Adaptogens. Adapto-what? A term you’ve no doubt been hearing lots of in wellness circles lately. We sure can’t stop singing adaptogens’ praises. We’re talking about a group of powerful herbs + fungi that help keep our bodies’ functioning in balance during ongoing stress. They’re far from being new. It’s only that these herbs and their uses are new to most of us.
Welcome to Adaptogens 101. We heard how much you benefitted from our Elixirs 101 post series, so we’re back this time to set the story straight on our mighty friends, adaptogens. Let’s start by setting some context.
𝗤: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘀?
Not only have their wide range of health benefits been extensively studied by scientists for the past 80 years. We also have thousands of years of traditional medicine history demonstrating how practitioners used the herbs + fungi that we today call adaptogens to effectively help treat disease and maintain health.
And it’s not surprising: just as adaptogens help the body maintain physiological balance, the aim of traditional and herbal medicine is to prevent and treat disease by correcting imbalances in the body — NOT simply targeting specific symptoms (as is done in Western medicine).
𝗤: 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲?
This one’s interesting, and two-fold:
🏔 The teams of scientists + doctors that first studied adaptogens were studying a group of plants that survived the extremes of the Ice Age by ADAPTING to severe conditions, such as cold, high elevation and winds
💪 Because of this, they believed that these plants might possess qualities that could help human bodies ADAPT to the stresses of life
Now that you’ve got the background. Join us over the next 3 days as we dive into the benefits of these powerful herbs, how they do what they do, and what conditions a plant must satisfy to be classified as an adaptogen.🌿🍄