Best Mushrooms for Stress Support

If you’re feeling stressed, you’re not alone. In fact, Americans are one of the most stressed-out populations in the world. According to The American Institute of Stress, a whopping 94% of workers report feeling stress at work. Additionally, juggling the demands at home can further intensify feelings of stress and quickly lead to burnout. ^[1]

While stress remains a normal part of day-to-day life, stress levels that stay elevated for too long can take a toll on your body and mind. Fortunately, we are able to lean on ancient healing traditions to help ease the effects of modern-day stress.

Functional mushrooms have adaptogenic properties meaning they help to reduce the negative effects of stress on the body. These mushrooms have long been touted for their health benefits ranging from stress support to improved sleep.

Let’s take a closer look at the effects of stress on the body and two well-known stress-busting functional mushrooms: Reishi and Cordyceps.

The Effect of Stress on Your Body

We’ve all been there. It’s minutes before you have an important presentation to give. You may feel your heart race and your palms get sweaty as a result of the hormones cortisol and epinephrine that are triggered by your body’s “flight or fight” response. 

This response was designed to help you react quickly to a life-threatening situation. And while giving an important presentation isn’t life-threatening, your body can still overreact to stressors that aren’t necessarily dangerous.

Add traffic jams, a dispute with a colleague, financial struggles, and work pressure together and you may find yourself in a constant state of “flight or fight”, also known as chronic stress. While feeling constantly stressed out may feel normal, chronic stress can wreak havoc on your overall health and well-being. ^[2] 

How Reishi Helps Combat Stress

Reishi is one of the best and most commonly used functional mushrooms to help reduce stress. The mushroom can help minimize the effects of the fight or flight response by enabling the brain to produce relaxing neurotransmitters. This calming effect can help you relax your mind and body while helping you feel more balanced.

One study found that when given Reishi extract to mice, it appeared to have a sedative effect on their central nervous system. Furthermore, the mice that were given Reishi extract showed fewer feelings of stress compared to the mice that weren’t given any. ^[3] 

Additionally, the use of Reishi has been shown to help improve sleep duration and sleep quality. This is important because when you’re in a constant state of stress, you may have trouble sleeping which can worsen stress symptoms. One study found that Reishi can help increase the amount of time you remain asleep and also enhance the quality of that sleep. ^[4]

How Cordyceps Helps Combat Stress

Chronic stress can impact energy levels and lead to body and mind burnout. Cordyceps is well known for its ability to improve energy levels and physical endurance without the crash associated with other popular stimulants like coffee.

Cordyceps can help combat the draining effect of stress by increasing the production of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) in your body. ATP can quickly deliver energy to your muscles and improve oxygen uptake during exercise. ^[5]

Furthermore, current research indicates that Cordyceps may impact stress-related pathways within the brain. One 2021 study found that when rats were given Cordyceps, they didn’t show abnormal behavior when placed in stressful situations. ^[6]

The Bottom Line

With ever-increasing demands in our lives, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Thankfully, there are a variety of tools we can use to help mitigate the effects of stress on our bodies. Functional mushrooms can play a huge role in guiding your body to a peaceful state of balance by calming the nervous system.

Given all of the stress-mitigating properties of both Reishi and Cordyceps, you may be wondering how you can reap the benefits of these amazing mushrooms. You may find Reishi and Cordyceps in capsule, extract, and powder form, however, we prefer gummies since they are convenient and mess-free.

Each Reishi gummy contains the equivalent of 500mg of Reishi mushroom, and each Cordyceps gummy contains the equivalent of 500mg of Cordyceps mushroom. All of our formulas are gluten-free, gelatin-free, and vegan-friendly. Did we mention that they’re delicious too?

So, grab a bottle (or two) and experience firsthand how both Reishi and Cordyceps can help calm the mind while restoring the mind-body balance essential to overall health and well-being.

Get Your Gummies

References

1. Daily Life (2022) The American Institute of Stress. Available at: https://www.stress.org/daily-life (Accessed: November 11, 2022).
2. Van Kraaij AWJ, Schiavone G, Lutin E, Claes S, Van Hoof C. J Med Internet Res 2020;22(9):e18253
3. Hossen, S. M. M., Islam, M. J., Hossain, M. R., Barua, A., Uddin, M. G., & Emon, N. U. (2021). Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports, 27, 101062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrep.2021.101062 
4. Cui XY, Cui SY, Zhang J, Wang ZJ, Yu B, Sheng ZF, Zhang XQ, Zhang YH. J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Feb 15;139(3):796-800. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.12.020. Epub 2011 Dec 21. PMID: 22207209.
5. Ashraf SA, Elkhalifa AEO, Siddiqui AJ, Patel M, Awadelkareem AM, Snoussi M, Ashraf MS, Adnan M, Hadi S. Molecules. 2020 Jun 12;25(12):2735. doi: 10.3390/molecules25122735. PMID: 32545666; PMCID: PMC7356751.
6. Lin, Y. E., Chen, Y. C., Lu, K. H., Huang, Y. J., Panyod, S., Liu, W. T., Yang, S. H., Lu, Y. S., Chen, M. H., & Sheen, L. Y. (2021). Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 276, 114194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2021.114194