We have all experienced stress at some point in our lives. Many people feel stressed sometimes, and at times it can even be a positive thing—something that is helpful or motivating.
However, stress can affect your life when left unmanaged, which can lead to chronic stress. Chronic stress can cause a plethora of physical and mental symptoms, from headaches and heart problems to anxiety and worry.
There are many ways we can control and manage our stress, such as meditation, yoga, exercise, and other generally enjoyable activities.
However, another remedy many people turn to is adaptogenic herbs. These herbs have been used for centuries as stress-relievers, among other health benefits.
One of the most popular of these herbs is ashwagandha. This short guide discusses the use of ashwagandha as an adaptogenic herb and how it may help chronic stress.
What is Adrenal Fatigue?
While adrenal fatigue isn’t an official medical diagnosis, it is still a term used to describe a collection of symptoms such as body aches, fatigue, nervousness, digestive issues, and sleep issues.
Your adrenal glands produce several hormones that are essential to life. “Adrenal insufficiency” is the proper medical term that refers to an inadequate production of one or more of these hormones. Some signs of adrenal insufficiency include:
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Body aches
- Low blood pressure
- Loss of body hair
- Skin discoloration
Adrenal fatigue is often said to be a mild form of adrenal insufficiency, something which is caused by chronic stress.
The theory behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands fail to keep up with the demands of constant fight-or-flight arousal. Unfortunately, tests cannot also confirm this due to the unspecific symptoms and cross-over with other medical conditions.
Though, in any case, everyone knows their body well enough to understand when they are feeling the physical effects of chronic stress. While there are many ways to help reduce stress, such as meditation, exercise, and yoga, there are herbal remedies which also may be able to help.
Adaptogenics
Adaptogenic herbs have been used for centuries in various medicine systems for their remarkable health benefits and as an effective coping remedy for stress and anxiety.
An adaptogen is a herb which has properties that can help our body cope better with the physical effects of stress. They essentially aid our body in reacting and recovering from short- and long- term physical and mental stress.
Some studies have even suggested adaptogens to have other benefits, such as boosting immunity, combatting fatigue, enhancing cognition, and promoting overall optimal health.
When we get triggered by stress, it is not as simple as just feeling stressed. Stress has five stages: alarm, resistance, possible recovery, adaptation, and burnout.
What adaptogens do is enable us to stay in the “resistance” phase longer, which helps us preserve our energy and soldier on through stressful situations before the mental crash sets in.
Adaptogens can also help reduce cortisol levels. Cortisol is our body’s built-in alarm system and our main stress hormone that is released in response to a stressful situation. While this hormone is key for controlling our mood, motivation, and fear, it can also cause issues when it is produced in abundance.
Essentially, cortisol can help us control our stress response, but when we are constantly under stress, it can derail many important functions in the body. This leads to issues with:
- Anxiety and depression
- Headaches
- Heart disease
- Lack of concentration
- Weight gain
- Sleep issues
Adaptogens help to reduce cortisol, keeping it under control in stressful situations!
Ashwagandha for Adrenal Fatigue
Ashwagandha, considered the king of the Ayurvedic herbs, has been used for centuries as a stress reliever, cognitive enhancer, and promoter of sexual function, strength, and vitality.
Some of the health benefits of ashwagandha include:
- Reducing symptoms of anxiety
Ashwagandha is best known for its anxiolytic properties. This means that it can help reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety in those who are chronically stressed.
- Reducing cortisol levels
Other stress-relieving properties of ashwagandha include the reduction of cortisol levels. As we have mentioned, cortisol is helpful when stress comes in irregular doses, though it can cause problems in the body if it is constantly being produced in resupine to chronic stress.
Ashwagandha is thought to significantly reduce cortisol levels in those who are chronically stressed.
- Enhancing male fertility
Ashwagandha is also used by many men as it has been shown to enhance male fertility by increasing the production of testosterone. Some studies have shown ashwagandha to be effective in improving sperm quality and concentration among infertile men.
- Improving power output
Ashwagandha isn’t just a great herb for male fertility and stress, but it is also thought to have performance-enhancing properties. It has been shown to improve power output, sprint performance, and VO2 max in both trained and untrained men.
Ashwagandha: How to Take
You can find ashwagandha in many forms, including tablets, capsules, tinctures, powders, and tea.
The most effective dose of ashwagandha appears to be 600mg, though it’s more important to find a high-grade extract that will be more effective and bioavailable.
Testo Lab Pro contains a dose of 600mg ashwagandha in the form of KSM-66, a high-grade, full-spectrum ingredient that will provide the best results.
Final Take-Home
Stress is extremely common and can often be managed well. However, when stress is poorly managed or becomes too much, this can lead to chronic stress, which can cause many physical and mental health issues.
While there are many ways to help reduce stress levels, sometimes we may need a bit more help via the benefits of a herbal remedy such as an adaptogenic.
One of the most common adaptogenic herbs is ashwagandha, a stress-reliever, testosterone booster, and performance-enhancer.
This remarkable herb is contained in Testo Lab Pro, one of the best testosterone boosters on the market. This supplement contains other testosterone boosters and adaptogens, which all work together to enhance male virility, muscle gains, and overall men’s health.
