Adaptogens
From Angelika’s diary:
In the same way that seasons have cycles, so too, do people. There are times in each person’s life where some events can be a wee bit harder than others, and usually, there are physical and spiritual reactions to them, for the body and the spirit are quite connected in how they work.
As a midwife, most often I am called upon to help with the changes in a woman’s life, particularly changes brought about as a woman begins to travel through the changes she will experience. One of the differences I have noticed over time is how a woman reacts to her monthly cycle. Oft times, those who look upon it as a curse will experience cramping, discomfort, and generally wish to take to their beds. As my own mother taught me, that’s a waste of time for what should be a time of joy, a celebration, as God has blessed women so that we may some day have children. This difference in attitude provides a difference in the levels of physical discomfort, and I’ve had a bit of luck in changing the attitudes of some of my younger charges. In the meantime, raspberry leaf and chasteberry will combine nicely to ease some of the pains and moods of those who experience them, and a few wildflowers will help to cheer anyone’s day.
One of the biggest changes is that which a babe brings into a family. The most obvious need, of course, is that of the mother. Being with child brings about more than the bodily changes – but God tends to provide women with what they need at that point. It’s after the babe is born that women will sometimes need a bit of a push in getting used to their new lives. The womb can be slow to return to shape, most particularly for noble women who use wet nurses, and most French women, only the poorest of whom provide that service to the others. ‘Tis usually the suckling of a child that helps to prepare the womb for a return to the normal monthly cycles. For such women, chasteberry and blue cohosh in equal parts can have a beneficial effect. There are times that women find themselves feeling melancholic for a few months, sometimes even up to a year after having a child. Children bring about many changes to a woman’s life. Those herbs that calm the nerves and raise the spirits can help in this situation. However, if the melancholy has set in too hard, avoid chasteberry, for that can make it worse.
Women, however, are not the only ones affected by a new child – particularly in the case of a first baby. New fathers tend to worry – many don’t want to pick the babe up, for fear of breaking it. And many become very frustrated when the babe is taking its lungs for a wee stretch. Getting used to the changes a babe brings to a household can take a bit of time. As men are less likely to want attention paid to their own sensibilities, ‘tis an easy matter for wives to add a bit of oats to the diet, whether as a gruel for breaking the fast or baked into bread.
There are, of course, other changes that occur as a fair norm in people’s lives. Most are temporary, and can be helped along with mints and chamomile—things such as getting married, moving to a new place where you know no one, the death of a loved one. Some can take more time, like a woman’s change of life – which is not seen as oft as I’d like, given the number of women who survive past their child-bearing years. The changes that need more attention will require more serious medicine, as well as watching as the change passes, for the dosage will have to be altered as needed.
So the lives follow the seasons, and change as we grow older. As I told you before, watch for the changes, be prepared for them, observe everything, and life will be much smoother.
What Angelika refers to is now called an adaptogen. This is a class of herbs designed to help the body adapt to the stresses that every day life and life’s changes can bring.
To be considered an adaptogen, plants must conform to the following criteria:
This is, of course, a tall order for any plant to fill, and there are not a lot of true adaptogens that fulfill every requirement over the long term. Research on adaptogens began in earnest in approximately 1947 in Russia. The Russians were looking for a way to improve the performance of athletes, and find a way for bodies going through the following progression of stress:
Alarm phase - When some new stress factor strikes the body, it causes a sudden release of internal stress-hormones - corticosteroids and catecholamines. If the stress is very intense, it can damage the regulatory systems of the body permanently and at once (for example in case of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation). However, if you are taking adaptogens, you will smoothly progress further to the "adaptation phase".
Adaptation phase - If the stress factor continues (for example, in sports, it might be heavy athletic training), our body learns to tolerate the stressful stimulus - "adapt" - and increases its resistance to the stress factor. The "adaptation phase" is usually a safe period. The more we can stay in the "adaptation phase", the better.
Exhaustion phase – This appears when the body fails to fight stress any more and simply gives up. In this "exhaustion phase", disease symptoms rapidly appear and get worse. Diseases associated with stress may appear in the first "alarm phase", but they mainly appear in the third "exhaustion phase" when the body cannot fight stress any more. This third phase usually develops after a period of months or years. Everything depends on the duration of the "adaptation phase". Sometimes the body may be lucky and escape this third phase altogether, provided that it can keep the stress under control. It is most often in this phase that major dis-eases develop – cancers, arthritis, chronic fatigue, etc.
We can help to avoid the third phase by taking adaptogens; they can help us to stay in the "adaptation phase" for as long as possible. Taking adaptogens, you will be able to cope with stress better. The initial "alarm phase" will smoothly progress to the "adaptation phase". Adaptogens can help you to stay in the safe "adaptation phase" for a much longer time or even permanently, thus preventing you from proceeding further to the extremely dangerous "exhaustion phase".
So, given that the term adaptogen did not exist during Renaissance times, why do I include it here? The herbs have existed, and research has been conducted on adaptogens since the times of the early Greeks in Europe, and for over 2000 years in China. The stresses of life in Renaissance times were different, but no less stressful to the people living then, than our stresses are today. Wars, survival, childbirth, marriage, death, illnesses (black plague, consumption, cancers) – all were rife in the Renaissance. While the barber surgeons might find a way to balance the humors, herbalists were more likely to find a way to strengthen the body to withstand the stress until the mind could adapt.
In the same way that seasons have cycles, so too, do people. There are times in each person’s life where some events can be a wee bit harder than others, and usually, there are physical and spiritual reactions to them, for the body and the spirit are quite connected in how they work.
As a midwife, most often I am called upon to help with the changes in a woman’s life, particularly changes brought about as a woman begins to travel through the changes she will experience. One of the differences I have noticed over time is how a woman reacts to her monthly cycle. Oft times, those who look upon it as a curse will experience cramping, discomfort, and generally wish to take to their beds. As my own mother taught me, that’s a waste of time for what should be a time of joy, a celebration, as God has blessed women so that we may some day have children. This difference in attitude provides a difference in the levels of physical discomfort, and I’ve had a bit of luck in changing the attitudes of some of my younger charges. In the meantime, raspberry leaf and chasteberry will combine nicely to ease some of the pains and moods of those who experience them, and a few wildflowers will help to cheer anyone’s day.
One of the biggest changes is that which a babe brings into a family. The most obvious need, of course, is that of the mother. Being with child brings about more than the bodily changes – but God tends to provide women with what they need at that point. It’s after the babe is born that women will sometimes need a bit of a push in getting used to their new lives. The womb can be slow to return to shape, most particularly for noble women who use wet nurses, and most French women, only the poorest of whom provide that service to the others. ‘Tis usually the suckling of a child that helps to prepare the womb for a return to the normal monthly cycles. For such women, chasteberry and blue cohosh in equal parts can have a beneficial effect. There are times that women find themselves feeling melancholic for a few months, sometimes even up to a year after having a child. Children bring about many changes to a woman’s life. Those herbs that calm the nerves and raise the spirits can help in this situation. However, if the melancholy has set in too hard, avoid chasteberry, for that can make it worse.
Women, however, are not the only ones affected by a new child – particularly in the case of a first baby. New fathers tend to worry – many don’t want to pick the babe up, for fear of breaking it. And many become very frustrated when the babe is taking its lungs for a wee stretch. Getting used to the changes a babe brings to a household can take a bit of time. As men are less likely to want attention paid to their own sensibilities, ‘tis an easy matter for wives to add a bit of oats to the diet, whether as a gruel for breaking the fast or baked into bread.
There are, of course, other changes that occur as a fair norm in people’s lives. Most are temporary, and can be helped along with mints and chamomile—things such as getting married, moving to a new place where you know no one, the death of a loved one. Some can take more time, like a woman’s change of life – which is not seen as oft as I’d like, given the number of women who survive past their child-bearing years. The changes that need more attention will require more serious medicine, as well as watching as the change passes, for the dosage will have to be altered as needed.
So the lives follow the seasons, and change as we grow older. As I told you before, watch for the changes, be prepared for them, observe everything, and life will be much smoother.
What Angelika refers to is now called an adaptogen. This is a class of herbs designed to help the body adapt to the stresses that every day life and life’s changes can bring.
To be considered an adaptogen, plants must conform to the following criteria:
- The plant must be completely non-toxic and totally harmless to the body.
- It must allow the continuing normal physiological functioning.
- The action it exerts must be nonspecific and should maintain normal body functions, despite a wide range of onslaughts to the body (i.e., stress).
- It should normalize body functions irrespective of existing physical conditions.
This is, of course, a tall order for any plant to fill, and there are not a lot of true adaptogens that fulfill every requirement over the long term. Research on adaptogens began in earnest in approximately 1947 in Russia. The Russians were looking for a way to improve the performance of athletes, and find a way for bodies going through the following progression of stress:
Alarm phase - When some new stress factor strikes the body, it causes a sudden release of internal stress-hormones - corticosteroids and catecholamines. If the stress is very intense, it can damage the regulatory systems of the body permanently and at once (for example in case of exposure to high levels of nuclear radiation). However, if you are taking adaptogens, you will smoothly progress further to the "adaptation phase".
Adaptation phase - If the stress factor continues (for example, in sports, it might be heavy athletic training), our body learns to tolerate the stressful stimulus - "adapt" - and increases its resistance to the stress factor. The "adaptation phase" is usually a safe period. The more we can stay in the "adaptation phase", the better.
Exhaustion phase – This appears when the body fails to fight stress any more and simply gives up. In this "exhaustion phase", disease symptoms rapidly appear and get worse. Diseases associated with stress may appear in the first "alarm phase", but they mainly appear in the third "exhaustion phase" when the body cannot fight stress any more. This third phase usually develops after a period of months or years. Everything depends on the duration of the "adaptation phase". Sometimes the body may be lucky and escape this third phase altogether, provided that it can keep the stress under control. It is most often in this phase that major dis-eases develop – cancers, arthritis, chronic fatigue, etc.
We can help to avoid the third phase by taking adaptogens; they can help us to stay in the "adaptation phase" for as long as possible. Taking adaptogens, you will be able to cope with stress better. The initial "alarm phase" will smoothly progress to the "adaptation phase". Adaptogens can help you to stay in the safe "adaptation phase" for a much longer time or even permanently, thus preventing you from proceeding further to the extremely dangerous "exhaustion phase".
So, given that the term adaptogen did not exist during Renaissance times, why do I include it here? The herbs have existed, and research has been conducted on adaptogens since the times of the early Greeks in Europe, and for over 2000 years in China. The stresses of life in Renaissance times were different, but no less stressful to the people living then, than our stresses are today. Wars, survival, childbirth, marriage, death, illnesses (black plague, consumption, cancers) – all were rife in the Renaissance. While the barber surgeons might find a way to balance the humors, herbalists were more likely to find a way to strengthen the body to withstand the stress until the mind could adapt.
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