The best adaptogens for health and fitness

What are adaptogens? How do you use them? Do they really work? You often hear about them but do not know what they do, right?

Adaptogens are part of traditional—and even ancient—medicine in many regions, which is why we conducted a review explaining not only their health benefits but also their implications for sports, including fitness and bodybuilding.

As you will see, they can be useful for almost everyone, but they are not magical supplements, and you should understand that before learning what they do.

Many of the health problems people face today, including stress, low libido, low testosterone, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and other conditions, are the result of poor nutrition, an unhealthy lifestyle, or a lack of exercise.

For example, adaptogens will have little or no effect if:

• You lack sleep.
• You cannot go to the gym and exercise.
• You are surrounded by pessimistic people who drain your energy.
• You do not consume enough protein to meet your body's recovery needs.

Simply taking a supplement, essential oil, or adaptogen will not solve the problem, since at a minimum you must be consistent with certain habits while following a training program.

If you are not willing to address that issue first, do not waste your time and money on adaptogens. And please… do not be fooled into buying something from someone selling you a solution to your problems that is just a pill or powder…

Supplements help address your nutritional deficiencies, but they will not help you in any way if you do not want to change.

Adaptogens: What are they?

Adaptogens help your body maintain metabolic balance; for example, if you feel overly excited or anxious, a supplement in this category may have a calming effect. And if you feel depressed or lethargic, it could have a stimulating effect.

• Like essential oils or hemp oil, they contain dozens of active compounds that work together synergistically, and this is what makes the difference.
• When one of these compounds is removed entirely, it does not always have the same effect as when it is left with the other compounds.

Scientists often want to isolate individual compounds to test their effects and end up limiting their effects; as a result, they dismiss them as ineffective.

However, there is a great deal of compelling research supporting the benefits, especially for athletes who need well-being to stick to a diet and training program while also keeping their mind in sync with their body.

On the other hand, the hot topics are whether you follow a paleo or low-carb diet or use one technique or another, right? But when it comes to adrenal fatigue, things can get complicated due to a lack of knowledge, since the debate centers on whether it exists or is part of the broader condition of hypothalamic axis dysregulation.

Unfortunately, if we turn a blind eye to everything related to adrenal fatigue, we will overlook adaptogens.

In short, to define them, we could call them herbal compounds that are beneficial against stress or anxiety, may affect cortisol, and have potential properties for improving physical and psychological performance, far beyond the typical recommendations for treating adrenal fatigue.

Adaptogens: How Do They Work?

In 1998, the FDA defined an adaptogen as a new type of metabolic regulator that has been shown to help with environmental adaptation and prevent external damage. Brekhman and Dardymov’s 1969 definition is easier to understand [1].

These scientists considered plant-based adaptogens:

• They reduce the damage caused by states of stress, such as fatigue, infections, and depression.
• They have a stimulating or excitatory effect on the body.
• They stimulate without side effects such as insomnia or a significantly increased metabolic rate.
• They do not cause harm to the body

In themselves, primary adaptogens help your body respond well to stress by directly affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands play an important role in the body's response to stress. When one stops working properly, the entire axis becomes dysfunctional.

An imbalance in the HPA axis leads to conditions such as adrenal fatigue, burnout, and sex hormone imbalances. There is even evidence that it could cause long-term cognitive and metabolic damage.

On the other hand, secondary adaptogens affect the endocrine, immune, or nervous system without directly affecting the HPA axis.

Adaptogens: What About Stress?

Stress has a bad reputation; we even published some research articles suggesting that stress was an epidemic.

Unfortunately, that kind of perspective on stress does more harm than stress itself, because avoiding stress is far too common nowadays.

• Adults live for the weekend to forget about the stress.
• College students hide in “safe spaces” to avoid it.
• Meanwhile, parents get involved in their children's schools in an attempt to protect them.

The truth is that we all must face and recover from increasing levels of stress as we mature, especially the stress associated with a sports-related lifestyle such as fitness and bodybuilding, where factors such as physical activity that produces mechanical stress and dieting that leads to emotional stress come into play.

It is important for us to point out to you that:

• Congested muscles play an important role in hypertrophy.
• If you have ever experienced a great pump, you have experienced metabolic stress.
• When you train hard to achieve this pump, you accumulate lactate, hydrogen ions, creatinine, and other metabolites, but you also prevent the blood from escaping.

This metabolic stress in the muscle indicates adaptation and is by no means the stress you should combat; however, overtraining affects the central nervous system's physical stress, and that is what you should address.

Adrenal fatigue—what is it?

Adrenal fatigue is a collection of symptoms that occur when your level of stress, whether physical, emotional, mental, or a combination, overwhelms your body's ability to compensate for that stress.

The adrenal glands are two endocrine glands located above the kidneys. When you encounter stress, the adrenal glands produce adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and cortisol.

This hormonal release is often called “fight or flight” and is designed to prepare you for immediate physical challenges.

• Your body is designed to handle stress quite well when it is acute and short-lived, since strong homeostatic mechanisms exist in our sympathetic nervous system (which ramps it up) and parasympathetic nervous system (which calms it down).
• The whole system is beautifully designed and worked well for our ancestors, who typically faced intense but brief stressful situations, such as protecting themselves from a hungry predator.

Now think about what stress is today: a strange number on your wife's caller ID, your child not coming home, and your boss warning you about irregularities in your report… stress accumulates…

It is chronic, low-grade stress that never completely goes away that leads to physical problems.

The stress/recovery cycle

To grow, develop, and mature physically, mentally, and emotionally, you need to live in a constant cycle of stress and recovery. Over time, you adapt to higher levels of stress and recover better from that stress.

STRESS ⟺ RECOVERY

For optimal health, you need to live in a balance of sufficient stress and sufficient recovery. When one side becomes unbalanced, physical or mental illness or dysfunction develops.

• Too much time recovering on the couch without physical activity, and your body breaks down.
• Too much time spent exercising without allowing recovery, and your body breaks down.

You need enough stress to stimulate change, you need an appropriate recovery strategy to change, and then you need to face new and more intense stress to grow and change a little more.

The key is to avoid excessive stress or excessive recovery.

This is where adaptogens come into play, because they help your body maintain a healthier metabolic state in the midst of a stressful situation. Then, they help you recover from that stress faster than you would on your own.

Adaptogens and stress adaptation

As their name suggests, they help you adapt to stress.

• For example, elevated blood sugar can cause oxidation and cellular damage.
• Blood sugar that is too low can also be a problem.

It’s not surprising that adaptogens support normal blood sugar levels, which means they can help your body lower elevated blood sugar and raise low blood sugar.

As you’ll see, they have similar metabolic effects throughout the body. So, although you may feel the difference from adaptogens in your emotions or energy levels, their effects aren’t subjective; they’re cellular.

These fantastic supplements are like rumble strips on the road. If you drift too far to one side, they’ll help guide you back to the center.

Adaptogens then help you return to an optimal state of health as long as you maintain good nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits. But if your lifestyle or diet is a disaster, you’ll end up in the ditch whether you use supplements or not.

Adaptogens and their benefits

Look, your ability to manage stress is related to the level of stress you’ve overcome in the past and your ability to recover from the stress you face today.

Stress isn’t the problem. Your resilience to stress is.

Constantly facing more stress than you recover from can lead to conditions such as adrenal fatigue and metabolic syndrome.

• Adaptogens support your stress response, as well as your recovery from stress, by working on the adrenal glands.

In another context, inflammation is an immune response. Your immune system responds to a perceived threat; sometimes, that means attacking its own tissue, as in arthritis.

• Some adaptogens may relieve or delay the progression of arthritis.

Stress raises cortisol and can also alter the daily rhythm of cortisol production; it should be highest in the morning and lowest before bedtime. However, in cases of adrenal fatigue or adrenal exhaustion, cortisol may be low in the morning and high at night, or low all the time. In any case, it prevents you from getting enough deep and REM sleep.

• Because adaptogens keep cortisol at normal levels, they promote sleep quantity and quality.

In terms of athletic performance, they improve metabolic function and energy production because these supplements affect how your body uses or stores carbohydrates (glucose), proteins (amino acids), and fats (fatty acids).

To conclude, also

• They reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease through cortisol regulation.
• They balance sex hormones, especially testosterone, making a compound such as DHEA more readily available.

Could they help you live longer? No one knows—not you or us—and the best ones? Well, here are some of the most popular.

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera)

Ashwagandha, also known as Indian ginseng, has been used for over 4,000 years and is so versatile that it has become very popular.

• It directly affects adrenal function, supporting your body’s normal stress response.
• It also improves thyroid function; research shows that it may increase the production of T3 and T4.
• On the other hand, it helps normalize blood lipid levels and reduces platelet aggregation.

Like other adaptogens, Ashwagandha improves immune function and combats inflammation, especially inflammation related to rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Because it affects adrenal function, its extract may reduce feelings of fatigue and depression, increase mental energy, and help calm feelings of anxiety or help you sleep better.

It also supports sexual function, improves libido, and may help reduce water retention. Surprisingly, it has antioxidant properties that may promote longevity and reduce the spread of free radicals, which is great for athletes.

For bodybuilders, it is so beneficial because it may increase testosterone, enhancing muscle size and strength, reducing body fat, and all this while accelerating post-workout recovery when consumed [2].

With so many health benefits spanning numerous body systems, it is no wonder that Ashwagandha is the most popular and widely recommended adaptogen of all..

Tribulus Terrestris

Tribulus terrestris, or simply “Tribulus,” is a plant native to the Mediterranean whose effects are more closely associated with maintaining sex hormone balance than with minimizing stress.

Sex hormone imbalance, especially low testosterone, is common in people with high levels of physical or mental stress. For health and longevity, maintaining optimal testosterone levels is just as important as healthy blood sugar levels or thyroid function.

That is why Tribulus is on our list of popular adaptogens.

It contains compounds called saponins, which affect the production of sex hormones and are definitely a better option than oysters as an aphrodisiac.

It can put you in the mood without making your breath smell like seafood, and honestly, it can be effective for both men and women.

• In men, research shows that it can increase the production of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a prohormone for testosterone production.
• Research shows that it may also support the production of luteinizing hormone, dihydrotestosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.

In a fairly comprehensive study, Tribulus supplementation led to lower body fat and higher levels of lean body mass, which would encourage fitness athletes to use it very frequently [3].

Research also shows that:

• Tribulus also supports healthy triglyceride and cholesterol levels; this is quite interesting, as it has been used in traditional medicine for heart disease.
• It also appears to protect cells from free radicals caused by elevated blood sugar levels, especially in diabetics.

Relora® (Magnolia officinalis and Phellodendron amurense)

In a popularity ranking, we couldn't leave out the combination of two adaptogens, as they seem to work best when combined in a patented formula used in several well-known supplements.

Each of these extracts has been used in traditional medicine since approximately 100 AD.

• To be clear, these plants are different from the magnolias and philodendrons you might plant in your garden, so don't start eating your flowers in the hope of obtaining some of these health benefits.
• Although each plant contains dozens of compounds, each plant has one component that has been well studied on its own.

Magnolia officinalis contains honokiol, a powerful anxiolytic compound, while Phellodendron amurense contains berberine, which supports healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

These two adaptogens affect the production of neurotransmitters and their enzymes, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), acetylcholine, choline acetyltransferase, and acetylcholinesterase.

In people who are highly stressed but otherwise healthy, they can:

• Reduce cortisol spikes and,
• Increase the testosterone precursor dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA).

For athletes who train hard and use these adaptogens, they can reduce cortisol levels by up to 15–18% and improve their mood [4].

Since elevated cortisol levels tend to reduce testosterone production, they may prevent some of the drop in testosterone observed with higher stress levels.

In short, like Ashwagandha, Relora has a significant calming effect in just 15 minutes, making the athlete calmer and more relaxed without drowsiness, which can provide an advantage at certain times, such as before a competition or during important events.

Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus)

Siberian ginseng, or eleuthero for short, originates in the Russian Far East, which is why it is more commonly known as Siberian ginseng.

The term adaptogen was coined by Dr. Israel Brekhman, a Soviet physician who spent much of his career researching Siberian ginseng. In fact, in the mid-1900s, when people referred to an adaptogen, they often meant Siberian ginseng.

Before it became popular as one of the most popular adaptogens, Soviet athletes used it as an ergogenic aid, especially in endurance sports.

• It can increase oxygen consumption at maximum-intensity levels, which increases fat metabolism and preserves glycogen.
• Research on chronic fatigue is mixed; it appears that those with mild to moderate fatigue experience benefits from using eleuthero, but those with severe fatigue do not.

Some research also shows that it promotes normal cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which is great for everyone, as it also reduces the cardiovascular response to stress, helping prevent hypertension.

Rhodiola Rosea

Also known simply as Rhodiola or Golden Root, it was first described in medical texts in 77 AD. It contains more than 140 chemical compounds, some of which act on serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

And although hundreds of studies have been published on Rhodiola, it is clear that within a few weeks it can reduce symptoms of depression, insomnia, and emotional instability, including low self-esteem.

As one of the sports adaptogens, it is also recognized for combating fatigue and improving mental performance, as well as concentration under stressful situations [5], although it seems to be more beneficial in endurance sports.

However, its effect on reducing perceived exertion and improving recovery would benefit most forms of exercise or sport.

For example, when preparing for competition:

• The effects on aerobic energy metabolism could help mobilize fat stores.
• The reduction in perceived exertion levels could help people overcome the monotony of cardio and the exhaustion of exercising with so little energy.
• It can also improve cognitive function and mental focus, especially when anxiety and stress related to an event begin to arise.

Normal doses of Rhodiola range from 200 mg to 700 mg per day and, interestingly, lower doses seem to be more stimulating while higher doses are more calming.

Cordyceps

There are more than 400 species of Cordyceps, but this one is the supreme queen for its medicinal properties. Scientifically known as Ophiocordyceps sinensis, this type of Cordyceps earned its colloquial name “caterpillar fungus” because it is extracted from caterpillar larvae.

Cordyceps are best known for their ability to increase the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which our body uses to obtain energy, and in a sense, you know what that represents, right?… ¡ better performance !… [6].

On the other hand, inflammation is the immune system's response to anything it interprets as irritating or harmful to the body. While some inflammation is good, too much over long periods can lead to inflammatory diseases,

Cordyceps reduces inflammation by reducing the expression of inflammatory genes and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF, IL8, and COX2.

Antioxidants slow down the aging process, and using one of the best-known adaptogens, Cordyceps, improves the health of your hair, skin, and nails, which can leave you looking beautiful while becoming healthier from the inside out.

Conclusions

Although there are more herbs, extracts, and herbal complexes that are adaptogens or function as such, knowing how to add them to your sports diet, which ones, when, and how is the detail you need to consider when using them.

You know that the best way to gain muscle is to train hard and eat properly.

If you have these two aspects covered, along with motivation and healthy habits, building muscle will be easy.

However, once you gain experience, muscle gains may begin to diminish, and hormonal, genetic, and lifestyle factors may start to make a big difference in how much you can grow.

By harnessing your hormones, improving your health, and maintaining mental and physical well-being through adaptogens, you could influence your training results and raise the limit of what you are capable of achieving.

We have already defined these supplements by their ability to help the body adapt to any imbalance or stress it may be experiencing, and knowing when to use them depends on you and no one else.

To finish, we highlight a video showing some techniques that can help you progress in your training while reducing stress.