What Are Adaptogens and What Do They Do?
If in your efforts to reduce stress you’ve made all of the recommended changes in diet, exercise, and sleep, you still have one more potent tool at your disposal: adaptogens.
Coined as such in just the last century, adaptogens have been in use for hundreds of years in different parts of the world to enhance the body’s ability to adapt to stress and even boost mental and physical performance.
Feeling stressed? Wondering if adaptogens can help? You’ve come to the right place!
What Are Adaptogens?
Adaptogens form a group of herbs, roots, and mushrooms that have been used in traditional practices for centuries to help the body adapt to the effects of stress.
These plant extracts have traditionally grown in very harsh, stressful environments, such as in the alpine zone, where few other plants grow.
In order to thrive in those challenging conditions, these plants develop special compounds that help them build up resilience and survive.
The Stress Response
When you become stressed out, your body enters fight or flight mode — a state of high alert that prepares you for battle. Your body doesn’t care if you’re stressed about a mountain lion or the big presentation you’re about to give; it responds the same regardless.
That includes stimulating the release of hormones including adrenaline, which revs the heart for action, and cortisol, which consequently deploys blood sugar to fuel it.
The response can give you an extra shot of energy, focus, and strength. But if you don’t need to fight or run, those hormones and their subsequent energy may not get spent, keeping your body keyed — and carbed — up for much longer.
And if something else stresses you out before your body has a chance to recover, your system can go into overdrive.
What Do Adaptogens Do?
The theory of adaptogens is that they act as mini-stressors themselves, in a sense helping to “train” your body to respond to the effects of stress. Kind of like what exercise does for your muscles.
These adaptogens are thought to help prep your body so that you might function better during stressful events.
Check out the infographics we created below to learn more about adaptogens, and some of the best ones to take to help support against stress and fatigue, and promote overall well-being.*
*Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act (DSHEA)
What Are Some Examples of Adaptogens?
Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is a nightshade that has been found to help mitigate stress, support healthy sleep, and aid cognition.
Rhodiola
Known also as arctic root, golden root, rose root, and king’s crown, rhodiola rosea is an herb that may help with acute anxiety, positive mood, and supporting the body’s resistance to stress.
Schisandra
Traditionally used in ancient practices like Chinese medicine to help support mental and physical wellbeing, schisandra chinensis has been found to help strengthen the body’s resistance to stress among other benefits.
Asian ginseng
The roots of the Asian, or Panax, ginseng plant have been traditionally used to help relieve feelings of fatigue and are believed to stimulate the body’s resistance to stress.
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