Rhodiola Rosea Health Benefits

Most herbs have very little research to support their beneficial health claims. When it comes to Rhodiola, things are very different! Rather than tell you all the benefits of Rhodiola Rosea, let’s point out some published papers and books on Rhodiola…

Some of the primary health benefits of Rhodiola Rosea:

• Increase Energy, Endurance and Stamina
• Reduce Stress and Anxiety
• Decrease Muscle Recovery Time
• Uplifts Mood
• Promotes Mental Clarity and Mental Performance
• Promotes High Levels of Creatine Phosphate (Athletes Love It!)
• Improves Sexual Function
• Promotes Healthy Sleep

Some of the Positive Effects of Rhodiola Rosea’s
Interaction with the Body:

• Powerful Antioxidant – Helps quench free radicals and defend against oxidative damage in our body.
• Increases cellular energy by stimulating the production of ATP and CP (fuel for the body).
• Balances stress response system by limiting the excess release of the stress hormone Cortisol.
• Calms the stress response system and supports the parasympathetic nervous system.
• Elevates DNA and RNA in muscle cells, which in turn increasing the manufacture of proteins necessary for repair of cells and organs.
• Reduces oxygen consumption on a cellular level.
• Stimulates the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine.
• Stimulates the production of natural killer cells (cells that protect against infection).
• Increases the metabolism of fat for energy.

How Does Rhodiola Help with Stress?

Life can be stressful. We all have had to deal with emotional stress from time to time and we all know it can make you feel run down. Of course, anyone who works out or exercises knows the effects of physical stress on the body. Stressing the muscles can lead to some positive results, but the physical stress on the body can take its toll. Let’s not forget the environmental stress we face everyday – smoke in the air, pollutants in our food and water, toxins from our plastic bottles… simply put, the body is under attack from a host of stressors.

All of this stress has a number of negative consequences for the human body. Our body releases a hormone called cortisol when we are stressed. If we experience a great deal of stress we end up with too much Cortisol in the body and this can cause a host of problems.

When we experience stress a complicated series of chemical and neurological systems jump into action. Basically, our body has a stress response system – this allows our body to kick some reactions into high gear to deal with an immediate threat caused by a stress factor.

It is a not a good idea to run your body in a constant state of stress. Rhodiola Rosea calms the stress response system and supports the parasympathetic nervous system.

As you can imagine all this stress can damage our mitochondria and therefore decrease cellular energy. As we just discussed, Rhodiola Rosea can help increase our cellular energy.

Finally, we all know that stress has a real mental aspect on our body, it can get us down, depressed and generally unhappy. Rhodiola Rosea stimulates the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, that our crucial for making us feel happy and energetic.

Read more about how Rhodiola Rosea Increases Energy

We have really just scratched the surface on how Rhodiola Rosea works in the body. Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogen herb, this means that it works by having a positive impact on the balance of the whole body, NOT just treating one condition.