Even if you're moving often, taking care of your mental health, and nailing your nutrition and hydration, you can't make the world around you any less stressful. From hectic airports to traffic jams to unrealistic deadlines at work to sick kids and family issues at home, there are many pressures that can bear down on you. While they're not a cure-all, certain supplements can help you buffer stress, feel calmer, and get anxiety under control. Let's look at several research-backed options for you to try.
1) Ashwagandha
This medicinal herb is native to many countries in Asia and Africa and has been used in traditional practices such as Ayurveda for its healing properties for centuries. Ayurvedic doctors believe it to be one of the most potent healing herbal tonics and class it as a rasayana that promotes mental and physical wellbeing. In the West, ashwagandha is considered to be an adaptogen, a class of plants that helps the body and brain respond to changing environmental factors.
A 2021 review of seven previous studies published in the Journal of Herbal Medicine concluded that “the strongest evidence for therapeutic efficacy of ashwagandha is the alleviation of stress and anxiety symptoms.” A 2019 study published in Medicine reached a similar conclusion among participants dealing with chronic stress. They found that taking ashwagandha in the evening led to a reduction in levels of the stress hormones cortisol and DHEA-S the following morning, leading the authors to suggest that “ashwagandha's stress-relieving effects may occur via its moderating effect on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.” This is a system of hormones that regulates how your body responds to stressors.
2) Apigenin
If your upbringing was anything like mine, you grew up seeing your parents and grandparents make cups of chamomile tea in the evening to promote rest and relaxation. It turns out that their anecdotal take has some science to back it up. A paper published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine found that daily use of chamomile reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. Several other studies have also found that chamomile speeds sleep onset, duration, and quality.
Researchers have tried to isolate the various compounds in chamomile that have these therapeutic effects. They have found that the most impactful active ingredients in this soothing herbal drink are phytochemicals that prompt the nervous system to chill out. A breakdown of chamomile’s beneficial properties in Molecular Medicine Reports stated that “Sedative effects may be due to the flavonoid apigenin that binds to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain.” A Japanese study found that apigenin reduced the amount of stress-inducing cortisol by 47.5 percent, while Italian researchers concluded that it improved sleep quality by regulating the production of GABA, a neurotransmitter that settles the nervous system.
3) Magnesium
While there are several essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), magnesium is perhaps the most important one related to buffering stress. It plays a part in managing more than 300 processes in the body, and several of these relate to mood stability, cognitive function, sleep, and other factors that can be compromised when you’re subjected to excessive stressors for too long. Up to 20 percent of people could be considered clinically deficient in magnesium and 60 percent don’t get enough from their diet, but the actual figure for low magnesium is likely much higher because when you’re run down, your body vacuums up this mineral like a Dyson.
An insightful review released via Nutrients found an overlap in some of the most commonly reported symptoms of both chronic stress and magnesium deficiency, including irritability, fatigue, and nervousness. The authors suggested that there’s a vicious cycle that can perpetuate, in which stress depletes magnesium levels and this in turn causes more stress. They noted that sufficient magnesium is required to manage adrenal function, hormone balance, and the autonomic nervous system that helps you transition from a sympathetic fight-flight-freeze state into parasympathetic recovery.
A study published in PLOS ONE found that taking 300 mg of magnesium daily for two months helped reduce subjective stress levels, while combining this with 30 mg of daily vitamin B6 had an even greater positive impact, reducing scores on a standardized anxiety and stress assessment by up to 45 percent. The authors of Magnesium in the Central Nervous System stated that getting enough of this mineral calms the brain pathways associated with stress response and cited several studies that concluded magnesium improves sleep. They suggested that this is because it remedies reduced release of slumber-promoting melatonin and stops the excessive release of stress hormones that can delay and disrupt sleep.
4) Rhodiola Rosea
We’ve already looked at the active ingredient in one flower – chamomile – and now it’s time to explore the benefits of another. Rhodiola rosea – also called golden root – is a perennial groundcover plant found across arctic regions of Europe and Asia. Traditional medicine practitioners in Mongolia, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and China have prized its calming effect for many years, and in Russia, it has been an accepted medicine for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric conditions since 1969.
An excerpt from the book Nutrition and Enhanced Sports Performance stated that rhodiola is effective in helping people cope with acute and chronic stressors, depression, anxiety, and a wide range of emotional issues. This could be due to its neuroprotective effects and antioxidant properties that tackle free radicals and protect cells from being damaged by oxidative stress. A review by a Spanish research team found that rhodiola increases the production of brain chemicals like feel-good endorphins, mood-stabilizing serotonin, and the so-called “happy hormone” dopamine. They referenced a previous paper by Swedish scientists that found rhodiola helped alleviate participants’ fatigue-related stress that has been associated with burnout.
These researchers noted that rhodiola seems to minimize the physical and psychological responses to stressors that can be counterproductive. A study published in Phytomedicine noted that rhodiola influences over 50 genes involved in depressive disorders, mood, and emotional balance. The Swedish study stated that rhodiola helped people cope with a wide range of life stressors, improved psychological wellbeing, and reduced perceptions of feeling anxious and overwhelmed.