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Adaptogens: How to Eliminate Your Stress with these Amazing Natural Health Secrets

Stress affects 75% of people around the world and is responsible for most visits to doctors. Find out how adaptogens can help.

Stress is on the rise and most of us feel it in one form or another throughout the day.

Whether it’s from relationships, financial woes, trying to balance work and family needs or fear of terrorism, stress is on the rise.

Crossing cultures and borders, stress is felt by 75% of people in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and South Korea according to a recent poll.1

Many of us have even learned stress management techniques, like yoga, meditation, and the highly recommended Sedona Method. But when time is tight, they are often the first things we drop. After awhile, we get so used to the incessant rush that we may even drop them for weeks, even months, until illness or exhaustion sets in.

I am an advocate of taking time for self-care because slowing down, while it often goes against our need to achieve, positively benefits our physical and emotional health.

I also understand that there are times when our lives get busy and we need additional support to prevent and heal the damage from stress. If you are like me, going on business trips requiring travel and late nights is one of those times. Fortunately, there is a natural herbal approach to help your body through stressful times – adaptogens.

Adaptogens

As an advocate for building energy and vitality so that your body can heal itself naturally, I have found several herbal adaptogens that can help reduce stress and related symptoms.

Adaptogens are natural herbal formulas that must have scientific research that validates their use.

To be considered true adaptogens, they need to meet the following criteria:

  • They must increase your body’s resistance to stress and environmental agents.
  • They must create a normalizing effect on your body’s functions, regardless of the stressor that is impacting you.
  • They must have the ability to create or maintain equilibrium safely and with no side effects, even with long-term use.2

According to Donald R. Yance, CN, MH, AHG and Ben Tabachnik, PhD, “Research on adaptogens includes more than 5,000 clinical studies, spanning over four decades, and involving over half a million people. They have been used by Russian Olympic athletes, cosmonauts and the military.”3

How Stress Affects Your Body and Mind

With 75% of people in so many countries experiencing stress, it’s no surprise that health care costs are skyrocketing. While you may be aware of the link between stress and illness, did you know that 75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints?4

Stress has damaging effects on your body and mind, including:

  • Increased cortisol levels (cortisol is known as the stress or death hormone) – this can lower your immunity, reduce important hormones, cause memory loss, and raise your blood sugar levels, among other damaging effects. To learn more, read: Want to Sleep Better? First Reduce Your Cortisol Levels and Follow These Six Tips
  • Tension headaches and migraines
  • Gastrointestional disturbances – such as abdominal pain, gas, bloating, heartburn and indigestion.
  • Emotional disturbances – such as anxiety and tension.
  • Damages your inner ecosystem – a healthy inner ecosystem is made up of beneficial microflora (good bacteria) that resides in our intestines and helps keep us healthy and strong. For more on how stress kills the good bacteria in your body, read: How Stress Creates a Double Whammy Threat to Your Health

How Adaptogens Help

Dong Quai is an adaptogen that has long been revered for it’s balancing effect on women’s hormones, for men’s prostate health and for it’s benefits to the liver, kidney and spleen.

Learn More about the NEW Body Ecology
Dong Quai Drink and Try Some Today!

Adaptogens can help your body deal with stress by improving your energy at the cellular level. In fact, they work directly with your mitochondria, known as the powerhouse of the cells. Research is showing that not only do mitochondrial factors play a role in aging, mitochondiral dysfunction is also behind diseases like diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.5

Adaptogens have a restorative effect on mitochondria and help repair your body’s energy resources. Studies show that they can be taken on a daily basis for stress management and to improve your energy.

One of the key areas I have found everyone needs to improve these days is adrenal and thyroid health. Stress is one of the causes of adrenal fatigue and since your adrenals and thyroid are important sources of energy, along with your mitochondria, it’s important to nourish them.

The Body Ecology system of health and healing is a great way to repair and nourish your adrenals, thyroid and mitochondria. I have long considered Adaptogens a compliment to the healing process and I always discuss them in my Body Ecology trainings.

Building energy is the first step in the Body Ecology step-by-step healing process. It is energy that helps bring your body into balance so that it can heal. Adaptogens are a great way to support your body in maintaining health as well.

Here are some adaptogens I often recommend:

  • Holy Basil – the most revered of all the Ayruvedic herbs Holy Basil is not related to the basil we grow in our gardens. Also known as Tulsi, Holy Basil has a very valuable role in our lives today. Go here for a recommended brand of tulsi (Holy Basil.) Use it to lower your elevated cortisol and regulate your blood sugar. Take 2 supercritical extracts in the morning if you feel really stressed out.
  • Ashwagandha – the herb that has been shown to increase energy and mental alertness during the day has also been shown in research to help you sleep better at night. I suggest a higher dose for an adult of 1500 mg in the morning and 1500 mg in the Go here for a recommended brand of ashwagandha. You will love how it helps improve your sleep at night.
  • Rhodiola – rhodiola has been used to decrease depression, improve work performance, eliminate fatigue and stimulate the nervous system. This is one of the reasons we include Rhodiola in our popular green drink, Vitality SuperGreen.
  • Dong Quai – also called Angelica sinsensis and is said to be the “queen” of herbs for balancing women’s hormones, but it is also a superior blood tonic and rebuilder. Interestingly it is also used by men to improve the health of their prostrate gland. It creates energy, helps with depression and is also calming. Dong Quai is also a source of vitamins E, A and B12. Try our new Dong Quai probiotic drink for a boost in energy along with a healthy inner ecosystem! Be sure to read The 9 Benefits of Dong Quai Almost No One is Aware Of.
  • Other wonderful examples of adaptogens are Schizandra, Gynostemma, American and the other Ginsengs and Astragalus.

It’s All About Balance

Build your energy with Vitality SuperGreen, a great source of the adaptogen rhodiola!

Our bodies constantly seek balance and yet stress is constantly throwing us out of balance. That’s why it’s important to slow down and take care of ourselves as a way to feel good and prevent mind and body illness.

In our modern world of “to do” lists and the need to achieve, we can find ourselves being reactive in all things, including our health. Bringing ourselves back to wellness when we are ill takes intention and both effort and energy. But Body Ecology believes in taking proactive, continuous baby steps toward health… and adding adaptogens to your diet is simple self-care.

Even more important, add self-care routines that you enjoy. For more tips on managing stress through self-care, read: How to De-Stress and Refocus on YOU.

Your health is worth it and you may find that taking even small steps to care for your health allows you to take care of everything else in your life more effectively.

Sources:

  1. “Poll: Stress knows few boundaries for people in industrial democracies.” USA Today. December 20, 2006.
    http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-12-20-stress_x.htm
  2. “Breakthrough Solutions in Herbal Medicine Adaptogenic Formulas: The Way to Vitality.” Townsend Letter. January 2007
    www.townsendletter.com
  3. “Breakthrough Solutions in Herbal Medicine Adaptogenic Formulas: The Way to Vitality.” Townsend Letter. January 2007
    www.townsendletter.com
  4. “How Does Stress Affect Us?” The APA Help Center. The American Psychological Association.
    http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=11
    5When Cells Stop Working. Time in Partnership with CNN. November 2006.
    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555122-1,00.html
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