3 Botanicals to Bolster your Stress and Resilience Response

Integrative and functional medicine strongly emphasizes the importance of having a stress management toolkit, as stress is often an underlying root cause for many illnesses and systemic inflammation. While we will never stop harping on about integrating stress management and reducing habits into your daily life, sometimes those practices alone are not enough to keep stress at bay yet. Adding a botanical supplement may help as a bolster to your stress toolkit. Think of it like a yoga block: you use it as an aid in a yoga pose. It doesn’t change the fact that you are still doing yoga, it just helps you get further towards where you’d like to be in your pose. A stress relieving supplement is just like that. You use it in addition to your stress management practices to help get you closer towards where you’d like to be. Now, without further adieu, here are 3 botanicals that can aid in your stress response.

L-theanine:

You may already be familiar with the benefits of l-theanine from another, more commonly known source. L-theanine is a compound found in green tea. Humans have been drinking green tea since ancient times and it is touted as a relaxing drink. Because of this, researchers became interested in what was causing the relaxation effects drinker’s experienced. Thus, studies found that l-theanine is the agent of this response. It acts as a mimic of another compound found in the human body that is responsible for turning on the stress response, and inhibits the stress response from occurring, which is why you may feel relaxed after ingesting a warm cup of green tea. It can be taken orally or through drinking green tea. If you plan to drink green tea to get the benefits of l-theanine, be sure the caffeine content and time of day you are drinking will not disrupt your sleep habits because sufficient sleep is plays an even greater role in stress reduction.

Ashwagandha:

Ashwagandha is another ancient herb. It has been used since ancient times in Ayurvedic medicinal practices. It has been clinically studied to show stress reducing effects specifically acting on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, also know as the HPA axis. Ashwagandha is known as an adaptogenic herb. This means it combats many different types of stress on the body including psychological and physiological stress — which is why it has so many uses. We recommend talking with your healthcare provider to determine the right dosage for you.

Magnesium

While magnesium does not technically fit the definition of a botanical, it is certainly an agent of stress relief. Magnesium is a micronutrient needed by the body for various functions. It has been showed to also play a role in the HPA axis regulates the body’s stress response. That being said, deficiency in magnesium may be associated with decreased ability to regulate one’s stress response. Supplementing with magnesium has been studied and it is shown to decrease participant’s overall perceived stress. One important thing to note is that supplementing with magnesium can also increase bowel motility.

Are you looking for a more personalized recommendation on stress reducing supplements? Meet with on of our providers who can give you a recommendation informed by your body’s needs and situations. Our individualized testing can elucidate any gaps in our body’s function to manage the stress response. Interested in learning more? Schedule your a 20 minute free consultation or an appointment with Zoie Phillips, MSPA, PA-C or Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions, quickly get in touch with us today!

We’d like to hear from you! Do you find this article helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook and Instagram!

Sources:

Boyle, N. B., Lawton, C., & Dye, L. (2017). The effects of magnesium supplementation on subjective anxiety and stress—a systematic review. Nutrients, 9(5), 429.

Juneja, L. R., Chu, D. C., Okubo, T., Nagato, Y., & Yokogoshi, H. (1999). L-theanine—a unique amino acid of green tea and its relaxation effect in humans. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 10(6-7), 199-204.

Kimura, K., Ozeki, M., Juneja, L. R., & Ohira, H. (2007). L-Theanine reduces psychological and physiological stress responses. Biological psychology, 74(1), 39-45.

Lopresti, A. L., Smith, S. J., Malvi, H., & Kodgule, R. (2019). An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Medicine, 98(37).

Sartori, S. B., Whittle, N., Hetzenauer, A., & Singewald, N. (2012). Magnesium deficiency induces anxiety and HPA axis dysregulation: modulation by therapeutic drug treatment. Neuropharmacology, 62(1), 304-312.

Singh N, Bhalla M, de Jager P, Gilca M. An overview on ashwagandha: a Rasayana (rejuvenator) of Ayurveda. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2011;8(5 Suppl):208-213. doi:10.4314/ajtcam.v8i5S.9