Best Adaptogens for Memory

If you are always feeling stressed out and experiencing anxious thoughts, then you are not alone. Millions of people around the world suffer from high levels of stress, which could potentially lead to even more serious health issues. At the same time, high levels of stress may also lead to cognitive issues, such as memory loss and trouble remembering in general. There are some natural substances out there that may be able to help combat high levels of stress and therefore help you retain your maximum cognitive function. Today, we are here to talk about substances known as adaptogens. Adaptogens are special substances that thanks to their ingredients can potentially help relieve stress and boost your health in several different ways. So, what are adaptogenic herbs? What are adaptogenic mushrooms? Are all Mushrooms adaptogens? These are just some questions that we are here to answer today. Let's get to it and determine exactly what adaptogens are, how they benefit you, and what some of the best adaptogens out there are.

Key Takeaways

• Adaptogens may be able to help reduce stress.
• Adaptogens may be able to help reduce the negative side effects of stress.
• Some of the best adaptogens are lion’s made, reishi, and ginkgo biloba, among others.

What Are Adaptogens?

Adaptogens may be plant-based compounds or synthetic compounds. They generally contain active biological compounds, including phytochemicals, that can have various benefits for the body and the mind. An adaptogen is generally nonspecific and can help the body when it is experiencing a number of adverse conditions, such as environmental or physical stress. An adaptogen must also counter the physical impacts of stress on the human body. Adaptogens must also not harm or alter the usual function of the body in any way. These are generally seen as the three criteria for any compound to qualify as an adaptogen. This was the original definition, but this has changed over the years. Adaptogens may also be seen as a variety of natural bioregulators that can potentially increase the human body’s ability to adapt to several environmental factors with the aim of avoiding damage that could potentially be caused by said factors. In the simplest terms, adaptogens are compounds that may be able to help reduce the amount of stress that you experience, while also reducing the overall harmful impacts of that stress on your mind and body.

How do Adaptogens Work?

Adaptogens naturally alter our stress response. When your body goes through stress, you experience what is known as GAS. This stands for general adaptation syndrome. There are generally three stress coping steps that your body goes through to handle a variety of stressful situations. This first mode or step is the alarm mode, which can include your flight or flight response, which tends to happen as you are trying to determine the cause of the stress you are being faced with. The second coping step here is resistance, where you create an internal barrier against that stress, to try to detach yourself from it and work your way through it. The third step of this GAS coping mechanism is exhaustion. Many people tend to feel exhausted after trying to deal with stress, and negative thoughts, particularly towards oneself, often accompany this. Adaptogens may be able to help provide us with the mental power and resources to get past this exhaustion stage, or never have to deal with it at all. This is done by potentially allowing more energy to be focused on the second stage, the resistance stage. This, therefore, allows for a better chance to not crash or suffer from exhaustion after having dealt with the stress. Adaptogens may therefore help the human body and mind adapt to stress much better without having as many side effects. They are designed to help your body deal with and recover from both long-term and short-term mental and physical stress, while others may even be able to help boost your overall well-being and immunity towards disease. It is said that adaptogens nonspecifically increase the overall resistance of the human mind and body under a range of external circumstances. There are also some indications that many adaptogens may be able to help reduce anxious and depressive thoughts, increase your mental performance and cognitive abilities, and help provide you with energy as well. Adaptogens may also be able to help with a variety of hormonal imbalances, sleep problems, and even inflammation and pain. One of the biggest potential benefits of adaptogens is aiding in the function of memory. What you need to realize here is that adaptogens are very nonspecific. Some adaptogens may contain more of one substance that helps improve your cognitive abilities, whereas another adaptogen may contain another substance that might help you sleep better, whereas a third adaptogen may contain a substance that could help to reduce anxious and compressive thoughts. As you can see, this is all quite nonspecific.

What Are Adaptogenic Herbs?

Adaptogenic herbs are simply herbs or plants that may have adaptogenic features. These do include some of the ones that we are going to discuss below. Panax ginseng is one of the most popular ones. These adaptogenic herbs or plant-based adaptogens contain a variety of compounds including flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, vitamins, minerals, and other substances that may have beneficial effects for both your mind and body. There are of course also synthetic adaptogens that are man-made in a laboratory, although this is not what we are here to talk about today.

What Are Adaptogenic Mushrooms?

Just like adaptogenic herbs are herbs and plants filled with adaptogenic compounds, adaptogenic mushrooms are special mushrooms that are filled with these same kinds of compounds. Adaptogenic mushrooms are mushrooms that are known to contain a variety of substances that may have beneficial effects for both your mind and body, especially when it comes to dealing with stress and the side effects of stress.

Are All Mushrooms Adaptogens?

No, not all mushrooms are adaptogens, but many are. Some of the most popular ones out there include Reishi, Chaga, Lion's Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, and Shiitake.

Cognitive Effects of Stress

Stress is much more serious than some people might like to admit, as it can potentially cause atrophy of various regions in the brain. Constant and repeated exposure to a variety of stressful conditions does generally lead to some cognitive decline. Things like cognitive flexibility, attention, response inhibition, deduction, problem-solving, and working memory all seem to suffer due to exposure to stress. In other words, stress often leads to you not being able to think clearly, not being able to solve problems properly, not being able to respond to situations properly, not being able to pay attention for long periods of time, and it can also impact your memory.

Stress and Memory Loss

One of the leading effects of high levels of stress seems to be memory loss. Stress can indeed lead to you having a decreased ability to remember both in the short term and long term. However, a variety of adaptogens may be able to help reduce the effects of stress on your mind and body, especially as far as your memory is concerned. What is interesting is that CBD may also be able to help reduce stress.

Best Adaptogens for Memory

Right now, we want to take a look at the seven best adaptogens that may be able to help boost your memory recall capabilities, especially concerning stressful situations.

1. Lion’s Mane

Lion’s mane is known as being one of the best adaptogen mushrooms out there. It looks like a long white shag rug. This is a mushroom that has been consumed by people for hundreds of years, especially in the east. Lion’s mane for stress may be one of your best options when it comes to natural adaptogens. Lion’s mane may be able to help promote focus, and mental agility and help increase your overall cognitive performance by supporting a healthy stress response. It is known for supporting memory and recall. Lion’s mane may also have circulatory and cardiovascular benefits that can help provide you with more energy.

2. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha has been used by many cultures for hundreds and hundreds of years. This is an adaptogen that has been widely studied. One of the biggest benefits that it may have is that it contains many different antioxidant compounds. Antioxidants are fantastic compounds as far as mitigating anxious thoughts and stress go. Ashwagandha is known to help you concentrate more easily, remember better, and it helps to relax both the mind and body. It may also have the ability to help reduce oxidative stress in your mind and body, and it may even be able to help lower levels of cortisol. Your brain produces cortisol when you experience stress, and it causes you to remain on high alert. Being able to reduce the amount of cortisol in your brain means an ashwagandha may also be able to help reduce stress. This adaptogen may also be able to help enhance serotonin and GABA receptors in your brain, therefore also acting as a mood regulator that may be able to help reduce anxious thoughts and stress. If you want to reduce stressful and anxious thoughts, then taking CBD with Ashwagandha may be a good idea. There are also indications that ashwagandha may be able to help regenerate axons, synapses, and dendrites, which in other words means that it may be able to help restore the neural network that allows you to remember.

3. Reishi

Reishi is another adaptogenic mushroom that may have benefits for the mind and body. This is also a mushroom that has been used for medicinal purposes for a very long time and is often referred to as the mushroom of immortality. It is thought that this mushroom has the ability to help prevent infections, boost your immune system, improve your mood, and it may also be able to help improve your memory. It is also thought that this mushroom may be able to help clear your head, improve mental focus, and help you concentrate much better. Taking CBD with reishi may be able to help make you feel much better.

4. Rhodiola Rosea

Here we have another adaptogenic mushroom that is known for helping to fight exhaustion and fatigue that is caused by mental and physical stress. It may also be able to help improve memory, mood, energy, and alertness. Overall, it might have the ability to help improve your overall cognitive functions. There are a variety of active compounds in this mushroom that may be able to help reverse damage to the neurons in your brain caused by constant exposure to stress. This mushroom is also thought to help promote neurotransmitters such as serotonin, which can also act as a mood regulator. This mushroom may even be able to help regenerate the neurons in your brain.

5. Ginkgo Biloba

Here we have a substance that has been used for a variety of medical conditions for well over 5000 years at this point. Modern science tells us that ginkgo biloba works by inhibiting monoamine oxidase, which therefore helps to prevent the breakdown of dopamine. In other words, this adaptation may have the ability to increase nopaline levels in your brain, therefore making you feel happier, calmer, and potentially reducing anxious and depressive thoughts. It is also thought that Ginkgo has the ability to increase blood flow to the brain, therefore allowing for better memory, recall, learning, and overall cognitive abilities. It is also thought that it has antioxidative properties, which means that it may be able to help eliminate free radicals from your body, therefore preventing damage from occurring to your brain.

6. Panax Ginseng

Ginseng is one of these adaptogens that can provide you with plenty of energy. It is shown that ginseng can provide you with energy, therefore improving your overall mental performance while reducing fatigue. It may also have the ability to improve GABA receptors, which can therefore have an anti-stress effect on the mind.

7. Bacopa Monnieri

This is often considered to be one of the best adaptations out there. For one, this substance may be able to help rebuild and repair damaged brain cells, therefore helping to improve memory, attention, recall, focus, and more. It may also have the ability to lower both heart rate and anxiety.

Conclusion

If you are looking to reduce stressful and anxious thoughts, you want to feel happier and calmer, you want better cognitive abilities, you need to improve your memory recall, focus, and concentration, and you want to feel less fatigued in general, then a variety of adaptogens might be the perfect thing for you. Thanks for stopping by! Why not try adding a Botany Farms tincture to your daily routine?