Adaptogens

STRESSED? CAN’T FOCUS? LOW ENERGY? HIGH ENERGY? FEELING TOO NORMAL? READ THIS BEFORE YOU TRY THE LATEST SUPPLEMENT CRAZE.

- Michael Easter

Seventy-nine percent of Americans say they’re stressed-out – thanks, work/screaming kids/social media/deciding what to have for dinner tonight – which explains the rise of the multi-billion-dollar anti-stress marketplace. With a bevy of attractive, shiny options, you can choose between established practices – therapists and an array of prescription pills – and more esoteric stuff such as meditation, tapping, and yoga. The newest in the latter category: adaptogens, a group of (supposedly) stress-fighting plants that are showing up in today’s trendiest teas, coffees, and snack foods.

Adaptogens (a hard-to-pin-down category that even the dictionary defines only as “plant extracts that increase the body’s ability to resist stress”) come from obscure and godawful-tasting plants, roots, fruits, and fungi that survive in harsh conditions, making scientists believe they’ll help humans do the same. They’re sold for a too-high price with too-gorgeous packaging in too-precious web stores such as Moon Juice and Goop. They have exotic, spelling-bee- finals names – including ashwagandha, Rhodiola, reishi, Panax ginseng, and Cordyceps – and promise to take you back to your center and make you feel normal again, no matter what’s going on.