If you're like millions of Americans, the first thing you do when you get up in the morning is head straight to the coffee pot. You're hardly alone. In 1999, there were 108 million coffee drinkers in America consuming 3.1 cups of coffee a day. World wide consumption of coffee is to the tune of two billion cups a day and is the largest export after oil. We humans love our coffee.
Just why do we drink coffee? That's pretty obvious. The goal is of course, to increase energy, but the mechanism of coffee, more accurately caffeine, is that it artificially activates the adrenals, the fight of fight glands. Apart from the potential insomnia and nervousness, when you drink too much coffee and rely on it for energy, your adrenals can get worn out, creating many more problems. Too much coffee can eventually end up being the cause of exhaustion and fatigue. But even if you don't drink coffee, wouldn't it be nice to increase your energy or your physical and mental performance to simply get more out of your day?
Enter the tonic herbs.
They are also referred to as adaptogens, which literally means they can help your body 'adapt' to stress. One of the things that stress does to the body is the same as what coffee does: it activates the adrenals. And too much stress over time will do the same thing as excess coffee can potentially do: wear out the adrenal glands. While a certain amount of coffee is generally considered to be harmless, why not increase your energy naturally and avoid the potential?
While the most famous of the tonic herbs is ginseng, there are many that are less well known that I like even better. Herbs such as cordyceps, astragalus, atractylodes and codonopsis are among the finest tonic herbs that nature has provided for us. These herbs are found in Traditional Chinese Medicine which predates western medicine by a few thousand years and they have a long history of safe and effective use. Another favorite adaptogen, Ashwaganda, comes from the Ayurvedic system of medicine of India which even predates the aforementioned Traditional Chinese Medicine. While they are sometimes used on their own, tonic herbs are seen combined together to obtain a synergistic effect, where they become even more effective.
Under chronic stress conditions, be it job, financial, or even illness, you are more susceptible to a variety of further health problems, because stress robs your body of energy, lowers immunity, and simply decreases general health and well being. So restoring homeostasis, or balance, is critical to good health and quality of life. That's what the tonic herbs do best.
Tonic herbs have proven to be effective for increasing energy and in improving both physical and mental performance under stressful conditions. Many of the tonic herbs have been well studied here and many more in other countries. They are now becoming much more common in America, much to our good fortune.
A few years ago, China's Olympic athletes used several of the adaptogen and tonic herbs to improve physical performance with very positive results, actually prompting many athletes to begin looking at herbs as a way to increase performance and improve energy without the well documented problems of steroids. Now, many world class athletes use tonic herbs as an important part of their supplement program.
They not only help to increase energy and improve performance, but also help in many other ways as well. They can stimulate the immune system, slow down aging due to their anti-oxidant properties, help you recover faster from overwork or illness, and in general simply help you perform your daily tasks more efficiently. And unlike the energy drinks that seem to be everywhere, you won't have the dreaded energy crash. Energy drinks will not help you build your health and revitalize a tired body like the tonic and adaptogen herbs can.
So if you want to increase energy and decrease fatigue as well as improve physical or mental performance, I urge you to look at tonic herbs. They are safe and effective and have thousands of years of use. The world of tonic herbs awaits.
Philip Harris is actively involved in the field of Natural Health and Fitness. He has been a Health and Fitness Consultant and herbalist for over 15 years. His most recent venture is a company called Build Your Health Products, dedicated to bringing people herbal and nutritional products to help them build health in their own lives. Please visit his website [http://www.time4naturalremedies.com]
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