There is no lasting progress in any health, wellness or performance goal without a regulated nervous system.

To make things happen in life, you're going to experience stress, uncertainty, fear and curveballs. Health, wellness and performance are largely defined by our ability to navigate these inevitable obstacles and push forward without accumulating the damages of chronic stress.

Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system to respond to a perceived threat. If the stress response is consistently being triggered, the consequence becomes maladaptive as resources are diverted away from the processes that define health, wellness and performance. By design, stress changes the mind-body from a proactive to a reactive state. Proactive (parasympathetic) processes like digestion, detoxification, cellular and tissue repair, learning, neurogenesis, etc. are given fewer resources to prioritize the reactive (sympathetic) state. This reactive state is fight-or-flight mode and it's only designed to run for a short period of time in response to a perceived threat. When stress is chronic, your mind-body doesn't return to a proactive state of resource allocation. More energy is used to fuel the fight or flight (or freeze) response than the immune system, building new brain cells, repairing tissues, absorbing and processing nutrition, learning, etc.

Nervous System Product Guide

Importance of Nervous System Product Match

Nervous system product match is the most important consideration for maximizing fast & long-lasting success in any health, wellness and performance routine. Roots Apothecary emphasizes nervous system balance and resilience as being the top priority because it directly impacts every mind-body process down to the cellular level. Daily operating state (baseline) of your nervous system determines how your mind-body allocates energy and resources and what areas of the brain handle information processing, emotional responses & baseline mood. Chronic nervous system dysregulation leads to destructive use of mind-body resources with countless downstream consequences across the entire mind-body.  

A balanced nervous system coordinates productive use of energy and resources to optimize all mind-body processes, resulting in smooth energy, expanded mental capacity, stronger executive function, improved digestion and nutrient uptake, routine cellular detox and mitochondrial health, and overall improved sense of wellbeing. The list of downstream benefits goes on and on. Use this guide to narrow down product options based on your experience with nervous system regulation to lay the foundation of a successful supplement routine for all health, wellness and performance goals.

Nervous System - Inflammation Feedback Loop

Most people are chasing symptoms without realizing it. When experiencing several obstacles like anxiety, fatigue, gut issues, poor sleep, brain fog, scatter brain, sensory overload, hormone imbalance or pain, it can feel like separate problems, so it makes sense that people look for separate solutions. But in reality, many of these issues are downstream expressions of the same core imbalance: a dysregulated nervous system - inflammation feedback loop.

When the nervous system is stuck in a stress-dominant state, it constantly sends distress signals throughout the body. Sympathetic dominance sends strong signals that keeps inflammation elevated, and ongoing inflammation sends more distress signals back to the nervous system. Over time, this feedback loop distorts communication to every other mind-body system, making the body feel overwhelmed, reactive, and stuck.

This is why focusing upstream is so important. When you focus on the nervous system and supporting healthy inflammatory balance, you improve the signal quality everywhere else. Instead of chasing one symptom at a time, the body regains its ability to regulate, recover, and adapt. It’s the lowest hanging fruit with the widest impact, and the foundation that allows everything else you do to actually work better. Every routine will be made more effective by incorporating the inflammation tincture or adaptive gold (the two products that are inflammation focused).

A quick guide to choosing the best option nervous system regulation based on your daily experience with stress, cognitive function, energy,

when you read the following descriptions, know that it's not "one or the other”. stress phenotypes can be deep into high-tension, deep into low energy and anywhere in between. everyone's path is a little different, but experiences with chronic stress have underlying similarities. don't overthink it.

High-Tension Stress.

Mind. (non-exhaustive)

  • constantly feeling like you have to do something right now when you can't find something to do.
  • impulsive behaviors. quick emotional reactions.
  • jumping into projects or decisions without a plan or an understanding of the objective.
  • overwhelmed with decision-making.
  • racing thoughts get away from you. racing thoughts might keep you awake at night.
  • difficulty processing new information through a productive lens.
  • unproductively or obsessively rehashing the past and worrying about the future.
  • sensory overload / easily over-stimulated.

Body. (non-exhaustive)

  • tightness in the chest
  • feeling like you can't take a deep breath.
  • tension in the neck and jaw.
  • energy roller coaster. up and down.
  • headaches.

high-tension stress is caused by countless imbalances. from work-life hustle without rest to ongoing relationship drama, the non-stop overthinking of a high-performance brain, the over-trained athlete without rest and much more. for many, high-tension stress builds slowly as the grind of life pushes and pushes without stress management practices and products that support adaptation. in the early stages of high-tension stress, it can feel like you're getting a lot done while you're "riding the cortisol high". make no mistake, this is an unsustainable sprint for the vast majority. regardless of how this tension builds, the outcomes are similar.

When high-energy stress goes on for an extended period of time, energy and resources are increasingly allocated to sympathetic activity. this takes energy and resources away from reparative, analytical, proactive and growth processes of the parasympathetic state. as this maladaptive resource allocation continues, fundamentals of health, performance and wellbeing start to fall apart. energy and mood become unstable. the mind is less capable of taking on new challenges and processing new information through a productive lens. overall adaptability suffers. if high-tension stress is not brought down, the mind-body is likely to crash. when it does, energy, motivation, and mood all drop, and the force that moves life forward, fizzles. the goal is to get ahead of the crash. in general, it's easier to bring high-tension down than bring energy, mood and motivation up.

if you're carrying the mental and physical manifestations of high-tension stress, our approach is to slow the RPMs before a crash. this turns the sprint into a marathon. some clients don't like the sound of "slowing down", but the goal is not sedation. the goal is to slow down so the mind can process information holistically and the body can relax the energy-draining tension. by doing so, there is more bandwidth and energy available to take on new challenges, process information through a productive lens and strengthen the physical body. all with a higher level of resilience. oftentimes, when the mind slows down and the body relaxes, thoughts and decisions are smoother and more defined. perspective shifts to view priorities more objectively and functionally.

Products for high-tension stress / anxiety.

Anxiety Tincture.

the anxiety tincture is an adaptogen-based extract that focuses on calming nervous system tension and building stress resilience so future stressors don't push the mind-body deeper into the sympathetic state. some people use this "as needed" on days when tension is exceptionally high. that being said, this works best if used daily to create more "space" between baseline and symptomatic reactions.

THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR LOW-ENERGY STRESS. high-tension stress needs to be calmed, low energy stress should be stimulated. if you don’t align with at least half of the mental & physical manifestations of high-tension stress clarified above, this is probably not the product for you.

1260mg cbd sublingual.

the 1260mg cbd sublingual is the most successful product we recommend for lowering nervous system tension. when served consistently (starting at 20mg 2x daily), this product has the strongest track record for lowering high nervous system tension that throws the mind-body out of parasympathetic balance.

with consistency, lowered nervous system tension (anxiety) promotes a shift in resource allocation that allows the mind-body to heal itself.

a good full-spectrum cbd works through multiple pathways that influence mood, energy, inflammation, cognitive performance, immune system and more. nacher cbd sublingual isn't necessarily better than the anxiety tincture at addressing nervous system tension and anxiety, but it's more holistic in action.

found exclusively nachercbd.com

 

fatigue dominated stress.

mind. (non-exhaustive)

  • decreased energy and motivation.
  • under-stimulated by things that you would expect to be exciting.
  • unhealthy procrastination. avoiding responsibilities.
  • priorities become increasingly short sighted.  difficulty prioritizing tasks and goals.
  • difficulty with objectivity. responses are more emotional.
  • mental fog. thoughts are "fuzzy" or moving through molasses.
  • difficulty connecting to the present. the mind drifts somewhere else.

body. (non-exhaustive)

  • fatigue.

low energy manifestations of stress can feel like you're moving through molasses or living in a dark hole. it's not always this dramatic, but most clients with fatigue-dominated stress feel like it's "difficult to get going". fatigue-dominated stress can result from "burning out" when chronic high-tension stress "crashes" into fatigue. some people struggle with fatigue-dominated stress from the get-go.

adaptive cacao.

when fatigue and low motivation dominate your experience with stress, the adaptive cacao delivers a well-rounded blend of stimulating mushrooms and adaptogenic plant extracts. this is not stimulating like caffeine. instead, the adaptive cacao is more focused on increasing blood flow to the brain, elevating mood and improving physical endurance. this helps sustainably elevate energy and bandwidth without a caffeine crash and without elevating stress.

while the adaptive cacao is traditionally recommended for fatigue-dominated stress, a lot of clients with high-tension stress switched to the adaptive cacao to reduce caffeine intake.

adaptive greens.

a greens blend can bridge nutritional gaps that support the finer details of health. this blend of greens is valued for its dense flavonols, flavonoids and other polyphenols that deliver powerful antioxidant properties which help protect all tissues from environmental and metabolic oxidation.

lion's mane mushroom extract.

for clients with higher levels of mental fatigue, memory problems, or primary interest in improving mental capacity, the lion's mane extract served consistently at 3,000mg daily (3 servings/day) shows promising potential to improve neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. this can help clients work on their mindset, memory and overall mental performance with more "flexibility".

getting to balance.

Centric Products.

less dramatic manifestations of stress are very common. if people draw awareness to mounting stress before it becomes high-tension or fatigue-dominated, a simple adaptogen routine can help pull things back to balance. proactively strengthening stress resilience and expanding bandwidth is one of the most impactful ways to improve overall health and performance. whether you're an athlete, graphic designer, or stay-at-home parent, creating this balance for the mind-body is crucial when aiming to function at peak capacity.

ashwagandha tincture.

ashwagandha is recommended is for people who don't carry as much tension, but deal with ongoing stress and mild fatigue. ashwagandha is especially popular for restoring adrenal balance (which is just another way to say parasympathetic balance). if you don't know where you fall on the "stress spectrum", ashwagandha is the way to go. whether you carry moderate tension or moderate fatigue, ashwagandha helps restore balance and strengthen resilience to future stressors.

if you align with the deeper end of high-tension or fatigue-dominated stress, ashwagandha may not have the horsepower to get you within manageable range (of handling stress) as fast as the products above.

Obvious Disclaimer:
^These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease. Please consult with a medical professional before consuming this product if you have any medical condition.

If you are pregnant, or trying to become pregnant, please consult with your doctor before consuming this product. Very little, if any, research has been conducted on the safety of drinking herbal tea during pregnancy.