higher doses and crashes you midway through the day. That’s not the high performance state that we’re trying to achieve at LiveHelfi. The most common thing to do is to take not too much caffeine. However, there might be another solution. Smart Caffeine contains theanine, which inhibits the overstimulatory effects of caffeine. Helfi.nl’s search for the best caffeine product in the world was concluded with Smart Caffeine from Natural Stacks, which contains 200mg of theanine and 100mg of caffeine per capsule. Let’s have a look at the research behind both caffeine and theanine!
The benefits of caffeine
Almost every adult has felt the effects of a few cups of coffee. However, what does the research say about caffeine?
Caffeine increases working memory directly and indirectly.[1] The direct mechanism is stimulating brain regions associated with working memory. The indirect method is the stimulation of arousal, which might be seen as the wakefulness promoting effects of caffeine. Caffeine also increases focus, attention, the accuracy of reactions, problem solving and reasoning ability and the ability to make correct decisions.[2] In sports, caffeine can reduce perceived effort and delay fatigue.[3] In addition, it increases sports performance![4] Caffeine however, is a double edged sword and has some disadvantages.
The problems with caffeine
Caffeine, especially for people who don’t regularly consume it, causes a jittery feeling. This feeling could be described as anxiety or restlessness. The jittery feeling has to be avoided at all costs, as it decreases mental performance.[5] There seems to be an optimal range of caffeine intake, with too little caffeine not giving the mental edge, and too much caffeine being overstimulatory. Caffeine, especially when taken later in the day, can also decrease sleep quality and keep you up at night.[6] It can even increase psychotic and manic symptoms in people with psychological disorders![7]
Concluding, one most important thing about caffeine is to manage the side effects. If the side effects can be managed, the benefits of caffeine will shine far more brightly!
Adding theanine to the mix
Theanine is an amino acid found in green tea leaves. It is responsible for the relaxed feeling which is felt after drinking a few cups of tea. It affects the glutamate receptors in the brain.[8] The glutamate receptors are involved with memory formation and learning. Theanine has neurprotective effects in part because it crosses the blood-brain barrier.[9] One of the long term benefits of theanine is to protect against the decline of cognition during aging. Another benefit of theanine is the improved alertness.[10]
For Helfi however, the most important benefit of theanine is to blunt the anxiety response caused by caffeine. Theanine lowers subjective stress during studying or other tasks that require mental focus.[11] The worst aspects of caffeine, the overstimulatory effects, are decreased with theanine.[12] Theanine cancels the increase in blood pressure for people who are susceptible for it. The combination of caffeine and theanine also decreases the susceptibility to distractions.[13] Besides, caffeine and theanine combined also decreases reaction time, increases working numeric memory and verbal ability more than when consumed alone.[14]
Helfi recommends Smart Caffeine
Smart Caffeine is the solution to many of the disadvantages of caffeine consumption. Both caffeine and theanine are great products to increase mental and physical performance, but the combination is a lot greater than the sum of its parts! Helfi recommends taking 1-3 Smart Caffeine capsules a day for optimal performance. This recommendation holds especially true for people who don’t like coffee or those prone to overstimulation!
[1] The effect of caffeine on working memory load-related brain activation in middle-aged males. Klaassen EB, de Groot RH, Evers EA, Snel J, Veerman EC, Ligtenberg AJ, Jolles J, Veltman DJ.
[2] Caffeine-Not just a stimulant. Glade MJ.
[3] The acute effect of a caffeine-containing energy drink on mood state, readiness to invest effort, and resistance exercise to failure. Duncan MJ1, Smith M, Cook K, James RS.
[4] Caffeine-containing energy drink improves sprint performance during an international rugby sevens competition. Del Coso J, Portillo J, Muñoz G, Abián-Vicén J, Gonzalez-Millán C, Muñoz-Guerra J.
[5] Faster but not smarter: effects of caffeine and caffeine withdrawal on alertness and performance. Rogers PJ, Heatherley SV, Mullings EL, Smith JE.
[6] Effects of caffeine on sleep and cognition. Snel J, Lorist MM.
[7] Caffeine, mental health, and psychiatric disorders. Lara DR.
[8] Effects of L-theanine or caffeine intake on changes in blood pressure under physical and psychological stresses. Yoto A, Motoki M, Murao S, Yokogoshi H.
[9] Neuroprotective effects of theanine and its preventive effects on cognitive dysfunction. Kakuda T.
[10] The combination of L-theanine and caffeine improves cognitive performance and increases subjective alertness. Giesbrecht T, Rycroft JA, Rowson MJ, De Bruin EA.
[11] Anti-stress effect of theanine on students during pharmacy practice: positive correlation among salivary α-amylase activity, trait anxiety and subjective stress. Unno K, Tanida N, Ishii N, Yamamoto H, Iguchi K, Hoshino M, Takeda A, Ozawa H, Ohkubo T, Juneja LR, Yamada H.
[12] Psychological effects of dietary components of tea: caffeine and L-theanine. Bryan J.
[13] The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood. Owen GN, Parnell H, De Bruin EA, Rycroft JA.
[14] The effects of L-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood. Haskell CF, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, Wesnes KA, Scholey AB.
