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If you are looking to elevate your cognitive function, whether it’s mood, focus, or mental agility, medicinal mushrooms offer support on many levels. If you are suffering from a low mood, anxiety, brain fog, mental fatigue and get easily overwhelmed by stress, keep reading.
If you are new to the world of medicinal mushrooms, it can feel overwhelming to know where to start. Rest assured, mushrooms like Reishi, have been used safely for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine and moderns research is just catching up on all the benefits they provide. The commonalities in medicinal mushroom benefits include anti-inflammatory effects, anti-oxidant, stress adaptation, and immune modulating properties.
Cognitive decline can have many underlying causative factors, such as:
1. Neuro-inflammation, due to toxins or dietary factors that prevent the neurons in the brain from communicating with each other properly. Brain trauma or concussion can increase brain inflammation & proinflammatory cytokine IL-1, which can lead to neurodegeneration & memory loss.
2. Lack of deep sleep. This is when our brain detoxes & repairs through a vascular glymphatic system. When this system is disrupted, we can experience an increase if neurotoxins, leading to brain fog and low mood.
3. Nutrient deficiencies. Antioxidants, amino acids, and healthy fats, like omega 3, are needed for repair & building blocks of healthy brain cells.
4. Chronic emotional (mental tension, over worry, fear) or physical stress (toxins, inflammatory foods, alcohol, blood sugar ups/downs, overexertion) can increase C-reactive protein & inflammation, & damages neurons in the hippocampus & prefrontal cortex, key areas involved in memory, attention, & decision making.
When it comes to supporting our cognitive function, we can narrow it down to some specific mushrooms that have advantageous properties due to their bioactive compounds, such as terpenoids and polysaccharides, on all root causative factors of cognitive decline. Let’s break down how we can choose the best mushrooms for our mood & focus!
Lion’s Mane
If you’re looking to uplevel your brain agility, Lion’s Mane is the ‘it’ mushroom for you. Research shows us that Lion’s Mane helps to increase the production of Nerve Growth Factors (NGF), a type of protein that helps to repair and even regenerate neurons. In therapeutic doses, it has been proven to regenerate brain cells and has nootropic properties, which help to lift brain fog, enhance cognition and memory, and even mood; lowering anxiety, depression & stress. Lion’s Mane is neuroprotective against high corticosterone levels in vitro, which helps to decrease the effect of stress on our memory and mood. 1 In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Lion’s Mane is used to fortify the spleen, which, when out of balance can lead to excess worry, fatigue, and poor memory.
Reishi
Reishi mushroom is incredibly supporting for mental health and memory for several reasons. First, Reishi supports deep sleep, which is essential for optimal cognitive function, possibly through increasing our gut microbiota-dependent and serotonin-involved pathway, increasing the quality and duration of sleep.2 Reishi and Lion’s Mane also contain some 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan (5-HTP), which is a direct precursor of serotonin—a neurotransmitter needed to support healthy sleep cycles and mood.3 In addition, triterpenes extracted from Reishi mushrooms have been studied for their involvement in supporting mood and cognitive function in relation to neurotransmission, increased Brain Derived Neutronic Factor (BDNF) levels, and synaptic plasticity in the prefrontal cortex. Due to it’s liver supporting mechanism, Reishi also helps to decrease the oxidative damage caused by free radicals from environmental toxins. 4 Lastly, in TCM, Reishi mushrooms are considered helpful for easing the mind, insomnia, bestow longevity, and boost Qi (energy).
Chaga
Chaga, which has one of the highest ORAC values on the planet, is an antioxidant powerhouse mushroom when it comes to inflammation reduction, including neuro-inflammation. Due to it’s adaptogenic qualities as well as high concentrations of polyphenols and polysaccharides, Chaga helps to protect the brain against oxidative damage during stress and supports a healthy gut microbiome. The latest research confirms the influence of the gut microbiome on our ability to concentrate, and the occurrence of depression and anxiety via the Gut-Brain Axis. The prebiotic fibers found in mushrooms, polysaccharides, promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, which help prevent inflammation in the intestine, liver and brain. 5
Which one will you try first?
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