alpha-waves
2 interactions related to alpha-waves
l-theanine + caffeine
L-theanine, an amino acid from tea, smooths out caffeine's stimulant effects by promoting alpha-wave brain activity associated with relaxed alertness, while caffeine blocks adenosine receptors to increase arousal — the combination has been shown in multiple human trials to improve sustained attention and reaction time more than either alone.
l-theanine + magnesium
L-theanine increases alpha-wave activity, raises GABA, serotonin and dopamine, and crosses the blood-brain barrier readily, while magnesium acts as an NMDA antagonist and positive GABA-A modulator. Dasdelen et al (Frontiers in Nutrition, 2022) showed that a magnesium-L-theanine complex outperformed L-theanine alone for reducing sleep latency, restoring caffeine-suppressed slow waves, and increasing GABAergic and serotonergic receptor expression in rats.