As a student, long days and nights lead to long weeks that don’t seem to end. If you’re not careful, the well of energy begins to run dry and before long you start to feel like you’re completely worn down and stressed out.
What do you do when it’s the middle of the semester, you’re tired of taking caffeine supplements, and you can’t seem to push on any longer? Sure, it would be nice to take a sabbatical and sleep for three days straight or tell professors to give you indefinite extensions on all your work, but that’s not likely to happen.
The alternative solution is to take a proactive approach to energy management and make your rest and recovery time as efficient as possible. Backed by clinical research and hundreds of years of use, the natural supplement rhodiola rosea can help maximize your relaxation, fight fatigue, and manage stress.
What is Rhodiola Rosea?
Let’s step back into history for a moment. As you could probably imagine, the Vikings led hectic lives. Pillaging was hard work and could take its toll. They used rhodiola rosea, which is found in colder climates, to maximize their strength and fight fatigue.
Ancient Chinese emperors also knew of the plant’s potent abilities and sent expeditions into northern territories to bring the plant back for use.
In present day, the plant still grows high in the northern hemisphere, but is more easily found in supplement form. Whether rhodiola supplements are used for strength or mental clarity, the root of rhodiola’s effectiveness are its adaptogenic properties.
Adaptogens are substances that help the body respond to stress. When we’re under stress, the body produces hormones and chemicals that, while beneficial in the short term for the fight or flight response, can be harmful over time.
Adaptogenic herbs and plants mitigate the damage done by free radicals and stress, enabling you to recover from tough mental or physical situations faster.
How Rhodiola Rosea Can Help You
Given the broad scope and fundamental level of its effects, rhodiola rosea’s benefits are vast. The adaptogenic properties of rhodiola supplements can help:
Reduce fatigue – Fatigue is a funny thing, while you’re very tired, it’s hard to actually feel relaxed because the effects of fatigue are so taxing on the body. The evidence for this can be found in multiple studies, but one study performed on physicians is particularly relevant.
In the double-blind crossover study, physicians working the night shift showed significant improvement in fatigue levels and improvement on work performance by 20%.
Improve mental performance – This is always an important factor for students. Simply put, rhodiola can give you a mental edge and help improve your test scores. A Russian study looked at two groups of students, one group was given rhodiola supplements; the other was given a placebo. The rhodiola group had sample exam scores 8.4% higher than the placebo group.
Improve well-being – Who doesn’t want to feel good more often? By reducing the level of stress you feel from school, life, and work, rhodiola can help improve your mood and has been cited as improving subjective well-being in numerous studies. As such, many use rhodiola for anxiety reduction.
Reduce Stress – Stress reduction is the basic foundation of rhodiola’s benefits. When the body is under a lot of stress, it goes into survival mode, which makes it harder to perform tasks that aren’t specifically related to staying alive. Unfortunately, stress can have a far-reaching impact that affects your mood, cognition, and physical health. While rhodiola doesn’t take away the stressors in your life, it makes your body and brain better at coping with them.
How To Take Rhodiola Rosea
When you’re buying rhodiola rosea supplements, make sure you’re getting a high-quality supplement. A typical dosage is 250mg two times per day.
