The ultimate guide to Rhodiola
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Rhodiola is a plant that grows in the cold and mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. Its roots are considered adaptogens, meaning they help the body adapt to stress when consumed. Rhodiola is also known as arctic root or golden root. Its scientific name is Rhodiola rosea.
Rhodiola is a plant that grows in the cold and mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. Its roots are considered adaptogens, meaning they help the body adapt to stress when consumed. Rhodiola is also known as arctic root or golden root. Its scientific name is Rhodiola rosea.
Its root contains more than 140 active ingredients, the two most powerful of which are rosavine and salidroside. People in Russia and Scandinavian countries have been using Rhodiola for centuries to treat the following problems
- anxiety
- tiredness
- depression
- drop in sexual vigor
What is Rhodiola?
Rhodiola is an adaptogenic herb traditionally consumed in Eastern Europe and Asia. It is reputed to stimulate the nervous system, reduce symptoms related to stress and depression, promote work performance, reduce sleepiness and eliminate fatigue.
“Adaptogenic” plants, of which Rhodiola is a part, strengthen the body and increase the metabolism's ability to adapt and resist the stresses that affect it. By protecting and stabilizing the production of serotonin and dopamine, it helps fight depression and low diets, without an addiction effect. Also known for its beneficial action on memory, the cardiovascular system and the immune system, this plant is also used to fight against aging.
Finally, Rhodiola improves the body's adaptation to physical effort by accelerating muscle recovery after exercise. Indeed, the anti-inflammatory properties of Rhodiola protect the body against the effects of intense or prolonged exercise.
What are the benefits of Rhodiola?
May help reduce stress
Rhodiola has long been known as an adaptogen, a natural substance that increases your body's resistance to stress in nonspecific ways.
Consuming adaptogens during times of stress is believed to help you deal better with stressful situations. Rhodiola has also been shown to improve symptoms of burnout, which can occur with chronic stress.
One study involved 118 people with stress-related burnout who took 400 mg of rhodiola daily for 12 weeks. Study participants showed marked improvement in various symptoms such as stress and depression commonly associated with burnout.
The greatest improvement occurred during the first week and continued throughout the study. The researchers noted that this was the first trial to examine the clinical outcomes of rhodiola treatment of burnout. They found the results encouraging and recommended further trials.
Helps reduce fatigue
Stress, anxiety and insufficient sleep are just some of the factors that can contribute to fatigue, which can cause feelings of physical and mental fatigue.
Thanks to its adaptogenic properties, it is believed that rhodiola can help alleviate fatigue.
In one study, 100 people with symptoms of chronic fatigue were given 400 mg of rhodiola each day for 8 weeks. They saw significant improvements in the following areas
- stress symptoms
- tiredness
- life quality
- the mood
- concentration
These improvements were seen after just one week of treatment and continued to improve until the final week of the study.
Helps reduce symptoms of depression
Depression is a common but serious illness that negatively affects the way you feel and act. It is thought to occur when chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters are out of balance.
Health professionals usually prescribe antidepressants to help correct these chemical imbalances. Rhodiola rosea has been suggested to have antidepressant properties that help balance neurotransmitters in your brain.
One study compared the effects of rhodiola to those of sertraline, a commonly prescribed antidepressant sold under the name Zoloft. In this study, 57 people diagnosed with depression were randomly assigned to receive rhodiola, sertraline, or a placebo for 12 weeks.
While both rhodiola and sertraline reduced symptoms of depression, sertraline had a greater effect. However, rhodiola produced fewer side effects and was better tolerated.
Improves brain functions
Exercise, good nutrition, and a good night's sleep are surefire ways to keep your brain in top shape. Certain supplements may also help, including rhodiola.
A review of 36 animal studies concluded that rhodiola may improve learning and memory functions.
An animal study found that a single dose of rhodiola increased memory and had an antidepressant effect in mice. She suggests that rhodiola could become a good tool to increase cognition and counteract mood disorders in people.
Another study concluded that the therapeutic properties of rhodiola could be beneficial for many age-related diseases. The researchers called for more research to bridge the gap between experimental results and clinical applications.
Improves exercise performance
Rhodiola is believed to improve athletic performance by reducing physical and mental fatigue and increasing antioxidant activity. However, research results are mixed.
On the plus side, an animal study found that rhodiola could improve muscle power and strength performance in rats. In this study, rats were given a Rhodiola rosea extract combined with another Rhodiola compound called Rhaponticum carthamoides (Rha) after resistance exercise.
Another study found that ingesting rhodiola shortened reaction time and total response time in young, healthy, physically active men. It also increased antioxidant activity but had no effect on overall endurance.
In other studies, rhodiola has been shown to improve athletic performance by decreasing perceived exertion, which is how hard participants felt their bodies were working.
On the skeptic side, research points to studies showing that rhodiola supplementation did not alter oxygen uptake or muscle performance, and did not improve the immune system of marathon athletes. .
Additionally, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health warns that there is not enough evidence from human studies to conclude that rhodiola is useful for any health-related use. This is partly because researchers don't yet fully understand how rhodiola affects human performance.
Helps manage diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your body develops a reduced ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin, which leads to high blood sugar levels.
People with diabetes typically use insulin injections or drugs that increase insulin sensitivity to better manage their blood sugar. Interestingly, animal research suggests that rhodiola may help improve diabetes management.
The compound salidroside in rhodiola has been shown to help protect against diabetes and diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease) in rats. These studies were performed on rats, so their results cannot be generalized to humans.
However, they are a compelling reason to study the effects of rhodiola on diabetes in humans. If you have diabetes and want to take rhodiola supplements, talk to your dietitian or doctor first.
Has anti-cancer properties
Salidroside, a powerful component of rhodiola, has been studied for its anti-cancer properties. Test-tube and animal studies have shown it can inhibit the growth of lung, bladder, stomach, and colon cancer cells.
Therefore, researchers have suggested that rhodiola may be useful in the treatment of many types of cancer. However, until human studies become available, it will not be known whether rhodiola can help treat cancer.
Improves sexual vigor
The accumulation of all the effects mentioned above makes it possible to obtain increased sexual vigor, this will result in particular in longer and more intense sexual intercourse, by an increase in libido as well as a better step back allowing better control and thus delaying ejaculation in men.
How to consume Rhodiola?
We recommend that you take regular cures based on rhodiola to facilitate your mental and physical well-being . Indeed, rhodiola makes it easier to take a step back from stressful situations and gain self-confidence . This will allow you to have more fun!