THIS is the Most Powerful ADAPTOGEN in The World - How it Works and Why it's THE BEST

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 .