Category:Adaptogens: Difference between revisions
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An '''adaptogen''' is a plant medicine that increases the body's nonspecific resistance to physical, biological, and emotional stress, restoring physiological homeostasis without producing a primary | An '''adaptogen''' is a plant medicine that increases the body's nonspecific resistance to physical, biological, and emotional stress, restoring physiological homeostasis without producing a primary psychostimulant or sedative effect. The concept was formalised by the Soviet pharmacologist [[wikipedia:Nikolai Lazarev|Nikolai Lazarev]] in 1947 and substantially extended by his student [[wikipedia:Israel Brekhman|Israel Brekhman]] through the 1960s and 1970s; the operational definition requires that an adaptogenic medicine (1) increase resistance to noxious physical, chemical, or biological influences in a nonspecific way; (2) have a normalising effect that is independent of the direction of the pathological state; and (3) be innocuous and produce minimal disturbance of normal physiological function. | ||
The contemporary adaptogen pharmacopoeia includes several historically and pharmacologically distinct groups. The '''Ayurvedic rasayana''' group: '''ashwagandha''' (''Withania somnifera''), the most extensively-studied modern adaptogen with controlled-trial evidence for stress, sleep, anxiety, athletic performance, and male fertility; '''holy basil''' (''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', tulsi); '''shatavari''' (''Asparagus racemosus''); and the medhya group of cognitive rasayanas. The '''TCM tonic''' group: '''Asian ginseng''' (''Panax ginseng'', Ren Shen), the original named adaptogen in Brekhman's work; '''American ginseng''' (''Panax quinquefolius''); '''eleuthero''' (''Eleutherococcus senticosus'', formerly Siberian ginseng; not a true Panax); '''astragalus''' (''Astragalus propinquus'', Huang Qi); '''schisandra''' (''Schisandra chinensis''); '''codonopsis''' (''Codonopsis pilosula'', Dang Shen, the milder substitute for Panax in extended-course tonification); '''reishi''' (''Ganoderma lucidum''; a fungus rather than a plant but conventionally grouped). The '''northern adaptogen''' group: '''rhodiola''' (''Rhodiola rosea''), the Siberian-and-Scandinavian adaptogen popularised in Western use through the Soviet research lineage; '''Schisandra'' as above; and selected lesser-known northern plants. | The contemporary adaptogen pharmacopoeia includes several historically and pharmacologically distinct groups. The '''Ayurvedic rasayana''' group: '''ashwagandha''' (''Withania somnifera''), the most extensively-studied modern adaptogen with controlled-trial evidence for stress, sleep, anxiety, athletic performance, and male fertility; '''holy basil''' (''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', tulsi); '''shatavari''' (''Asparagus racemosus''); and the medhya group of cognitive rasayanas. The '''TCM tonic''' group: '''Asian ginseng''' (''Panax ginseng'', Ren Shen), the original named adaptogen in Brekhman's work; '''American ginseng''' (''Panax quinquefolius''); '''eleuthero''' (''Eleutherococcus senticosus'', formerly Siberian ginseng; not a true Panax); '''astragalus''' (''Astragalus propinquus'', Huang Qi); '''schisandra''' (''Schisandra chinensis''); '''codonopsis''' (''Codonopsis pilosula'', Dang Shen, the milder substitute for Panax in extended-course tonification); '''reishi''' (''Ganoderma lucidum''; a fungus rather than a plant but conventionally grouped). The '''northern adaptogen''' group: '''rhodiola''' (''Rhodiola rosea''), the Siberian-and-Scandinavian adaptogen popularised in Western use through the Soviet research lineage; '''Schisandra'' as above; and selected lesser-known northern plants. | ||
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== Notes on scope == | == Notes on scope == | ||
The boundary of this category is "plant medicine demonstrated to meet the formal adaptogen criteria or used clinically as such within its source tradition." The pure | The boundary of this category is "plant medicine demonstrated to meet the formal adaptogen criteria or used clinically as such within its source tradition." The pure psychostimulants (the caffeine plants, ephedra in its sympathomimetic action) are not adaptogens despite their wakefulness-promoting effects, because they produce primary psychostimulant action. The pure sedatives (valerian, kava) are not adaptogens despite their nervous-system action. The cognitive-enhancer-only herbs (bacopa, gotu kola, lion's mane) overlap with the adaptogen category through the medhya rasayana classification but their primary indication is cognitive rather than stress-resistance; they are cross-listed under [[:Category:Nervine_herbs|nervine herbs]] and under cognitive-circulatory categories. Cordyceps and reishi are fungi rather than plants but are conventionally grouped with the adaptogen herbs in the TCM tonic literature; the fungal-medicine pages cross-link accordingly. | ||
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