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So what is the most powerful adaptogen ?
Well , what is an adaptogen ?
An adaptogen is something that helps you cope with stress .
It helps you stabilize something called homeostasis .
So it's your body's adjusting to the environment .
So if you stood up really fast , right , and you get dizzy , that's not adjusting to your environment .
Your body should be able to quickly shift your blood pressure and shift the blood up into your brain so you don't pass out .
Or let's say you run up the stairs .
Right ?
Your body should adapt to that , and you shouldn't go unconscious .
So if there's a problem in your ability to adapt to stress , then an adaptogen can help you .
But most adaptogens focus on increasing your resistance to stress .
And the most powerful adaptogen that I know is ashwagandha .
Ashwagandha does a lot , but in this video , we're gonna primarily focus on how it can help someone with stress .
It's been around for a couple years , like 3000 years .
Many different cultures have used ashwagandha for all sorts of things , but primarily , most people use it to cope with stress .
The main chemical compound in ashwagandha that is responsible for this stress adaptation is withanolides .
And withanolides is kind of like a a category of 300 different similar compounds .
So what happens when you take ashwagandha is you start , feeling calm .
You feel like you can cope better , and I'm gonna talk about why .
Number 1 , it helps to modulate or control something called the HPA axis .
This communication between the hypothalamus , pituitary , and your adrenals .
Okay ?
So let's say you experience stress .
Right ?
So stress is received by the body , and the hypothalamus is like the owner of the football team that sends a message to the coach , which then sends the message to the quarterback to give the play out to get everyone on the same page .
So in other words , these hormonal communications are all about getting the body ready or adapting to a stress response .
And then once the hormone does its job , adapting the body to stress , then a signal is sent back turning off this mechanism .
And this is the problem with chronic stress .
That message never comes back to turn things off .
And so we have this chronic elevation of cortisol .
Now what's really cool about ashwagandha is it can help to turn off cortisol and another hormone called DHEA .
Now , when I talk about turn off , I'm not talking about completely , I'm talking about reducing it to a certain amount .
And so Ashwagandha in various studies , I think there's like roughly about 41 different studies just on stress alone , but there's a lot of other studies on a lot of different aspects of what it can do .
But in this 1 study , which I'm going to put down below , it can help reduce cortisol and DHEA .
Now the thing about cortisol , cortisol does not cause you to be stressed out .
Sometimes people say , boy , my cortisol is too high .
It's stressing me out or my adrenals are overactive and it's stressing me out .
No .
It's the stress that's causing the adrenals to pump out more cortisol .
Cortisol is there just to adapt your body to stress .
It's doing its job .
And the problem is if you're under sustained stress , it's just not very healthy to have your body in this state .
So let's just take a peek at what cortisol does .
Okay .
This is just some of the things that it will do .
Number 1 , I already mentioned this , it responds to stress .
It doesn't cause stress .
It's just adapting your body to a stress state .
So the first thing it's gonna do is gonna increase your blood sugars .
Okay ?
This is called the flight or fight mode .
It's a stress mode .
Like if there is a lion chasing you , you can either fight them or run away .
So it's quick energy .
It's increase or mobilize your blood sugars .
A problem with chronic stress is that sugar then will trigger insulin and convert to belly fat and a lot of other problems like high triglycerides , high cholesterol , and also it can burn out the pancreas and even cause diabetes if there's enough of this cortisol being pumped out .
The other thing that cortisol will do , it'll turn off certain things in our body that are not necessarily related to this present time threat .
Okay ?
So it temporarily turns off your immune system , so it just shuts the thing down .
This is why people take prednisone , for example , which is a synthetic cortisol for anything inflammation , autoimmune diseases , allergies , poison ivy , skin problems , lung infections , etcetera , etcetera .
So the immune system is temporarily put on pause .
Okay ?
The other thing that cortisol will do is it decreases the sensitivity to insulin .
Now this is not a good thing .
We want insulin very , very sensitive so it can regulate your blood sugar .
So if it makes insulin less sensitive , it actually creates insulin resistance .
What your body is trying to do is trying to prevent tissues from using glucose .
So it's trying to conserve and use that , glucose for energy .
Now it also will increase sodium and water retention .
This is why when people are stressed , they're just like a fluid filled sack , especially in their ankles .
At the same time , it increases potassium excretion .
So your body is getting rid of potassium and retaining sodium .
This is why when you're under stress for a period of time , you become even more potassium depleted and you hold on more sodium .
So this is just another reason why potassium is so important during a stress state .
So , but what do people do when they're stressed ?
They eat salty , crunchy carbs , right ?
Like potato chips or other chips , things like that .
What are they doing ?
You're increasing more blood sugar and more salt retention .
When cortisol goes up , we also get a spike in gastric acid .
So you may find that your stomach has , like , acid reflux or just heartburn .
And if stress goes on long enough , that can irritate and create inflammation in your stomach , and that's called gastritis .
This is 1 of the reasons why stress can actually create an ulcer and actually damage in your stomach .
But not just in your stomach , it can also damage the brain .
So chronic stress can actually cause some major damage to your hippocampus .
So then you start losing memory and the ability to learn and your cognitive function .
Alright .
Let's go back to this right here .
So ashwagandha can lower cortisol to a certain degree , as well as DHEA .
What is DHEA ?
It's kind of a precursor for cortisol and other hormones .
So this is elevated during stress .
And guess what ?
Ashwagandha actually can help lower this , which is a good indication that your body is less stressed .
If you have a lesser amount of DHEA , that's still within the normal range and you have a lesser amount of cortisol .
So based on this study , which is a double blinded placebo test , they found , lower AM cortisol .
So lower cortisol in the morning .
There was also lower DHEA in the morning .
There was a slight increase in testosterone because stress does shut down testosterone .
So the fact that it raised was , is a good thing .
Also , ashwagandha increased endurance .
Okay .
So you can go longer when you exercise , It increases strength .
Okay .
Because 1 of the things that stress does is it makes you weak .
And ashwagandha is really good for someone that feels weak after stress .
Like , let's say for example , you had some immune infection and you're trying to recover from that because and you feel really weak .
Ashwagandha is a really good thing to increase the strength .
Or let's say you've been under a lot of stress for many days , and you're not sleeping that well .
Ashwagandha can help raise your strength so you at least don't feel weak .
And ashwagandha showed significant improvements in emotions .
So ashwagandha has a tendency to bring you up so you're not stuck in this stress state .
Now , if you wanted a really good ashwagandha product , I did put a link down below in the description .
Check it out .
Now since we're on the topic of stress , you have to see this video on stress .
It is very very important .
I put it up right here .
Check it out .