I’m kind of a supplement junky in that I like trying harmless things after spending a long time researching them. I’ve wasted some money, of course, but I’ve also found a few very useful supplements in my searching as well as learning a lot about the human body.
I read about ashwagandha as an “adaptogen” two months back and began researching. The herb has a few researched trials showing a reduction in perceived stress and cortisol levels versus a placebo. I’m an avid weightlifter and figured any reduction to cortisol would be great as my intense lifting sessions are surely spiking it. And in general I tend to let my temper rile me up (harmlessly) more often than I should. I purchased a bottle and gave it a whirl.
It isn’t something you feel on a continuous basis. In that I mean it isn’t as though I feel sedated or high. Instead it manifests itself in situations. When someone drops some stressful work on my desk the normal begrudging feeling doesn’t come out. Instead I feel this blithe “it’s what makes a paycheck” feeling that washes over me.
I find it easier to get my work done especially on deadline tasks. Normally on deadlines my muscles get tense and I get this sort of over-the-top racing quality to my movements, as if I just bumped a line or something. With this herb I don’t.
No direct experience with it, but whenever someone reports significant effects from a supplement, my first thought is that there may be some real drugs in it. According to these guys: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/Mobile/article.aspx?articleid=1917421 , “Approximately half of all FDA class I drug recalls since 2004 have involved dietary supplements adulterated with banned pharmaceutical ingredients”
I have tried ashwagandha, bacopa, rhodiola and licorice root at various times for stress. If they worked I didn’t notice.
Bacopa increased my cognitive abilities but it went away after a few days.
I regret taking the licorice root as it spiked my blood pressure (apparently it increases aldosterone).
I’ve never found a good anti anxiety supplement or lifestyle change that I truly noticed benefit from. Beta blockers and xanax help though, but xanax is addictive.
I’ve had decent luck with depression though by using magnesium and low dose lithium aspartate. Just no luck with anxiety.
Have you tried meditation at all? I don’t mean any special technique - just sitting (or walking) alone by yourself some place quiet? Sometimes your brain just needs some honest quiet time that isn’t sleep.
I do this every once in a while and it really helps me sort and moral/social issues that I’ve been holding on my shoulders.
I’ve tried deep breathing. I have several biofeedback devices (I think 3 or 4), several of which rely on heart rate variability. I haven’t noticed any real improvements in HRV while doing mindfulness however deep breaing can usually put me into a relaxed state and give me good sine waves for my HRV (sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are balanced).
However I’ve had a lot of stress this last year (job stress, personal relationship problems, health problems, etc), and even deep breathing isn’t working because I can’t get my HRV balanced by doing it the way I used to.
I’m going to try bacopa and ashwagandha again to see if they help. I researched them and neither increase blood pressure (I think both actually decrease it a bit).
I also once took SAM-e and it added about 10-20 points to my diastolic (didn’t affect my systolic for some reason). So I have to be careful with drugs and supplements.
I have a variety of relaxation methods, but I guess most aren’t working lately. I’m going to try more alpha binaural beats to see if that helps me relax.