Have you heard of ayurvedic medicine and adaptogens and wondered what these are?

Do you wonder why most multivitamin supplements are not good enough?

Hi, Dr.Yu here again.

You may have used multivitamin supplements in the past

when you have felt like you needed a boost or when you were recovering from

illness. Most people, though, will simply choose a multivitamin without really

looking carefully at the ingredients. After all you probably assume that all of these

supplements are pretty much the same and would have the same impact on your

body, so it would make no difference what you choose to buy.

The reality, though, is that what I have discovered is that multivitamins alone are

usually not enough to help you stay healthy, and you really would be wise to look

for additional ingredients in such a supplement. 

Finding the best supplement takes some knowledge though of what can best

work to help you stay healthy and what substances can help you when you are ill.

This brings us to Ayurvedic medicine and adaptogens. You may not have heard of

these topics before but it is worth learning about what these are and how they can

help you stay healthy and even treat some of the health issues you may be

struggling with.

Ayurvedic medicine is actually a traditional approach to health and healing that

has been used in India since ancient times. It uses a holistic approach that

focuses on the mind, body, and spirit, for treating the body and helping it to heal. 

One of the most useful aspects of Ayurvedic medicine is that it uses herbs that

have actual medicinal properties and benefits ¹. Some of the herbs even have

multiple benefits and many have excellent antioxidant abilities. You may have

heard the term antioxidant before and not known what this is. In fact, antioxidants

are the types of substances that help ameliorate the damage done to cells by

oxidation reactions and the harmful byproducts that result.

I can tell you that a lot of illness, including cancer, is caused by damage at the cell

level. This means that it can really help if you can protect your cells by choosing a

supplement that includes helpful herbs and those that have antioxidant abilities.

The other fact is that the herbs used in ayurvedic medicine can often also help

your body when you are sick.

Several of these herbs have, in fact, been used in traditional medicine to treat a

variety of ailments. Herbs such as gotu kulu, licorice root, and turmeric, are just a

few natural plants used in ayurvedic medicine that are beneficial to the body. In

addition, Ayurvedic medicine also includes the use of adaptogens². You are

probably wondering what exactly are adaptogens and how can they help me? 

Adaptogens and how they can benefit you

Adaptogens are a category of herbs that help to strengthen the body and help

the body to resist disease. In addition, these adaptogenic substances are

particularly useful in times of stress, which is often what makes us more

vulnerable to illness^3,4. Furthermore, research has shown that many adaptogens

help the body regain balance or homeostasis, and they are an important part of

ancient Chinese and Indian medicine. Adaptogenic herbs also often have

antioxidant abilities and help with anxiety, as well as influencing the nervous and

endocrine systems of the body⁴. 

You have probably heard of some of these substances before but not realized that

they were actually classified as adaptogens. A popular adaptogen that many

people have heard of is Panax ginseng^5,6, 

Adaptogens, including ginseng, can help you by strengthening the immune

system. Often adaptogens also help to reduce the harmful impacts of

inflammation and stress on the cells of your body. These are all important

because they are involved in many health conditions that people suffer from. 

After all, who hasn’t had to deal with a lot of stress? Often our immune system

also gets weakened as we cope with the many stresses and problems of the

modern world, so choosing a supplement that contains adaptogenic herbs is a

smart move since it can only benefit you and help you with the stresses of

everyday life.

In summary, I believe that supplements that combine knowledge of Ayurvedic

medicine and adaptogens can be very beneficial for people regardless of what

medical problems they have. It is important to realize that even if you are healthy,

you can gain a lot of protection by taking supplements that contain herbs since

many adaptogenic herbs actually help the body to resist the harmful effects of

stress and help by providing antioxidant protection to the cells.

In my next article I will talk more about adaptogenic substances including the top

10 adaptogens that you can look for that can help you to stay healthy even when

you are very stressed out.