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My 16-month theanine self-experiment

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Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If by short you mean multiple weeks? It is known they have a significant effect when consumed together with a weak stimulant, like caffeine or nicotine. Tobacco smoke is another significant source in the human diet.

Where do you get multiple weeks? From what I can find, harman and norharman both have elimination half-lives shorter than half an hour. If it was weeks, they would accumulate to very toxic levels in anyone who smokes or has a few cups of coffee a day.

That’s in blood. Both are fat soluble and will get stored in brain fatty tissue where the half-life is multiple weeks.

Your second point is spot on.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In spite of the confidence you're stating this with, it sounds like a serious over-simplification of a very complex dynamic.

Occam’s razor. These compounds do exactly what I’ve described, which directly increases feelings of anxiety.

Occam's razor helps identify which hypothesis to test first, it doesn't state some truth.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I googled some pre-workout and it seems to be about 200mg of caffeine, same as a can of Monster. I've drank 2 cans of Monster back-to-back a few times in my life and still not felt jittery. I largely share experience with Kiro, I don't feel like caffeine makes me perk up at all really. I just drink Monster cause I love the flavor of some of them.

I'm the same. I've taken caffeine pills and not noticed it. I can also just drink tea/coffee and then sleep.

200mg, I feel nothing. 300mg, my heart races some, but still no jitters or anxiety.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Occam’s razor. These compounds do exactly what I’ve described, which directly increases feelings of anxiety.

Occam's razor helps identify which hypothesis to test first, it doesn't state some truth.

Yes. And it recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#405
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should link to the source of your quote.

Arguably so, but all I can find are other plagiarized copies. :-P The New Yorker's paywall has successfully obscured the origin of the joke, so that's on them, as far as I'm concerned.

Yes.

Well, instead of an actual web link, you could just mention that it's from the New Yorker.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#406

”I’ve long found that tea makes me much less nervous than coffee, even with equal caffeine.” Well, of course you are less nervous when you avoid taking coffee: it contains a LOT of beta-carbolines which act as MAO-A inhibitors. MAO-A inhibition directly prevents adrenalines from being inactivated by oxidation.

How do you define "a LOT"? the only estimate I can find says there's 210mcg/L of beta-carbolines. Mainly harman and norharman, which have a binding affinity for MAO-A of 220nM and 2200nM respectively(lower is more potent). Not earth-shatteringly potent. These compounds have a fairly short half-life and they're reversible. Doesn't seem to be anywhere close to the potency of MAO inhibition used in psychiatric or entheo…

Note that 210 mcg/L is 210 ng/milliliter. The molecular weight of norharman is 168.2 g/mol, so the concentration is about 1250 nM/L.

Coupled with frequency of coffee intake and accounting for storage in adipose tissue, levels in vivo could easily exceed binding affinities after just days or weeks of coffee use.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#408
post #376
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should consider a dust mite vacuum with UV. I bought one on Amazon (this one but you can check YouTube reviews for others). https://www.amazon.com/JIGOO-Vacuum-Cleaner-Dust-Sensor/dp/B... I was surprised how much dust this thing picked up (my sheets get washed often, but it’s hard to clean the mattress itself). Back in the day people used to sun dry their mattresses but no one does that these days. This dust mite…

In my country we used to use woolen matresses, which would be completely emptied and washed twice a year, and the wool would be dried in the sun for a good two days, then whipped with a long stick for couple hours, and then filled back in the washed cover again. Nowadays it's very rare unfortunately.

Great example of forgotten cultural wisdom, absolutely would have reduced dust mite pressure.

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#409
post #368
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the exact same idea sadly most electric blanket i could find on amazon where kinda small and had disappointingly low heating power...

Look into something like flexwatt tape. Maybe run it during the day when your not sleeping. In my mind, they probably use something similar inside heated blankets with some kind of limiter/thermostat. Do your research though!! I'm not sure if flexwatt tape could ignite your mattress, but you would definitely want to know for sure yourself beforehand! There are ways to control heat though; I'm familiar with using flex…

nice another project to the pile ;p

Re: My 16-month theanine self-experiment

#410
post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Complete injustice to this lovely study. Why do you say unblinded? Why do you insult a time series study as “dressing up with lots of data”? Would you rather see less data? Or are you volunteering to be test subject #2? Show us how to do it right Dr. M.! In my opinion this is an exemplary N=1 study that is well designed and thoughtfully executed. Deserve accolades, not derision. And the author even recognizes possibl…

If you ever wonder why some folks with a fair amount of potential and something to offer keep to themselves, this isn't the worst example. I think most people could criticize the carbon out of a corpse if they themselves weren't being criticized into one. If we devolved from apes, maybe apes devolved from piranhas.

hilarious
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