I'm really really interested in trying this especially since next year is my senior year of high school and then I have college after that...so lots of time ahead of me when I'm not going to get the ideal 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep (that's what I've read is best for my age anyway).
I just asked my father about it briefly since he's involved in sleep medecine (though mostly sleep apnea since he specialized in pulmonalogy). Anyway, he quickly dismissed it as the same thing as using tryptophan to aid with sleep. He basically said that using this supplementation of this amino acid was dangerous because of the impurities that the supplement companies allowed in their products and that using tryptophan as a sleep aid, therefore, was discontinued.
However, I was not entirely swayed by his arguments considering that all doctors seem to be inherently conservative and sometimes pessimisstic towards any treatments that are unorthodox. Also, he misspoke several times (not remembering whether the amino acid of which he was speaking was tryptophan or tyrosine...) which made me doubt the accuracy of his arguments. Plus, he thinks that ephedrine and even creatine are very dangerous.
Anyway, I really can trust that when I buy l-theanine and alcar, that they are safe and without impurities, right? And, what was my father talking about???
Thanks,
Sean