What is GABA?

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter — a brain chemical that sends messages throughout the central nervous system. As an inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA blocks or inhibits certain nerve transmissions. This slowdown in message transmission may help modulate mood and anxiety. In other words, GABA calms your nervous system down so you don’t become overly anxious or afraid. This is why GABA supplements are marketed for stress relief.

Dysregulation of GABAergic neurons can affect mental health and contribute to a variety of psychiatric and neurologic disorders such as multiple sclerosis, alcoholism, PMS, tics, Lyme-induced anxiety, PCOS, and issues experienced by neurodivergent individuals. However, low GABA can also occur in the average person without any specific health condition.

Do You Have Low GABA?

You might if you experience the following symptoms:

• Feeling anxious, worried, or fearful

• Unable to relax or loosen up

• Physical tension/stiff or tense muscles

• Easily overwhelmed

• Feeling stressed and burned-out

• Feelings of panic

• Intrusive/unwanted thoughts

• Fear of heights (and other situation-specific fears)

• Problems with sleep

• Spinning and attention/focus issues when anxious

• Anger, rage, and agitation

• Pain and/or spasms (rectum, belly, back, bladder, throat)

• Sugar/carb cravings when stressed

• Self-medicating with alcohol

Is This You? Then You May Want to Consider Supplementing with GABA

GABA helps calm the mind, improve sleep and anxiety, and reduce or resolve cravings for carbs, sugar, and alcohol.

How Do I Know if I Have Low GABA?

Blood or urine tests are not effective or accurate. The best way to assess low GABA is by the number of symptoms you experience from the list above.

How Should I Take GABA?

The most important thing to remember is that GABA must be taken sublingually — popping pills is not effective.
You must use either:

• GABA liposomal sprays

• GABA powders placed on the tongue

• GABA lozenges that you suck on

These should be held in the mouth for 1–2 minutes. GABA creams can also be used, but the above methods are preferred.

Additional Tips:

• Take GABA ideally 1 hour away from protein.

• A good starting dose is 125mg.

• Observe how you feel (refer to the checklist above) to note improvements.

• If no change occurs, repeat the dose and check again 15 minutes later.

• GABA lasts 3–4 hours, so you may need to repeat the dose later in the day or multiple times a day to get the optimal results.

• Adjust your dosage every 3–7 days.

• Sometimes, trying different GABA products is necessary to find the most effective one.

For the best GABA supplements, please go here to purchase.

GABA Warning

You need to increase dosages and frequencies slowly. If you take more than you need or increase your dose too quickly, you may experience:

• Lightheadedness or dizziness

• Feeling overly relaxed or sleepy

• Difficulty getting up in the morning

• Increased anxiety

If you take too much GABA and experience adverse symptoms, the antidote is 1000mg of Vitamin C — taken as soon as possible.
One dose is sufficient, and effects should be noticed within a few minutes, but it will also counteract the positive effects of GABA.

Why Does GABA Supplementation Not Work for Some People?

Many practitioners:

• Recommend oral pills instead of sublingual forms.

• Suggest once-a-day dosing instead of multiple smaller doses.

• Prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach (which often doesn’t work).

• Recommend doses that are too high (500–750mg).

• Combine GABA with other supplements, making it difficult to monitor results.

When trialing GABA, you should introduce only GABA initially — not multiple supplements at once.

Other factors like low serotonin, low endorphins, candida overgrowth, or blood sugar fluctuations can also contribute to anxiety, cravings, and sleep issues.It might be necessary to address these issues alongside using GABA.

Summary

GABA is a neurotransmitter that helps people better manage feelings of being stressed overwhelmed, burnt out, feelings of frustration and anger, sugar and alcohol cravings, physical tension, difficulties sleeping and inability focus. It also can be very beneficial for certain health conditions such as results leg syndrome, tics, leaky gut, PCOS and PMS.

GABA is often overlooked or misused, so people miss out on getting the desired relief from their symptoms and optimising treatment outcomes. Choosing the right GABA supplement is crucial.

If you need support selecting the best GABA supplement, identifying if GABA is an issue for you, or implementing a proper trial procedure, please reach out to us Koru Nutrition for guidance.