What are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

November 17, 2021

what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

In this episode, Lane shares about daily practices that can support your nerves and lower stress using adaptogens and the importance of NOT overusing them.

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what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Hi friend, how are you today? It is a solo episode. That’s right. It’s just me and you hanging out together. My name is Lane Kennedy and this is recovered like a mother that’s right. Hi, I’m so glad that you joined me today. I know there are so many podcasts now and so many options. So I feel very blessed and honored that you would spend time with me and hang out. It really means the world to me. If you think about it if you.

I would just do myself a huge favor head on over to iTunes and make sure that you review the show with five stars, please. It just bumps it up. So other mothers can find the show and listen in to these beautiful speakers that I have and all the insights and information that I’m gonna be sharing with you.

So that would be joyful. If you could do that for me, I would really, really appreciate it. The other thing I want to mention before we dig in today is to have you signed up for the next calm circle. Right. what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels It’s the monthly retreat. Yes, a monthly retreat. It’s like a VIP day special for you. We get together.

We come together. We talk about how to live a calm life. It’s my favorite thing in the world. And I can’t believe this is something that I get to share with others now. It’s I hope you’ll make it to the next calm circle. You can find out more over at recover, like mother.com forward slash reset.

Okay. Today’s episode. Am I sharing? About adaptogens. Now I am fascinated with all things health, right? I am a health coach. I’m a biohacker of 20-something years. I’m all about it. Wellness from the inside out. That is my that’s like my motto. I should have a tattoo with that. And today I want to talk about adaptogens I was introduced to adaptogens in my twenties.

And I want to paint the picture for you. So I was. Drinking. A lot. I was modeling a lot. I was getting home late, and not sleeping. And I would cut. I would go home to my girlfriend and, and wake up in the middle of the night and she’d just be like, Oh my God, you’re so sweaty. What’s happening? And it’d be like, I don’t know what’s happening.

And, you know, she was a normal person. She didn’t have a drinking problem, not an alcoholic. Just the most beautiful soul ever. And she got worried about me and she said, you know, Lane, I think, I think he needed to go to a doctor. And, you know, I’m like, no, I got this, not a problem. Because I was going out every night. I was drinking every night. I was in the mix of life. I was making a lot of money. I was doing everything.

You know life was good. So.

She said, well, maybe you can go too. An acupuncturist. And think about this. This is, you know, 20-something years ago. More than that, probably at this point. I was in my early twenties. And. I was like an acupuncturist. What is that? And she said, well, I have a friend and she told me that she went to this acupuncturist and it helped her. what are Adaptogens, and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

So we didn’t even really know what it meant. Right. We didn’t even know what this was. And I, and me being me, I was like, okay, sign me up. Sure. I’ll go. And so here in San Francisco, if you’ve ever been in San Francisco, everything is picturesque and all the houses are old. And. You walk up, you walk by the street, right? And, you walk up a flight of stairs and you walk right into somebody’s house, basically.

And Victorian old fashion. You know, Pink and blue and yellow houses, all. You know, stacked right next to each other. So. Fast forward or cut to, I should say. Going to my first acupuncture appointment. Which was up this little tiny Hill. Through this Ivy. In the back of a lot. Now, this is not ordinary for San Francisco. All the houses, as I said are literally like right on the street.

This house was pushed to the back of the lot. So I had to crawl up it. Crawl through the Ivy. what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels I opened this fence. And it was like a magical. Walking into Alice wonderlands garden, it was stunning. I opened the door to her house and I was hit. With. This aroma of.

Dirt. That’s I just remember dirt, dirt. Dirt Sage. But like now I understand what these scents smell like, but at the time I was just like, Whoa, what is that smell? So I walk in and I meet this woman. She’s very sweet. She goes well, hello. How are you? You know, and here I am. I’m. I’m sweating. I’m sweating. Cause I had just walked up this Hill.

And she’s like, Oh my dear, sit down, please take off your jacket. And I’m freezing. I’m freezing, but I’m sweating. And I disrobed and she began to put the needles in me. And this sense of calm came over my body. I fell asleep immediately.

I thought I was there for 10 minutes. I was there for an hour. I came to wake up. And she said, so how was that? And I said, well, what does happen? And she said, well, this is pretty typical when somebody is really stressed out. I said, she said, are you stressed out? I said, stressed out. No.

She goes well. I prepared. I prepared. A tea for you to drink. And I said, great. I love tea. She goes, yeah. I want you to drink this tea. Tonight and then drink it again in like three days. I said, okay, this is fantastic. So she handed me this paper bag. Of. Dirt, honestly, it smelled like.

Dirty was like this. I opened it and it looked like she had gone into her backyard and dug up. You know, some. Weeds and threw them in the bag. I went home that night. I boiled up. The. Rooty Irby thing. And it was like mud. And I remember her saying, just drink at all. So I drank this mud water and it tasted disgusting. Honestly, it was just, it was just. Yeah, but I drank it because I, I like to follow directions. I like to listen to people who are nice to me and I followed directions. So at that point, I became an urban, loving human. Because that night I slept. And I didn’t sweat. And I thought, Oh my God, she’s onto something. She has cured me.

This was the introduction to. Adaptogens, not only was it the introduction to acupuncture, but it was the introduction to adaptogens. Which have been a lifeline for me throughout. My so bright. If my life. So. This bag of. You know, Rudy. Dirty herbs. Became this touchstone that I’ve been able to come back to throughout the last 25 years of my life. So these adaptogens. These things that I had no idea about. Have become this pivotal tool. So what are adaptogens? Right? What’s made me stop sweating? What made me sleep at night. And this is where I want you to understand adaptogens are really, they’re just plants that help the body deal with stress.

And right now today, right? At any time, this is like we’re in a current situation. Even if it’s two years from now, we’re still going to be stressed out. All right, we have this. Little virus floating around in the air, which we can’t see. We can’t see, we can’t smell. We can’t touch it. It’s this thing that’s stressing us out.

And when we become. Stressed. The body loses. Homeostasis. It loses that neutral state. So what do adaptogens do? They support us. They adapt to the stressors of life. Boom. So stress can be mental. Stress can be physical. Stress can be emotional. A lot of us are emotional. Stress can be spiritual, even like I’ve had spiritual crisis after a spiritual crisis. what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels

In my sobriety. So stress. Happens in many shapes. Many forms. Many ways adaptogens will. Adapt to the stress. So. When we ingest the adaptogens. It. Eases the mental All right. It can help us. With the fatigue that we’re feeling today with not sleeping, perhaps. It can restore us.

Energy. Or it can just give us that Zen feeling that chill feeling. Right, that’s just kind of like, Oh God. Yeah, that’s good. Like what I had with that bag that first day I was like, yeah, that’s good. So what, how does this work? Right. So the chemical compounds in the adaptogens. So in the herbs,

They interact with the stress response of the body. And it’s mostly that HPA, the hypothermic. Pituitary axis. A lot of people will say, Oh, I have adrenal fatigue. Well, that adrenal fatigue is the hypothalamic-pituitary axis being off. It’s being overly stressed out. And we, when we are overly stressed out,

All right now. Right. All symptoms begin to pump out. Cortisol. Right. That hormone prepares us to fight. Or. Flight. Or to play dead. When we’re facing danger, right. Like right now, we’re facing danger and we have cortisol pumping like all the time. So. When our body is in this state. It’s hard for us to come down. It’s hard for us to unwind.

So that’s what a lot of people will grab for that extra glass of wine. Or that extra dose of ice cream, because we’re, we’re trying to bring down that stress response.

Adaptogens help us adapt to the highs and the lows. And here’s one thing adaptogens. Work differently for everybody. That’s really important with the work that I do. I work with a lot of genetic optimization and a lot of everything I do is bio-individuality so if I said, you know what? Ginseng is really going to be good for you. Well, ginseng is not good for me.

So every person has a different. Interaction with. The adaptogen and it’s really important too. Be able to take an adaptogen and watch it. One of the things that I want to share with you today. Is. Ah, hormesis. So hormones, and this is people think, Oh, I’m going to go on this urban, everything is going to go great.

And let me go back to that first time. That I took that bag of herbs. So she said specifically, she said, take it tonight and then take it again in three days. Well, because I slept that first night and because I didn’t sweat that first night, I was, I thought to myself, Oh, I’m going to take it again tonight.

And then I’m going to take it again. And then I’m gonna take it again. And then I’m gonna take it again and then I’m I’m I need more of it.

Well, That kind of thinking that. That more, more, more, more. That’s what happens to me at least is not great. And so.

When we have too many or too much of an adaptogen,

We have the stress. Okay.

So we have stress in our body. And then we. Add an adaptogen. That relieved us of that stress, but then we added again. And so then we have a bigger stress.

And what hormesis is, hormesis is introducing a small amount of stress. So that the body can prepare for a larger amount of stress. Where Mesa is makes art. Body stronger makes us live healthier and longer. But when we overdo it, Right. That’s a small dose, small dose, small dose. We overdo it.

What happens is that we begin to overstimulate. Something. So I want to get very specific with ashwagandha.

So ashwagandha is a really helpful herbs for stress and a lot of people like, Oh, I take ashwagandha. It’s really great. Yay. Ashwagandha. It’s everything. Well, Like me. With that bag of herbs that first day, like I take it, I take it, I take it. I take it. And then. The body goes sideways and it’s like, no, you’re taking too much of me. And then suddenly I’m stared. I get hives from ashwagandha.

Because what happens is that I overstimulate the th one response. And in some people. Like me. Right ashwagandha. Is an immune balancer, but it can also increase the th one response. So this is, I’m getting a little bit into my genetic stuff, but I think you can handle it. So. The th one and the th two are immune regulators.

And when I take that. Ashwagandha. I start to. Play with things a little too much. So, what I need to do is be aware. Of how much ashwagandha I am taking. So it is not something that I should be taking every day for me personally. Right. A little bit, remember This is.

Adding. A little stress. To make the largest dress. Not so much. So it’s not induced so much. Okay. So you add a little stress. To the body.

So it can endure the bigger stress. So with the adaptogens ashwagandha.

You add a little bit to adapt to the body. To make you feel safe. Lower this dress and it’s okay. You’re done for the day. You don’t need to take it the next day. Skip a day. Skip two days, then you take it again. Right. So what happens for an alcoholic like me? I’m like, I need more. But no, I don’t need more.

I just need to be. Calm. And I need to take other actions, right? So I can have that adaptogens support the HPA access, but then I need to take other actions to support the overall body, my overall being. So I need to meditate. I need to walk. I need to call a girlfriend. Right. I can’t be reliant upon only the adaptogen, because if I do that, then I take it every day, every day, every day. And then my body goes sideways because my

Two receptor is going. Boom. No.

So, how does this help you? How does this relate back to you? Right. I want you to explore adaptogens. Now there’s a couple that are really awesome. That don’t get so much play. Ashwagandha is one of them roadie. I mean, ashwagandha is like, everybody knows that one. One of the other ones that I, I like is Maka.

Another one is reishi mushroom. I talk about. Drinking mushrooms all the time and people laugh about it, but I’m a huge mushroom fan. Another one is HSA Zandra Berry, which this one is amazing for the alcoholic. Right. It supports our liver. And hello, my friend.

It it’s it’s, it’s just, it like lightens the load on the spirit. It it, I feel like it works on the spiritual level. And then another one is Astro Astro, Gallus, Aster, gaggle. Astragalus. Which is an immune boost. Now. I’ve what I’ve what’s happened with me when I use Astro Gallus is that sometimes again,

More more, more. I started to have allergy symptoms when in reality, this one actually alleviates or can help ease allergy symptoms. So I dip into that hormesis mode where I’m doing too much. And then boom. My boss, my tea. Th one and th two receptors. Kind of say enough is enough.

So. Adaptogens are really important. They support the body. They support emotional wellness, spiritual, you know, it’s, it’s everything. For us to be supported now and forever. Adaptogens and they’re really easy to get. You don’t have to have a. Prescription for them. And again, I’m not saying go out and get them. what are Adaptogens and How They Can Help Lower Stress Levels I’m just saying, do your research study them?

Right. This is an episode for you to dig into what you want to learn about.

Acupuncture has been a tool that I have gone back to at times and times throughout my recovery. The last time I was in acupuncture was about. Three years ago. And it opened up my heart. I felt like I had entered a new dimension. That might be a little too woo. But. After that. The episode at the acupuncturist.

I had to change my practice, my meditation practice. I didn’t feel like I needed to take Astro. Astro godless anymore. Right. I feel like when I do. Acupuncture.

I have new information that comes into my body. These are all tools that you can use in your recovery. Two. Support you to nourish your body to support your soul. To live this calm life that we’re all trying to live right now. Right.

Oh, and one more thing I want to share about these adaptogens. Is that. We know that inflammation is the root of all evil. Right.

So if you start too. Use adaptogens. There are some that have inflammation, and reducing properties. Those are real. Again, they’re really important. And they’re just plants. They’re plants. Tumeric is one of them. That I can’t. Take a lot of, but others can. There’s so many things that I get there’s so much that I could share about you know, how to take them.

You know, take as needed. How much to take, it’s going to be dependent upon you. There’s a lot of great information.

On Google scholar. There’s a lot of great research papers. And NASA, the national Institute for health. Has some really good information as well, about how much to take. But again, I always go back to. You need to care for your body. So what, you know, get in meditation, work at the health practitioner.

You’re welcome to reach out to me. What does your body say?

All right. My friend. I think I’ve gone on enough about these adaptogens and how powerful they are. And how robust they can be in helping you live a calm life. All right. Remember. Sign up for that calm circle. I’ll see you in it. Thanks for hanging out with me today. And please share this episode with a friend.

Maybe she’ll love it. Just as much as you do. Take good care. Until next time. Bye for now.

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