The No BS Guide to Adaptogens for Hormonal Balance and Stress

By: Healthline.com Written by Jennifer Chesak — Updated on July 22, 2019

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These supplements act as your push-through-it wingman

Deadlines are having a party on your calendar, your bestie is having a meltdown, your car is in the shop, and, oh, you’re out of toilet paper. Meanwhile your heart’s racing and you can’t concentrate. Hello, stress! Before you reach for a comfort cronut or guzzle that fourth latte, there’s another way to cope with the pressure — adaptogens.

Adaptogens can help your body adapt to life’s doozies. These herbs aid our bodies in reacting to or recovering from both short- and long-term physical or mental stress. Some also boost immunity and overall well-being. Research shows adaptogens can combat fatigue, enhance mental performance, ease depression and anxiety, and help you thrive rather than just muddle through.

So whether you’re training for a marathon, enduring a marathon study session, or even just sprinting through a stressful midday meeting, adaptogens may be key.

“As women living modern lives, we are going to have plenty of stress,” says Leslie Korn, Ph.D., “but if our body and mind have a biological boost, like adaptogens, in order to cope better with this stress, then we will be less likely to get sick.” Korn is a Harvard Medical School-trained traumatologist who uses integrative approaches to treating the mind and body. She says adaptogens enhance our ability to come into balance.

How do adaptogens hack your stress?

This is how adaptogens work:

When we face a stressor, whether physical or mental, our bodies go through what’s called general adaptation syndrome (GAS). GAS is a three-stage response: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Adaptogens help us stay in the resistance phase longer, via a stimulating effect that holds off the exhaustion. Instead of crashing in the midst of a stressful moment, task, or event, we attain equilibrium and can soldier on.

“Like a mini vaccine, some adaptogens appear to inoculate us to stress and help us cope,” Korn says.

When we can adapt to stress, we perform better and feel better despite what’s stressing us out. And with that, we can also improve our health and well-being. When you’re stressed, your adrenal gland releases the stress hormone cortisol, which then energizes you to tackle an emergency. But too much too often is usually bad for our bodies.

“Cortisol is often the culprit for weight gain, especially around the belly area,” says Tara Nayak, a naturopathic physician in Philadelphia who recommends adaptogens to her clients. “When you reduce stress with adaptogens, you reduce stress hormones and hence their effect on weight gain.”

Adaptogens have the potential to help indirectly with other health issues, like pain, digestive concerns, insomnia, and more. “Stress sets off a cascade of physical responses that affect immune function, our hormones, our cognitive function system, and our internal clock, called our circadian rhythm,” Korn says. “If these stressors persist, this leads to chronic illness.”

Here’s how to ace adaptogens

    �HOW TO TAKE ADAPTOGENS