Adaptogens for Stress

The human body has a highly developed built-in stress response system, otherwise known as fight or flight, that has adapted throughout time to help us recognize and remove ourselves from imminent danger. At its core, it’s triggered by the release of the hormone cortisol, which triggers a cascade of stress response systems throughout the body. In acute states, stress is actually quite helpful. However, life in the modern western world has proven detrimental to the human body, and its inability to cope with higher levels of cortisol has led to states of chronic stress and the many health problems that can accompany it. The fight or flight system is ignited by an increase in cortisol levels, which then triggers the sympathetic nervous system, as well as your adrenals, to start going into overdrive. This causes an increase in blood pressure and a decrease in digestive secretions. It’s essentially designed to help you (try to) outrun a tiger, or some of the other dangers of antiquity. In normal life, you see the tiger, react to the tiger, get away from the tiger, and your cortisol levels then can begin to regulate and your body can go back to normal. However, many of us are in states of chronic stress, with near-constant increased levels of cortisol to the point where our adrenals are completely taxed and our digestive systems start to go haywire. This poor state often leads to adrenal fatigue, which can cause much bigger problems if left untreated, and quite honestly tends to lead to a low overall quality of health. There are many ways to try to mitigate the negative effects of chronic stress, and in natural medicine, we often turn to a group of herbs called adaptogens.

Adaptogens work by trying to regulate the body’s physiological responses to stress while also working to try to return it back to a normal state. Basically, adaptogens help balance, restore, and protect the body from states of chronic stress. There are many different types of adaptogens out there and I’m only briefly going to introduce you to three of my favorites. I highly encourage you to do more of your own research if you’re like me and may be experiencing higher levels of stress than normal.