Mental health should not be ignored. Taking care of mental health is just as important as physical health. Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being and is directly linked to overall health. Poor mental health affects how we handle stress and cope with life’s daily demands and unexpected challenges. Fortunately, the right nutritional support can help with mental resilience and improve quality of life. 

Here are additional simple adjustments that just may change your outlook—and support your mood!

1. Find healthy ways to manage stress

The song was right— “Let it go.” Stress puts pressure on your body and your mind. The experience of feeling overwhelmed is a mind-body experience, complete with tightened muscles, the release of cortisol, and even an increased heartbeat. With all of that going on, no wonder you’re not feeling like sunshine and rainbows! Meditation and mindfulness can help you release some of that pressure, and in the process, support your mood.

2. Sweat it out

Being active is just as important as finding time to relax—in fact, exercise makes it easier to release stress! Get into a routine of regular movement. Whether it’s running, walking, dancing, yoga, spinning, or another activity, what matters most is consistency. You’ll feel the afterglow—and the mood boost—all day long.

3. Food for your mood

What you eat plays an important role in your emotional status. Choosing highly processed, sugary food can zap your energy levels. Meanwhile, green and chamomile teas, lemon balm, bananas, and even avocados have nutrients that may lift your spirits.

Enhanced Stress Relief

Take 1 capsule once or twice daily (morning and evening), or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner. Based on a study of lemon balm, some effects were seen as early as one hour. Based on a study of L-theanine, some effects were seen as early as 30 minutes. Life Extension® suggests following the study duration.

Stress is a difficult aspect of daily life to avoid. Enhanced Stress Relief combines the calming health benefits of lemon balm extract and L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, to create an innovative, dual-action supplement for stress. Lemon balm, an herb in the mint family, has been shown in several studies to support a healthy stress response, mood, and healthy sleep patterns. (1)(2)(3) Green tea has long been thought to help relieve stress. (4) Modern science demonstrates that L-theanine, one of the key compounds in green tea, is responsible for this effect. (5)(6)(7) L-theanine encourages a calming effect in the brain in ways that have been compared to meditation, massage, and other relaxation techniques. (8)

L-theanine readily crosses the blood-brain barrier and modulates the signaling of several neurotransmitters, including GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in calming pathways in the brain, dopamine, and serotonin.

Enhanced Stress Relief benefits include:

  • Enhances mood, memory, and attention
  • Includes compounds that help promote sleep and relaxation
  • Provides relaxing L-theanine, an amino acid derived from green tea

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Optimized Ashwagandha

Take 1 capsule twice daily on an empty stomach, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner. For overall health, this product would be best taken on a consistent basis.

Optimized Ashwagandha delivers a standardized extract of W. somnifera to support healthy cognitive function, a healthy stress response, and overall well-being.

Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb with a rich history of use in traditional Indian regimens to support balance to the body. The product contains Sensoril® ashwagandha extract (root and leaf), a patented, proprietary standardized extract of ashwagandha that helps to boost brain function and fight against mental fatigue. It helps maintain already-healthy levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, which encourages a healthy biological response to daily stress. 

In a randomized controlled trial, 64 stressed individuals were given either ashwagandha extract or a placebo. After 60 days, the 32 participants who took the ashwagandha extract reported reductions in stress and had lower cortisol levels than those who had received the placebo. The ashwagandha group also saw significant support for levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. (9) This confirmed the results from an earlier controlled clinical trial in which ashwagandha supplementation improved stress and supported healthy cortisol levels. (10)

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FLORASSIST® Mood Improve

Take 1 capsule daily, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner. Based on a study (Messaoudi M, 2011) of L. helveticus Rosell-52 and B. longum Rosell-175, effects were seen as early as 30 days. Based on studies of saffron, effects were seen as early as six weeks. Life Extension® suggests following the study duration.

FLORASSIST® Mood Improve combines innovative probiotics with a standardized saffron extract to support emotional well-being and help maintain a balanced mood.

Clinical and pre-clinical studies indicate that gut microbes can support mood and behavior by affecting the gut-brain axis, a complex communication network that links your gut with your brain.

In two randomized controlled trials, participants taking a blend of L. helveticus Rosell-52 and B. longum Rosell-175 reported significant mood, stress response, and emotional balance support as compared to placebo. (11)(12) These strains relieved stress-related gastrointestinal discomfort as well. (13)

Saffron extract: We’ve developed a proprietary extract of the popular spice saffron that is standardized for the two compounds safranal and crocin because compelling research indicates saffron compounds promote mood health. Meta-analyses of up to eight trials have found that the use of saffron extract is associated with improved mood test scores relative to placebo or active controls. (14)(15)(16)(17) The highest level of standardization in the above clinical studies was 11% for crocin and 2% for safranal. Since those concentrations are not readily available on the market, we worked with our saffron sources to create a proprietary blend specifically for this formulation.

Product Video

Optimized Tryptophan Plus

Take up to 3 capsules all at once before bedtime, or 1 capsule on an empty stomach before each meal, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner. For maximum absorption take with a small amount of carbohydrate, such as diluted juice. Best if taken separately from protein or amino acids. For overall health, this product would be best taken on a consistent basis.

Optimized Tryptophan Plus provides 1000 mg of high-quality L-tryptophan, as well as nutrients such as lysine, niacinamide, and more to promote a healthy mood, help support optimal sleep, and support a healthy stress response.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain associated with positive mood and restful sleep. (18)(19)(20) Your body requires the essential amino acid tryptophan to produce and maintain healthy serotonin levels. (21) But your body cannot make tryptophan on its own.

Studies indicate that tryptophan promotes healthy sleep patterns and mood. (19)(22)(23) It also encourages the body’s healthy response to stress. (24) And tryptophan and serotonin can help support satiety, the feeling of being “full.” (25)(26) Our L-tryptophan has undergone a rigorous manufacturing process to ensure quality and purity.

This formula also provides lysine, niacinamide, and extracts of hops and rosemary, which may help support tryptophan benefits in the body. (27)(28)

Caution: Serotonin syndrome is characterized by high levels of serotonin and symptoms like confusion, sweating, agitation, nausea, involuntary muscle contractions, and a racing heartbeat. Do not take L-tryptophan if you experience these symptoms. Because tryptophan may have numerous drug interactions (most commonly, MAOIs and SSRIs) consult your healthcare provider before taking this product if you are taking prescription medications. Do not use before driving or operating heavy machinery.

Adrenal Energy Formula

Take 2 capsules twice daily, or as recommended by a healthcare practitioner. For overall health, this product would be best taken on a consistent basis.

Adrenal Energy Formula combines four stress-modulating extracts—holy basil, cordyceps, bacopa, and ashwagandha—each scientifically validated to help support a healthy response to stress.

Up to 80% of visits to primary care physicians may be related to the effects of stress. (29) One reason we so often seek help in supporting a healthy response to stress is that it’s critical we support our bodies’ ability to maintain homeostasis or a state of equilibrium across physiological systems. Homeostasis is essential for health, so helping your body maintain homeostasis promotes a healthy physiological response to stress.

Fortunately, Life Extension has combined four potent extracts from botanical adaptogens. These compounds have been shown to modulate a broad range of factors to help relieve the effects of stress. The four stress-modulating adaptogenic extracts from holy basil, cordyceps, bacopa, and ashwagandha support homeostasis and modulate a broad range of factors to help relieve the effects of stress. (30-36) Combined, they may complement each other to provide comprehensive adaptogenic stress defense.

Stress has been linked with shorter telomeres (the caps on the ends of chromosomes), suggesting that stress and aging may be linked. (37) Stress affects neurotransmitter production. In a pre-clinical study, stress inhibited neural plasticity (the ability of neurons to form new connections along neural communication pathways in response to new stimuli). (38) So relieving stress may help support cognitive health.

For those who are seeking relief from the effects of stress, Adrenal Energy Formula is a broad-spectrum and potent formulation for maintaining healthy energy and vitality.

Disclaimer

The Fullscript Integrative Medical Advisory team has developed or collected these protocols from practitioners and supplier partners to help health care practitioners make decisions when building treatment plans. By adding this protocol to your Fullscript template library, you understand and accept that the recommendations in the protocol are for initial guidance and may not be appropriate for every patient.

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