By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    learn to recognize and treat yeast infections
    Most Commonly Asked Questions About Yeast Infections
    November 17, 2021
    Advanced lung cancer diagnosis systems used by doctors
    Advanced Lung Cancer Diagnosis Systems Used by Doctors
    March 6, 2022
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    June 13, 2022
    Latest News
    3 Ways To Deal With Health Issues In Cities With High Pollution
    March 22, 2023
    What Tools Should Your Caregiver Have?
    March 22, 2023
    How to Combat Home Sickness After Moving Abroad
    March 19, 2023
    4 Ways to Recover from a Broken Hip
    March 14, 2023
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    How is Gaming Changing the Landscape in Health Care? Part 2 | Joseph C. Kvedar, Center for Connected Health
    January 6, 2012
    90+ Population Growing
    February 2, 2012
    The Future of Consumer-Directed Health Care
    August 24, 2017
    Latest News
    What Are Bioidentical Hormones Made With?
    March 23, 2023
    Cover Medical Costs of Child Dog Bites with Legal Specialists
    March 23, 2023
    3 Ways to Improve the U.S. Healthcare System By 2030
    March 14, 2023
    6 Steps To Ensure Speed And Efficiency Of Clinical Studies
    March 14, 2023
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: What Is an Adaptogen? Making Stress Less Stressful
Share
Sign In
Notification Show More
Latest News
choose the right rehab center
The Road to Recovery: Finding the Best Rehab Center
Addiction Recovery
blockchain in healthcare for the NHS
How Blockchain Can Help the National Health Service
Technology
The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids
The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids
Wellness
Bioidentical Hormones
What Are Bioidentical Hormones Made With?
Medical Education
chemical peels for skin disorders
Chemical Peels Can Do Wonders for Treating Skin Disorders
Skin
Aa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Aa
Search
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Wellness > What Is an Adaptogen? Making Stress Less Stressful
Wellness

What Is an Adaptogen? Making Stress Less Stressful

Kurtis Frank
Last updated: 2013/10/05 at 8:00 AM
Kurtis Frank
Share
5 Min Read
stress relief from adaptogen
SHARE

stress relief from adaptogen

Contents
Does Ashwagandha work for this?What sets Ashwagandha ahead of others?

stress relief from adaptogen

What is an Adaptogen? An Adaptogen refers to anything that can “increase nonspecific stress resistance in an organism”. In other words, stress as a general concept is perceived less when you preload with an adaptogen and taking adaptogenic compounds as a daily preventative will result in less stress perceived (the stressors will still occur, but you will just be desensitized to them).

Alongside a reduction in stress will come reductions in any stress-related comorbidity such as depression and anxiety, and may also influence on physiological effects such as joint pain and fat gain.

More Read

hrv monitoring

How HRV Can Help You Monitor Your Health and Wellbeing

Medical Weight Loss – What is it and Does it Work?
Beyond Flexibility: The Surprising Benefits of a Regular Yoga Practice
How Hospitals and Other Healthcare Providers Can Boost Employee Morale
5 Reasons Why Investing in Senior Care Is a Wise Choice?

Does Ashwagandha work for this?

Yes, Ashwagandha does work for this.

In rodent research where stress is induced via swimming tests or immobilization and then measured in a variety of ways (anxiety, depressive symptoms, oxidation in the body, cortisol being increased, or the stomach being ulcerated), Ashwagandha appears to uniformly suppress all signs of stress (source)(source)(source) with a potency nonsignificantly greater than the first adaptogen known to the Western world (panax ginseng)(source).

When looking at human research, 300mg of Ashwagandha (with at least 5% of the bioactive ‘withanolides’) in stressed people reduced perceived stress and improved quality of life (source) and this same dose with a mere 1.5% withanolides has been noted to reduce anxiety symptoms rooting from stress by over 60% (placebo at 30%) (source). Interestingly the reduction in anxiety seen in persons with anxiety who are not stressed is more mild, outperforming placebo at 500mg daily but by a lesser margin than the previous studies (source). Even in persons who do not report being highly stressed but have a lower quality of life (ie. women on chemotherapy who experience side effects to well being because of said chemotherapy) ashwagandha appears to significantly improve well being (source).

What sets Ashwagandha ahead of others?

There are a lot of herbs and supplements that are well known for being adaptogens, and a ton more that appear to have adaptogenic properties but are not well researched in that regard. Ashwagandha has this property, but why would one use Ashwagandha over other well known adaptogens such as panax ginseng, rhodiola rosea, or schizandra chinensis?

The main claims here are: 1. Increased physical performance (maybe) 2. Reduced cortisol and increased immunity 3. Improvements in social functioning

In humans that claim to be stressed, studies have noted reductions in cortisol in the range of 14.5% (source), 28% (source), or even 36-48% (source); these reductions tend to be much more than that seen with other adaptogens (even though they reduce cortisol due to suppressing stress) and also partially underlie how Ashwagandha is ‘immunostimulatory’. While it is claimed to increase immunity, one of the major influences is that it just prevents cortisol from suppressing your immune system when you are stressed.

Social functioning has even been noticed in humans given the supplement, either secondary to treating stress (source) or when being used in women on chemotherapy who suffered from fatigue and reduce quality of life (source). Now, increased social function is an inherent effect of reducing stress but ashwagandha seems to be the one with more potency and more research into it; heck, it is even synergistic with alcohol at reducing anxiety (source).

Finally, there is not too much research into the ergogenic effects of Ashwagandha but it appears to increase cardiovascular physical performance in trained athletes (source) and increases power output in sedentary persons who were not even subject to resistance training (source). While we currently don’t know why the former occurred, the later is thought to be due to increased motor neuron recruitment (ie. ability to control your muscles with your mind) which would explain why rats with Parkinson’s (source) and strokes (source) have good preservation of motor skills (despite fairly weak antioxidative and protective effects) and why the synergism with alcohol doesn’t necessarily make the rats stumble and become physically impaired (source).

So in the end, Ashwagandha would be a good choice to reduce stress at all times but it might be the currently best adaptogen to reduce stress if you are:

  • Not that good at socializing on your own free will due to anxiety reasons which stress may be contributing to
  • Want to get stronger, or are currently hitting the gym to do so
  • Tend to get sick when you are also stressed

TAGGED: adaptogen, Ashwagandha, Saturday Healthy Living Edition, stress relief

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Kurtis Frank October 5, 2013
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Copy Link Print
Share
Previous Article weight loss for aging people Losing Weight and the Mature Individual
Next Article white vegetables and nutrition Should You Avoid White Vegetables?

Stay Connected

1.5k Followers Like
4.5k Followers Follow
2.8k Followers Pin
136k Subscribers Subscribe

Latest News

choose the right rehab center
The Road to Recovery: Finding the Best Rehab Center
Addiction Recovery March 27, 2023
blockchain in healthcare for the NHS
How Blockchain Can Help the National Health Service
Technology March 27, 2023
The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids
The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids
Wellness March 23, 2023
Bioidentical Hormones
What Are Bioidentical Hormones Made With?
Medical Education March 23, 2023

You Might also Like

The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids
Wellness

The Best Natural Sleep Remedies & Aids

March 23, 2023
boost body energy level
Wellness

The Best Natural Ways to Boost Your Body Energy & Focus

March 22, 2023
obese and importance of weight loss
Wellness

Obese? 5 Reasons You Should Lose Weight (Some Are Surprising!)

March 2, 2023
poor sleep disorder
Wellness

How To Combat Poor Sleep Without Medication

February 23, 2023
//

We influence million of users and is the most authentic source of information on healthcare business and technology news.

Quick Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

Follow US

© 2008-2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?