You have a hundred tasks for the day, deadlines to meet, chores to finish, family to take care of. All these things pile up and can make you feel strung out and brain-tired. If this is a common occurrence for you, drinking Bacopa Monnieri tea may help.
Bacopa Monnieri is a widely promoted herb for memory and learning disorders, anxiety, and other ailments that affect one’s cognitive and mental wellness. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed by your day-to-day, read on to learn the ways Bacopa Monnieri supports mental health.
Bacopa Monnieri, also known as water hyssop or Brahmi, is part of a group of herbs called “adaptogens”. Adaptogens are said to increase resilience to stress and promote mental wellness by bringing one’s body into a state of balance.
This balance — “homeostasis” — is your body’s ability to maintain a stable internal environment despite stressors. This includes things such as maintaining a steady heartbeat, a constant body temperature, and so on.
Your internal environment is heavily influenced by potentially damaging hormones, such as cortisol. Adaptogenic herbs, like Bacopa Monnieri, make you more resistant to the effects of cortisol. This creates the feeling of a calm mind, comfortable body, and increased mental energy without feeling overly stressed or fatigued.
Aside from cortisol, Bacopa Monnieri also regulates other hormones — neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that our brain creates to communicate with our body. These neurotransmitters affect our mood, concentration, appetite, motivation, energy, and more. This in turn affects our ability to learn, retain, and focus on important information.
Bacopa Monnieri assists our body in upping or lowering this neurotransmitter production as needed. In this way, levels of serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and other major neurotransmitters achieve a healthy balance. This helps us feel calmer and focused overall.
When we have active, mentally-demanding lifestyles, it can trigger our immune responses. An overactive immune system can cause chronic inflammation, negatively affecting every part of your body (including our brain). For example, chronic inflammation can worsen symptoms of stress and other mental ailments, like memory loss.
Bacopa Monnieri helps soothe chronic brain inflammation, a major contributing factor in a variety of mood and neurological disorders. Drinking Bacopa Monnieri tea can help reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses. It can also reduce the risk of memory loss, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s.
In traditional practices — such as Ayurveda — Bacopa Monnieri was used to relieve one’s agitation and anxiety. This herb was said to bring balance, clarity, and calmness. In recent studies, this effect was proven in two 12-week studies. Their findings showed that taking up to 300 mg of Bacopa Monnieri daily significantly lowered anxiety levels.
This is linked to the effects we discussed previously. Because Bacopa Monnieri is an adaptogenic herb and regulates major neurotransmitter levels, it helps you resist the effects of stress and elevates your mood — both effects that help with soothing anxiety.
Another study also shows that Bacopa Monnieri contains apigenin, which is the same chemical compound found in Chamomile and is responsible for its soothing effect. A different study showed that Bacopa Monnieri also contains a flavonoid called wogonin — the same compound in the American Skullcap herb, which is used to calm nerves.
Because taking Bacopa Monnieri can reduce one’s stress, anxiety, and inflammation, it can also promote better sleep. Stress and other worries can negatively affect one’s quality of sleep — many people with chronic stress also suffer from lack of sleep.
The effects of sleep deprivation are serious and can put your long-term health at risk. Research has linked poor sleep with weight gain, weak immune systems, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other issues. So, taking Bacopa Monnieri daily not only helps you achieve better sleep but also helps you avoid other health complications.
Bacopa Monnieri has a vasodilatory effect, which means it increases blood flow to the brain. This is important because it helps in transporting oxygen, hormones, nutrients, and glucose — the brain’s primary energy source — more effectively. Increased blood flow also carries away waste, such as carbon dioxide, toxins, and metabolic waste.
Dendrites, which are essential for communication between brain cells, are also supported by Bacopa Monnieri. Studies find that regular consumption of Bacopa Monnieri encourages the growth of new dendrites, which in turn improves overall brain function.
Another way that Bacopa Monnieri helps your brain is through its ability to grow and change. This quality is called plasticity, which is needed for your brain to form new neural pathways as you grow. Bacopa promotes brain plasticity by increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This is a protein our brain uses to create new brain cells, needed to replace dead cells and form new neural pathways.
Unlike most other herbs and brain supplements, there are numerous studies on the effects of Bacopa Monnieri on children — which is a testament to its efficacy and safety,
Due to the mental benefits mentioned previously, it is considered a safe and natural remedy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In one study, 85% of children who took this herb experienced a reduction in ADHD symptoms, reporting fewer issues with restlessness, self-control, and learning.
Other studies show that taking Bacopa Monnieri can also be useful for those with dyslexia. Patients who ingested Bacopa Monnieri daily reported improvements in attention span, concentration, reaction time, and retention of new information, amongst other mental benefits.
Health issues like anxiety, mental fatigue, memory loss, and trouble concentrating are all too common nowadays — luckily, there is a great way to protect your brain from these mental health woes.
Bacopa Monnieri is known as an all-around booster for brain health, being among the best cognitive enhancers and rejuvenators known to man. The latest research also shows there are many ways that Bacopa Monnieri supports mental health.
If you are interested in promoting your mental wellbeing, start by taking our Bacopa Monnieri tea. Drinking our organic tea here is an easy and delicious way to add this powerful herb to your daily routine!
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