BY TERO ISOKAUPPILA AND DANIELLE RYAN BROIDA, RH(AHG)

Many people wake tired, push through the day on caffeine, and end the night too wired to truly rest.

Stress has become so common that it feels normal.

Take a moment to think of your body as a city. Cities have reservoirs to pull water from in times of need. Similarly, think of your body as having its own reservoir, a “vital reserve.”

Adaptogens help replenish your vital reserve so that when stressors arise (which is inevitable), there is a pool of resources to draw from. This enables your body to respond to the stressor efficiently and return to a state of balance.

But not every herb or mushroom qualifies as a true adaptogen.

What Makes an Adaptogen?

All adaptogens must meet three criteria to qualify as a true adaptogen.

First, they must be nontoxic. There is no “toxic load” in which taking too much will push you over the edge and lead to negative consequences. Instead, there is merely a “ceiling dose.” This means that once you reach a certain threshold, the benefits will plateau, as your body cannot utilize more than a given amount.

Second, they must be nonspecific. Most natural and pharmaceutical medicines have a specific action. Examples in plants include Passiflora incarnata (passionflower), which directly sedates your body, or Camellia sinensis (green or black tea), which stimulates it.

Lastly, to qualify as an adaptogen, the species must have a normalizing effect. Think of them as calibrators, adapting to each body’s unique needs. We like to think of this as a gas-and-brake effect.

With that framework in mind, here are three of the most accessible and well-studied adaptogens to know.

Lion’s Mane

Full Name: Hericium erinaceus from the house of Russula

Nicknames: Pom-pom mushroom, hedgehog mushroom, monkey’s head mushroom, Yamabushitake

Power Hub: Mushroom fruiting body

Home: Asia and North America

Common Uses: To help you power through any sluggish afternoons when your brain is tapping out.

A bright white mushroom with strands of cascading hair, lion’s mane is our favorite fungus for focus. From Asia to North America, lion’s mane has been harvested, extracted, and used as both a food and a medicine for millennia.

It has long been valued in traditional wellness practices for both nourishment and resilience. Stories are told of Native American tribes carrying this mushroom in their medicine bags to use as a styptic (a substance that stops bleeding).

Known as the smart mushroom, lion’s mane has a proven ability to support cognition and brain function.

For example, in one “gold standard” study out of Nagano, Japan, 50- to 80-year-old men and women with mild cognitive impairment either took 250 milligrams of lion’s mane three times per day for 16 weeks or a placebo. People taking lion’s mane had significantly improved cognitive function compared with the placebo group.

The two primary active brain compounds in lion’s mane are hericenones and erinacines. Hericenones can help the brain produce more of a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF), which is produced in the hippocampus and helps regenerate neurons.

How to Take It

Lion’s mane is most commonly available as an extract powder. This extraction, usually done with hot water, helps unlock its active water-soluble compounds. Be wary of words like fermented, micronized, or powdered. Always seek out the word “extraction” on the packaging. If the mushroom is not extracted, your body will not be able to utilize many of the beneficial compounds in the fruiting body. Ideally, we would use wildcrafted lion’s mane, but organically grown fruiting bodies are just as good.

Avoid lab-grown mycelium products and conventional (nonorganic) lion’s mane due to their ability to collect heavy metals and toxins.

Start with 500 milligrams per day of properly extracted lion’s mane fruiting body, taken at once or split into two 250-milligram doses. Benefits plateau at 3–5 grams per day.

Ashwagandha

Full Name: Withania somnifera from the Solanaceae (nightshade) family

Nicknames: Horse root, winter/wild cherry, Indian ginseng (although not a true ginseng)

Power Hub: Root (minimal research has been done on the leaves; the whole plant is occasionally used)

Home: India, occasionally in North Africa and the Middle East

Common Uses: Evening routines, especially that quiet time just before bed

One of the most reputable plants in Ayurveda, its use dates back at least three thousand years and was used by common people as well as Hindu sages (Rishis, who were the personal physicians of the king).

Ashwa means “horse” and gandha means “smell” in Sanskrit. It’s believed that the root makes you as strong, calm, and graceful as a stallion.

Today, it remains one of the most widely used herbs for stress resilience and recovery.

Unlike many other adaptogens, ashwagandha’s Latin name, somnifera, means “sleep-inducing.” As a nourishing, restorative, and stress-supportive medicine, it can shorten recovery time after illness, help you bounce back from prolonged stress, and calm the mind to prepare you for restful sleep.

Ashwagandha supports the nervous system by promoting healthy levels of “the stress hormone” cortisol. Cortisol should be highest in the morning, to help you pop out of bed with energy. Then, as the day goes on, it should slowly decrease. By the end of the day, cortisol should be at its lowest point, helping you fall asleep.

This ideal curve is often interrupted by stress, which triggers additional cortisol release.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, one group received 300 milligrams of ashwagandha twice daily (a total of 600 milligrams per day) for 60 days and showed significant reductions across all stress-assessment scales, including serum (blood) cortisol levels.

How to Take It

The most common ways to purchase ashwagandha are as powder, capsules, tincture, or dried root pieces. If using the dried root, we recommend making your own decoction. To do this, simply add one teaspoon of the root per eight ounces (one cup) of water to a slow cooker or crockpot. Let steep for a few hours, strain, and drink. If using the powder, start with 1 to 2 teaspoons per day, or about 200 to 500 milligrams.

Reishi

Full Name: Ganoderma lucidum from the Ganoderma family

Nicknames: Queen of mushrooms, lingzhi, the mushroom/elixir of immortality, the ten-thousand-year mushroom, and varnished conk mushroom

Power Hub: Mushroom fruiting body

Home: Worldwide

Common Uses: Before bed, or when feeling tired for any reason (illness or stress)

Reishi is the most sacred of all adaptogens. For centuries, it was prized as a symbol of vitality and longevity. It’s been a treasured talisman and potent medicine in China for over four thousand years. One of its many names is the ten-thousand-year mushroom, which refers to the belief that it will help you live for 10,000 years.

Reishi is best known for its gentle ability to unwind the nervous system. It helps prepare you for a deep night of rest by normalizing and balancing your body’s response to stress and helping it maintain a state of equilibrium. Reishi will never knock you out. The anxiety relief from reishi is short-term, while it builds energy in the long term.

One study looked at reishi’s effect on chronic fatigue syndrome, a state where the body has been pushed beyond acute stress. In this clinical trial, the treatment group received 2 grams of an aqueous (water) extract of reishi per day, divided into four half-gram doses, versus a placebo. Results showed that those taking reishi had a significant reduction in fatigue markers and an improvement in quality of life, with minimal to no side effects.

Reishi is anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and even anticancer, all great things for immunity. Reishi’s anti-inflammatory properties can target inflammatory cytokines and modulate the immune system in ways that suit your body’s needs.

Reishi also helps with seasonal allergies by regulating Th1/Th2.

How to Take It

Like all functional mushrooms, the gold standard is to use log-grown, fruiting bodies that have been properly extracted. Extracts should be aqueous (decoction), alcohol (tincture), or both (dual extract). Unfortunately, according to a study published in Nature, 74 percent of reishi products in the US didn’t contain authentic reishi.

We recommend starting with 500 milligrams per day of a dual-extracted, log-grown reishi fruiting body. The highest dose we recommend is 4 grams per day.

Once you know which adaptogen fits your needs, the next step is making sure the product in your hands is the real thing.

How to Buy Real Adaptogens

Luckily, there are five key factors you can check to ensure you are getting a high-quality adaptogen product:

1. Form: Ensure the Latin name is listed on the product as well as the form of the product (e.g., leaf, root, fruiting body, etc.). For mushrooms, look for “fruiting body” on the label. Avoid mycelium, mycelial biomass, or “full-spectrum”—these are not the real mushroom.

2. Dose: Confirm the dose/amount per serving. Avoid products with more than ten ingredients per serving or less than 100 milligrams of each—both are signs of “pixie dusting” (sub-effective amounts).

3. Purity: Buy certified organic whenever possible. If you can find products that are both organic and third-party lab-tested, even better.

4. Bioavailability: Buy freshly harvested plants or extracted mushroom products. For mushrooms, look for hot-water or dual extraction. For plants, look for fresh or recently harvested, and check the lot code.

5. Sustainability: Check the country of origin and information about farming and harvesting practices.

If you are new to adaptogens, keep it simple and start gently. You can also just pick one adaptogen and start taking it daily. This is called a “simple” in herbal terms and can be a great way to get to know a specific adaptogen.

Whether you start with one or multiple, be consistent. Building a routine and using the adaptogen consistently will help you reap the benefits. Always, always, always start with even less than you think you need, as you can always build up from there.

Adaptogens are allies. They are here to support you and help you remember that, regardless of how hectic the external or even internal world may seem, you are not alone. You have the help of these ancient species to guide you, support you, and help restore balance in a world that rarely slows down.

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Tero Isokauppila is the founder of Four Sigmatic, a wellness company helping people to nourish their bodies inside and out. Tero grew up in Finland foraging for mushrooms and other wild foods on his family’s farm. He later earned a degree in Chemistry and Business, and a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.

Tero is the author of Healing Mushrooms, was chosen twice as one of the world’s Top 50 Food Activists by the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, and has appeared in Time, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Vogue, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and Bon Appétit. To learn more, visit: teroisokauppila.com.