Adaptogens can help you beat stress, increase libido and even lose weight, says Jayney Goddard
What if I told you that there are a group of herbs that you can safely take to dramatically enhance your ability to deal with stress and maintain balance when under pressure? Even better, what if I told you that these will not only act quickly, but will have a huge benefit on all aspects of your wellbeing? I’m fairly sure you’d be saying “Let me have them now, Jayney!” Well, these mystical, magical, thoroughly well researched herbs do exist and can dramatically improve our resistance to stress – irrespective of what the source of that stress is. Furthermore, their overall positive impact on all aspects of health is outstanding – they can improve cognitive function, mood, libido and enjoyment of sex, muscle to fat ratio, stamina and more. These herbs are called ‘adaptogens’.
Adaptogenic herbs have a long history of use throughout the world. In 1947 the term adaptogen was coined by Nikolai Lazarev to describe a plant that helps one to adapt to stressful circumstances (mentally, physically or emotionally).
For a plant to be considered to be an adaptogen it must meet three criteria:
It must, first and foremost, be safe and non-toxic
It must be able to increase our resilience to stress
It should support our health holistically, not simply by supporting one particular organ, but must help the whole body and mind achieve a state of balance.
Adaptogens do some very curious things – essentially, they bring you into balance – for example, one herb can lower unhealthy high blood pressure and raise unhealthily low blood pressure – and return it to normal levels. Another herb can give you energy when you are exhausted and conversely calm you down when you are too wired. One has to wonder why plants would evolve to be able to do this. The current theory is that they have to contend with lots of stressors themselves, so they developed this adaptogenic ability to survive and, in fact, the most effective adaptogens actually come from some of the harshest environments in the world.
While we don’t know exactly how adaptogens work in the body, but we do know that they bring balance by acting on the following; stress hormone production and adrenal function, neurotransmitter production and deployment, inflammatory response, energy levels and blood sugar metabolism.
Article by
Jayney Goddard
President of the Complementary Medical Association
is the president of the Complementary Medical Association
Discover more
Article by
Jayney Goddard
President of the Complementary Medical Association
is the president of the Complementary Medical Association
Discover more
By Jayney Goddard
