What are Adaptogens and What Do They Do?

"Hack your stress and sex with these seven adaptogens."

"Calm your nerves and invigorate your mind!"

"Herbal pharmaceuticals to boost your mood, increase your mental focus, and regulate your hormones."

Nowadays there are a lot of claims floating about surrounding adaptogens and how they can benefit your life.

New potions and elixirs popping up left and right, adaptogenic lattes making an appearance on all the trendiest menus in town, and Instagram celebs repping their favorite tonics. What should you believe?

First Off, What is an Adaptogen?

The term adaptogen refers to a class of herbal plants or fungi (mushrooms!) that helps the body acclimate, or adapt to stressful situations.

In order to be considered an adaptogen, these herbs must satisfy the following criteria:

1. They must be safe for general consumption and non-toxic to the body's normal physiological functioning
2. They must have broad health benefits
3. They must assist your body in fighting the effects of stress, both mental and physical, thereby helping you to return to a natural state of equilibrium¹

With adaptogens currently occupying such a high trend factor, it would be easy to believe these herbal wonders are new to the health and wellness scene.

Au contraire!

Much like chia seeds, quinoa, and green tea, adaptogens have been in use for centuries. Eastern medicine and Ayurvedic tradition, especially, have a rich history of incorporating adaptogenic herbs in their healing customs.

How do Adaptogens Work?

In endeavoring not to take the internet's word at face value let's get a little nerdy. Because, as it so happens, there's increasing scientific evidence that adaptogens do exactly as they're touted to.

Adaptogens are beneficial because they promote homeostasis by supporting proper function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA).²

The HPA, also fondly known as the body's "stress system," is responsible for regulating stress hormones, like cortisol, and, ultimately, the entire nervous system.³ 

Check out our Hormonious, a comprehensive hormone balancing supplement.

One of the ways in which adaptogens ease stress response is by stimulating the expression of Hsp70 and Hsp72, two "stress sensor" proteins. Hsp70 and Hsp72 help to mediate stress response by interacting with the stress-activated enzyme c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase, or JNK for short.² This interaction lowers cortisol and increases concentration, endurance, and performance, especially during times of exhaustion.^2,4

JNK is a stress-activated protein kinase or a SAPK, that plays a roll in everything from gene expression, to cell death, to energy production.^5,6 When left unchecked–like when we're overly stressed, for example–JNK signaling has been linked to neurodegeneration, chronic inflammation, and cancer.⁷

Additionally, JNK decreases the production of energy providing molecules (ATP, if you want a little Biology 101 throwback) which causes proteins not to function correctly at the cellular level and fatigue to ensue.⁶

Why are Adaptogens Necessary?

In short: because we're stressed.

Stress developed as a survival mechanism to ensure we were able to outrun that saber-toothed tiger and proliferate the species. As such, stress was only meant to exist in small bursts.

Now that overfull inboxes and schedules have taken the place of the tiger, with no distinction of the fact that they're not life-threatening, most of us exist constantly in a state of stress.

This constant stress, with no outlet for release, causes our adrenals to work in overdrive and takes a toll on the body.

This is where adaptogens come in.

Through the mechanisms addressed above, adaptogens support the adrenals and strengthen the body's ability to cope with stress by creating internal balance.

With 90% of all doctors visits now linked to stress-induced ailments and chronically high cortisol levels being associated with depression, fatigue, and impaired cognitive function, adaptogens provide a natural means of treating the cause of these symptoms.⁸

Unlike popular pharmaceuticals that treat each symptom separately (difficulty sleeping, low-immune function, or digestive issues to name a few stress-induced illnesses), adaptogens treat the root of the problem.

What's Next?

Now that you've been sufficiently overwhelmed with how great adaptogens are, you may be wondering how to begin easing them into your everyday life. 

For starters, we've incorporated several adaptogens into our Organic Greens Powder for a hassle-free way to increase your daily organic greens from both land and sea, boosted with a healthy dose of adaptogens to help support your body's ability to respond to daily stress and improve your sleep quality.

You can also try our Vegan Pre-workout, a clean energy powder containing 90mg of caffeine from organic, plant-based sources, nitric-oxide boosting fruits and veggies and organic adaptogens that will provide you with a sustained focus and a balancing rather than a jittery effect that most pre-workout supplements will cause.

If you are looking to naturally balance your hormones, then our Hormonious - Hormonal Balance & Support capsules will be the right choice for you. Hormonious is a natural and comprehensive organic adaptogen supplement designed to aid more stable energy levels, hormonal acne relief, better moods, and fewer PMS, perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms.

Additionally, for some more information on two of our favorite adaptogens, check out these articles on ashwagandha and maca for further inspiration.