"Caffeine and theanine exert opposite effects on attention"

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Health
1

I didn’t read the study, but this might interest people.

Tea is perceived as more relaxing than coffee, even though both contain caffeine. L-theanine in tea may account for the difference. Consumed together, caffeine and theanine exert similar cognitive effects to that of caffeine alone, but exert opposite effects on arousal, in that caffeine accentuates and theanine mitigates physiological and felt stress responses. We evaluated whether caffeine and theanine influenced cognition under emotional arousal.

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Hmm so caffeine could help but if paired with theanine this is counter-acted?

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I only drink water anyway lol, but sound interesting

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As I understand it caffeine increases attention and arousal. In psychology arousal is simply cognitive excitement. So caffeine alone improves attention but also makes you more prone to getting nervous, anxious and (all types of) excited. Theanine reduces stress and arousal and counter-acts the nervousity, anxiety and excitment aspects without (suggested) canceling the attention imrpovement. I took it that this is why people perceive tea as more relaxing and claim that “teaine” (chemical identically to caffeine) is “slow-releasing”.

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I asked perplexity to summarise:

I’d be happy to help you understand the key differences between tea and coffee according to this study. Let me break it down for you:
Perception: Tea is generally perceived as more relaxing than coffee, despite both containing caffeine.
Key Compound: The difference is attributed to L-theanine, a compound found in tea but not in coffee.
Caffeine tends to increase arousal and stress responses.
L-theanine tends to reduce physiological and felt stress responses.
They produce cognitive effects similar to caffeine alone.
However, they have opposing effects on arousal, potentially canceling each other out.
Caffeine:
Enhanced global processing of visual attention. Reduced conflict in attention tasks
L-theanine:
Enhanced local processing of visual attention. Increased conflict in attention tasks
Caffeine + L-theanine combination:
Effects were similar to placebo, suggesting they counteracted each other
The key takeaway is that while both tea and coffee contain caffeine, the presence of L-theanine in tea creates a different physiological response. When consumed together, as in tea, caffeine and L-theanine can balance each other out, potentially explaining why tea is perceived as more relaxing than coffee.

and

Tea is perceived as more relaxing than coffee, even though both contain caffeine. L-theanine in tea may account for the difference. Consumed together, caffeine and theanine exert similar cognitive effects to that of caffeine alone, but exert opposite effects on arousal, in that caffeine accentuates and theanine mitigates physiological and felt stress responses.

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