Adaptogens Explained

We all live with stress. There’s no avoiding it. With the current pandemic, changes to the workforce, homeschooling our children, and pay-cuts has most of us stressed out. To deal with this stress as well a healthy and balanced diet is vital, with the proper supplementation. So how do we adapt to the ever changing world and maintain mentally clarity for whatever comes our way? Adaptogens, this category of supplements is essential to add to your diet. We’ll touch more on what are adaptogens later.

Living in a world where technology keeps blossoming with new innovations and artificial intelligence supporting our daily modern living isn’t always helpful for our mental and physical well being. We need to be aware of what we are providing our body to find balance in all forms of our regimen.  With the stressful lifestyle we face these days, we need more from our food. We need every advantage we can get to maintain proper stability of our bodies, down to the smallest of cellular processes. By adding adaptogens to our daily life, we are able to better handle the stressors of our daily life.

Adaptogens are defined as a unique family of herbs and botanicals that work with the body to promote homeostasis and stabilization of physiological processes. They are the balance key players of herbal allies.

For many centuries various cultures have praised the balanced power of adaptogens. Historically, these botanicals were used in traditional Indian practices as ayurvedic plant medicine with herbs including Amla, Holy Basil (aka Tulsi), and ashwagandha. Ashwagandha is unique as it is a tri-doshic botanical which promotes strength and vitality during physical and mental lows while also nurturing the adrenals for optimal rest. Another well known adaptogen is the reishi mushroom. In Traditional Chinese Medicine reishi, known as the “mushroom of immortality”, was offered to the Emperor and the royal family to help promote longevity. In modern times, reishi is commonly used for balance within the yoga community as it is touted to enhance concentration and meditation, as it was for the monks long ago.

Adaptogenic botanicals are the assistants behind the scenes working at the molecular level to help regulate the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. These three glands play an important role in the stress response cycle.  When our body is stressed out we go through three phases of stress, the alarm phase, the resistance phase and finally the exhaustion phase.

Let's talk briefly about each phase and how adaptogens may influence them.

This is classically known as the “fight or flight” response. We have all experienced this. Your heart beats faster, you breathe deeper, you become hyper-aware about what is going on around you. This is your body's way of preparing to either fight an oncoming battle or flee from a dangerous situation.

This comes shortly after the alarm phase and is classically the phase where we are most prepared, on a hormonal level, to deal with whatever situation has presented itself. The resistance phase is usually short lived, and we quickly advance into the final phase.

This phase occurs when our hormonal response to the stressor has become depleted and we are in a stage of recovery. The exhaustion phase is marked by the inability to respond to an active stressor, as our bodies resources are depleted. This phase can last for an extended period of time and may be where a lot of us are currently living. If you have noticed feelings of hopelessness about a situation, overall low energy and even weight gain, you may very well be living in the exhaustion phase of the stress response.

To help deal with the alarm phase, a great adaptogen to consider is Reishi.