A voice for
herbal medicine

We share traditional, scientific and practical insights written by experienced herbalists and health experts from the world of herbal medicine and natural health

← Back to Insights

Adaptogens: Managing stress and stressful situations

  • Sebastian Pole
    Sebastian Pole

    I am a registered member of the Ayurvedic Professionals Association, Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine and a Fellow of the Unified Register of Herbal Practitioners. I qualified as a herbalist with the aim of using the principles of Ayurveda (the ancient art of living wisely) and the Herbal tradition to help transform health. I have been in clinical practice since 1998.

    Having co-founded Pukka Herbs in 2001 I have become experienced in organic herb growing, practitioner grade quality and sustainable value chains. I am a Trustee of the FairWild Foundation, a Director of The Betonica School of Herbal Medicine and an Advisor to The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and The Sustainable Herbs Project. Fluent in Hindi, a qualified Yoga therapist and passionate about projects with a higher purpose, I am on a mission to bring the incredible power of plants into people’s life. And that is why I started Herbal Reality and what it is all about.

    I live in a forest garden farm in Somerset growing over 100 species of medicinal plants and trees. And a lot of weeds!

    Author of Ayurvedic Medicine, The Principles of Traditional Practice (Elsevier 2006), A Pukka Life (Quadrille 2011), Celebrating 10 Pukka years (2012) and Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea (Frances Lincoln 2016).

    Listen to our Herbcast podcast with Sebastian as the host.

  • 3:43 reading time (ish)
  • Cleansing and metabolising Digestion and nutrition Western herbal medicine
Adaptogens Managing stress and stressful situations

Adaptogens help the body to adapt, adjust and recalibrate itself depending on our emotional and physical surroundings.

What are adaptogens? The clue is their name. They literally help the body to adapt, adjust and recalibrate itself depending on our emotional and physical surroundings.

None of us are immune to the pressures of modern life, whether it be work deadlines, the daily commute or just simply never having enough hours in the day. The Health & Safety Executive estimate that in 2014/15 stress accounted for 35% of all work related ill health cases and 43% of all working days lost due to ill health. Our bodies are also regularly exposed to physical and toxic stress too – from household chemicals, pesticides in our foods, pollutants in the air, intensively farmed meats and refined sugar to name but a few.

All this can overwhelm the body’s ability to cope leading to insomnia, tiredness, anxiety, depression and even physical illness.

Thankfully there are some incredible rejuvenating herbs that can help. These are the amazing adaptogens.

What are adaptogens?

Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum)
Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

So what are adaptogens? Well, the clue is their name. They literally help the body to adapt, adjust and recalibrate itself depending on our emotional and physical surroundings. So, for example, they can help calm in times of stress. They can bring peace to a racing mind in the middle of the night. They can give clarity when everything around is in turmoil. They can give energy when we are tired.

The term adaptogen was introduced into scientific literature by Russian toxicologist Nikolay Lazarev in 1957 to refer to ‘substances that increase the state of non-specific resistance” in stress. Broadly, an adaptogen must have the four ‘Ns’.

  1. Nourishing: bring nutritive strength.
  2. Normalising: raise what is low and lower what is high (eg energy, stress).
  3. Non-specific: act on multiple parts of the body at the same time.
  4. Non-toxic: be completely safe when used over extended periods of time.
Sebastian Pole

I am a registered member of the Ayurvedic Professionals Association, Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine and a Fellow of the Unified Register of Herbal Practitioners. I qualified as a herbalist with... Read more

Sign up to our Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to receive the very latest in herbal insights.

Sign up to our newsletter