And Why We May Need Them
Have you ever noticed how you can be feeling fairly well, when along comes a stressful situation, whether it be an ugly situation at work, a party you need to throw and don’t have time for, a sick relative, too many bills, and suddenly you aren’t feeling so good anymore? We have all been in these situations. Most of us in any myriad of stressful situations will begin feeling panicky, overwhelmed, snappy, exhausted and seriously overwhelmed.
We have discovered that for HEALTHY adrenals, there are adaptogens that can help immensely by supporting our adrenal glands and helping bring us back to a normal circadian rhythm. Again, adaptogens have been found to help HEALTHY but STRESSED adrenal glands. They have not been shown to be effective in addressing low or high cortisol caused by unhealthy and ill adrenal glands.
As discussed previously, you can find out where your adrenal glands are by doing a four-point saliva test. If you end up having what we call a “see-saw” pattern, this is indicative of healthy adrenal glands that are stressed out. See-saw pattern may present as low, high, low, high or the opposite as high, low, high, low. If this is your pattern on a saliva test, the good news is, adaptogens have been proven to work to bring your poor adrenal glands back to normal and help you to feel well again.
Adaptogens are certain plants and herbs that help even out the stress response that your body is having. They can potentially help you adapt and cope with your situation and help you heal from your stress faster. Because they are all-natural ingredients there are few negative side effects and the results can be very helpful.
Some examples of adaptogens include: Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Schisandra, Eleuthero, Astragulus, Suma, Maittake, Reishi and Shitaki. Siberian and Korean Ginsing tend to have energizing effects, so taking in the daytime is preferred by many, and these are just a few. Holy Basil, although technically an adaptogen, as mentioned in the High Cortisol page, patients found that Holy Basil does indeed lower cortisol, so this may not be one to take in the case of healthy adrenals under stress. Licorice Root is also technically an adaptogen, but can have an aldosterone like affect, raising blood pressure in some due to retaining sodium. Many of these adaptogens have been used for years in other cultures to help people with stress. One of the benefits of using adaptogens during times of prolonged stress is that they can prevent you from falling into adrenal fatigue, offer the support your adrenals need and help get you through stressful times without too much damage.
As to which adaptogen will work for you, it may be a bit of trial and error involved. Some people prefer one while someone else will prefer another. Adaptogens are affordable and often found locally in health food stores, or in any of the multiple online venues. Often people have found they need to dose more than once a day or more than is listed as a dose on the bottle to get the support they need.
Again, to reiterate, adaptogens are successful in HEALTHY adrenals that are under stress. They can be extremely helpful in helping us cope and recover from periods of stress. There are many studies done of the helpfulness of these adaptogens. A few are listed below:
Rhodiola:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10839209
Ashwagandha:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252722/
Ginkgo biloba and Panax ginseng:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14737017
Always remember that to know for sure what our adrenal glands are doing, a four-point saliva test is the way to go!