What are adaptogens? How do you use them? Do they actually work?



They are a standard part of traditional medicine. However, in North America, they often get dismissed as a useful tool for supporting your health.



In this article, I explain what they are, how they work, and review some of the health benefits of adaptogens. I also highlight some of the best adaptogens for you to start with.



Read also: The Best Multivitamins For Men and Women.





Don't Be Misled or Misleading



As you'll see, adaptogens can be helpful for almost everyone. But they're not magic.



I'm tired of people making exaggerated claims about supplements, essential oils, and other health products. Though these natural products can help to support your health, they don't work if your nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices are a disaster.



As I say in my lectures:



Hopes, wishes, prayers, supplements, essential oils, or medications won't fix a lifestyle-related disease until you fix your lifestyle.



Many of the health problems people face today, including stress, low libido, low testosterone, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc. are the result of poor nutrition, lifestyle, and exercise (or lack of it) choices.



An adaptogen will have little to no effect if:




you lack sleep



you don't get to the gym and workout



you hang around with energy-sucking, pessimistic people



you don't eat enough protein to support your body's recovery needs




Just taking a supplement, essential oil, or adaptogen isn't going to fix the problem.



At a minimum, you need to be consistent with The 3 Pillars of VIGOR. Then, in terms of supplements, start with The Foundational Five before investing in adaptogens.



If you're not willing to tackle that stuff first, don't waste your time and money on adaptogens. And please...don't get suckered into buying something from someone who's selling you a solution to your problems that's just a pill or powder. Especially if they don't follow the fundamental health habits above themselves.



Assuming you have those habits in place, using adaptogens each day is a great way to further support your health, so let's keep going and find out why, and then which ones to use.



What are Adaptogens?



Adaptogens help your body maintain metabolic balance. For example, if you feel overly excited or anxious, an adaptogen may have a calming effect. In you feel low or down, it could have an excitatory effect.



For those familiar with Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, adaptogens are nothing new. For those who’ve grown up with conventional, Western medicine, they might sound too good to be true.



The main problem with them becoming accepted in the West is their general, rather than specific effect on the body, and difficulty in pinpointing exactly how they work.



Like essential oils or hemp oil, adaptogens contain dozens of compounds that act together in an entourage effect.



When you take one of those compounds out of the whole, it doesn't always have the same effect as leaving it with the other compounds. Western doctors and scientists often want to isolate individual compounds to test their effects, and end up seeing minimal effect compared to the combination in the body. Then, they shrug them off as ineffective. 



With all that said, there is now plenty of convincing research supporting the health benefits of adaptogens. So, any doctor who shrugs them off today isn't keeping up with the research.



How Adaptogens Work




In 1998, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defined an adaptogen as a new kind of metabolic regulator that has proved to help in environmental adaptation and to prevent external harm.
Liao L, et al



Brekhman’s and Dardymov’s 1969 definition is easier to understand. They said plant-originated adaptogens:




Reduce harm caused by stressed states, such as fatigue, infection, and depression



Have a stimulating or excitatory effect on the body