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Fight Fatigue with These Mushrooms

Article at a Glance:

  • Cordyceps, Reishi and Lion’s Mane mushrooms have special adaptogenic properties that target the negative effects of stress and help to fight fatigue.
  • Mushroom extracts can help support a normal inflammatory response and lower oxidative stress, key contributors to feelings of fatigue.
  • While Cordyceps is best known for its ability to improve energy levels, research shows that it may also help alter stress-related pathways within the brain and reduce the effects of stress.*
  • For a tasty and convenient way to help fight fatigue, try our vegan Lion's Mane, Reishi, and Cordyceps gummies.

Everyone feels tired at times. Fatigue is more than that, it is a persistent state of weariness and low energy that develops over time. Fixing fatigue isn’t as simple as getting more rest, it starts with finding the root causes of what is making you tired.

Fatigue can have many causes including physical and mental stress as well as illness or injury. Managing stress involves a holistic approach of nutrition, fitness, lifestyle behaviors.  

Mushrooms are a functional food with adaptogenic properties, meaning the compounds found in some mushrooms help to reduce the effects of stress on the body.[1] You can fight fatigue with these mushrooms – Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps and Reishi.

How Mushrooms Help Fatigue

When you are sick or when stress is high, the body’s immune system releases small proteins called cytokines that start the inflammation process in the body. Inflammation isn’t all bad, it is a helpful temporary process that the body uses to help you heal from illness or injury.

Under normal circumstances, inflammation is a restorative process. If you are stressed or ill for too long and inflammation stays high, that can be a major cause for fatigue as the body tries to heal.

Lion’s Mane, Reishi, and Cordyceps help support a normal inflammatory response. They can help the body get back to normal after periods of high stress. Let’s explore each of these mushrooms and how they can help.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom

Lion’s Mane has one of the highest antioxidant content of any mushroom. The unique bioactive compounds called polysaccharides in lion’s mane naturally support the body in regaining balance.[2]

As a functional food, lion’s mane mushrooms are immune modulating, meaning it works to support the systems that help you recover from illness and injury.

Lion’s Mane also has applications for helping maintain a healthy blood sugar.[3] Under stress, blood sugar levels are elevated. Over time, elevated blood sugar levels can have negative health consequences. Keeping blood sugar levels balanced can also help prevent large energy swings in between meals.  

Mental fatigue can be an alternate source of tiredness. Lion’s Mane has neuroprotective benefits, which has been reported to increase feelings of mental alertness.[4]

Reishi Mushroom

Despite modern medicine’s best efforts, there really is no one medicine or treatment for fatigue. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there is not typically one underlying cause. Reishi is an effective medicinal mushroom used for over 2,000 years for improving fatigue.[5]

Reishi is a potent mushroom with many health benefits. It influences white blood cells and cytokine response.[6] One study showed that supplementing with Reishi helped improve feelings of fatigue and supported a normal inflammatory response.[7]

Reishi may also help with exercise-related fatigue. There are a few theories as to how it specifically helps, but it is mostly likely due to the fact that mushrooms can be an energy source and help to remove lactic acid, which builds up during exercise.[8]

Cordyceps Mushroom

One way of fighting fatigue is to enhance the pathways that keep the body energized, especially during exercise. Cordyceps has a compound called polysaccharides that can help reduce fatigue while exercising.[9] 

Much of what we know about Cordyceps mushrooms delaying exercise fatigue is from mouse models. Mice given Cordyceps extract were able to increase their swimming time.[10]

After giving the mice Cordyceps, pathways associated with energy production in the body are enhanced and the production of lactic acid is decreased. This effect decreased feelings of fatigue in exercising mice, allowing them to swim longer.[10]

Human studies have shown that supplementing this effect may translate to humans as well.[11]

Scientists are beginning to understand the chemistry behind what centuries of Eastern medicine has told us about the power of mushrooms. Access the fatigue-fighting power of mushroom extracts today.

References

  1. Todorova V, Ivanov K, Delattre C, Nalbantova V, Karcheva-Bahchevanska D, Ivanova S. Nutrients. 2021;13(8):2861. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082861.
  2. Liu J, DU C, Wang Y, Yu Z. Exp Ther Med. 2015;9(2):483-487. doi: 10.3892/etm.2014.2139.
  3.  Liang B, Guo Z, Xie F, Zhao A. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013;13:253. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-13-253.
  4. Spelman, Kevin; Sutherland, Elizabeth; Bagade, Aravind. Journal of Restorative Medicine, 2017;6(1):19-26.
  5. Sissi Wachtel-Galor, John Yuen, John A. Buswell, and Iris F. F. Benzie. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects. 2nd edition. Chapter 9 Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi). CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2011.
  6. Hong Zhao, Qingyuan Zhang,Ling Zhao,Xu Huang,Jincai Wang, and Xinmei Kang. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Vol 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/809614.
  7. Arroyo I, Rosario-Acevedo R, Aguilar-Perez A, Clemente P, Cubano L, Serrano J, Schneider R, Martínez-Montemayor M. PLOS One. 2013;8(2):e57431. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057431.
  8. Wei Wei, Linyong Zheng, Mengyao Yu, Nan Jiang, Zhirong Yang, Xia Luo. Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences. 2010;6(3):677- 684. http://www.biosciences.elewa.org/JAPS; ISSN 2071 - 7024. 
  9. Geng P, Siu KC, Wang Z, Wu JY. Biomed Res Int. 2017;2017:9648496. doi: 10.1155/2017/9648496.
  10. Wenjuan Yan, Taihui Li, Jinghui Lao, Bin Song & Yaheng Shen.Pharmaceutical Biology. 2013;51(5):614-620. doi: 10.3109/13880209.2012.760103.
  11. Yong Sun, Yani Shao, Zhiguo Zhang, Lianfen Wang, Alfred M. Mariga, Guangchang Pang, Chaoyu Geng, Chi-Tang Ho, Qiuhui Hu, Liyan Zhao. Journal of Food and Drug Analysis. 2014;22(4):463-467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfda.2014.01.025.

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