So today’s Friday’s Fun Fact is a little different as in all honestly this week has been crazy, with no real time to come up for air.
Stress this week has certainly been my accompanying partner, after launching Cheltenham, the arrival of two new trainers and being asked to speak at a Virgin Sport event – we’ve not spread out the workload too well! The greatest stress is knowing things aren’t going to slow down, and I’ve been relying on caffeine and coffee to keep me going.
But is that a good idea? Probably not… if you’re a caffeine addict too, read on.
Let’s be clear about one thing, I like caffeine and I absolutely love coffee, I’m not arguing with that, but relying on caffeine or other stimulants as an energy boost for a long-term solution is a little like relying on petrol to start a campfire.
Your ability to produce energy is like a campfire. You look for good-sized logs that will burn for a long time, providing a consistent amount of heat. You can use the campfire for warmth, to cook and even for protection. The wood you gathered burns steadily and you have a good supply of additional wood to add to the fire when necessary.
Throwing petrol on your campfire may cause the fire to burn brighter and hotter (for a moment), but it’s not safe or well-controlled. It quickly burns up the logs used to make it, leaving you with a pile of burnt-out ashes before you even had time to gather up more fire wood - no amount of petrol is going to relight those ashes and fix the problem.
So, if we’re heading into stressful times we need to ditch the petrol canister and go out to find our supply of fuel, otherwise we’re likely to ‘burn-out the fire.’
But is there anything that can help to tackle the stress? Well, Adaptogens could be the answer.
What are adaptogens?
Adaptogens are plant or fungus compounds that can both support the body against the effect of stress, and also strengthen and rejuvenate the body after prolonged exposure to stress. Whether you’re in a state of high stress or low stress, adaptogens can help to restore balance. (Panossian A & Wikman G. 2010).
Western-style research into the compounds didn’t begin until 1947, when the Soviets were looking for compounds to strengthen and protect their soldiers (Brekhman, I.I Dardymov, I.V 1969).
They found that these compounds helped regardless of the source of the stress (chemicals, environment, stress from physical activity, psychological stress etc.). When adaptogens were used, they saw a decrease in illness, faster recovery from physical exertion, and an improved level of homeostasis and wellbeing.
As well as the above, adaptogens have also been shown to:
• increase mental performance and physical work capacity in sleep deprived people (Shevtsov VA. et al. 2003)
• reduce symptoms of both anxiety and depression (Andrade et al. 2000) with Ashwaganda showing up to a 56% reduction in symptoms in people with anxiety (Cooley K et al. 2009)
• help improve life and work-related stress (Edwards D, et al. 2012)
• Rhodiola Rosea has been shown to help people to improve performance on work-related tasks by about 20% (Darbinyan V, et al. 2000)
• What’s more is that adaptogens have been shown to take effect within as little as 30 minutes, with the benefits continuing for at least 4-6 hours (Panossian A. 2005)
If, like me, you’re reading this thinking they're exactly the type of firewood I need to light my fire and they sound awesome, then here's a list of your most popular adaptogens:
Asian ginseng*
Holy Basil
Ashwagandha*
Cordyceps
Schisandra
Siberian ginseng
Reishi
Shiitake
Rhodiola Rosea*
*most extensively studied adaptogens in the scientific literature.
Now, the next time you’re having to deal with choric periods of stress stop throwing the petrol over the fire by spending your time at the coffee machine, but rather gather up some fire wood and start taking one of these adaptogens.
Here's a brief list I've pieced together comparing the differences between caffiene and adaptogens based on the scientific evidence and work Alexander Panossian’s done over the years on adaptogens: