RHR: From Wired & Tired to Calm & Clear: My Top Nutrients for Mood, Focus, and Sleep

In this episode we discuss:

• Why we need better solutions for stress and sleep
• Saffron – The mood-boosting spice for stress relief
• L-Theanine – Finding calm focus (zen in a teacup)
• Lemon balm – Nature’s gentle tranquilizer for anxious minds
• Holy basil – A sacred adaptogen for calm and clarity
• Ashwagandha – The adaptogen for resilience and restful sleep
• The synergistic effect of combining these nutrients for maximum benefit

Show notes:

• “The possible “calming effect” of subchronic supplementation of a standardised phospholipid carrier-based Melissa officinalis L. extract in healthy adults with emotional distress and poor sleep conditions: Results from a prospective, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial” by Bano et al. 
• “The effects of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) on depression and anxiety in clinical trials: A systematic review and meta-analysis” by Ghazizadeh et al. 
• “The combination of L-theanine and caffeine improves cognitive performance and increases subjective alertness” by Giesbrecht et al.
• “Effects of L-theanine administration on stress-related symptoms and cognitive functions in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial” by Hidese et al
• “An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study” by Lopresti et al.
• “Clinical efficacy and tolerability of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) in psychological well-being: A review” by Mathews et al.
• “Effects of saffron extract on sleep quality: A randomized double-blind controlled clinical trial” by Pachikian et al.
• “The Efficacy of Saffron in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Depression: A Meta-analysis” by Tóth et al.
• “Clinical evaluation of the pharmacological impact of ashwagandha root extract on sleep in healthy volunteers and insomnia patients: A double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study” by Langade et al.
• “Safety and Efficacy of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) for Treating Mild to Moderate Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” by Dai, L., Chen, L., & Wang, W. 
• “Effect of Saffron Versus Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) in Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials” by Shafiee et al.
• “An Examination into the Effects of a Saffron Extract (Affron) on Mood and General Wellbeing in Adults Experiencing Low Mood: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial” by Lopresti et al.
• “The effects of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) on mental health parameters and C-reactive protein: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials” by Ghaderi et al.
• “The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tulsi in Humans: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine” by Jamshidi, N. & Cohen, M. M. 
• “A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of an Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy Basil) extract (HolixerTM) on stress, mood, and sleep in adults experiencing stress” by Lopresti et al.
• “Natural tranquility. Melissa officinalis and ocimum tenuiflorum for stress and anxiety relief” by Chaturbhai, M.
• “Holy basil (Ocimum sanctum Linn.) leaf extract enhances specific cognitive parameters in healthy adult volunteers: A placebo controlled study” by Sampath et al.
• “Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (Holy Basil) in Modern Medicine: Broad-Spectrum Therapeutic Potential” by Muszalska, A. & Wiecanowska, J. 
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Hey everybody, Chris Kresser here. Welcome to another episode of Revolution Health Radio. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about my top nutrients for managing stress, reducing anxiety, achieving calm focus during the day, winding down in the evening and supporting better sleep at night. This is such a crucial topic, because chronic stress and poor sleep are at the root of so many health issues. High stress levels and anxiety can wreak havoc on our mental and physical well-being contributing to everything from depression and burnout to cardiovascular and immune system problems. And when we’re not sleeping well, it’s a vicious cycle. Lack of sleep makes us more reactive to stress, and excessive stress disrupts our sleep. I’m sure many of you have experienced this firsthand, and I saw it all the time when treating patients in the clinic.

The good news is there are natural tools that can help us break this cycle. In this episode, I want to focus on five specific nutraceuticals I found extremely helpful for promoting relaxation and resilience. These are saffron, L-theanine, lemon balm, holy basil and ashwagandha. You’ve probably heard of some of these. Ashwagandha is a well known adaptogenic herb, L-theanine comes from green tea, and perhaps you’ve even tried holy basil tea, which is also known as Tulsi, a popular calming herb in Ayurveda. Others like saffron (yes, the spice!) and lemon balm might surprise you with their powerful effects on mood and stress. There’s a growing body of research supporting each of these, and I’ll be sharing some of these findings in a way that’s easy to understand. I’ll also draw from my clinical experience, including real world anecdotes of patients who’ve benefited from these supplements. By the end of the show, you’ll know how these nutrients work, why they’re so effective for stress and mood support, and how to incorporate them safely, including tips on what to look for in a quality supplement and how to combine them for synergistic effects. My goal is to give you actionable knowledge to help you feel calmer, more focused and more rested naturally. With that context in mind, let’s get into our five nutrients.

Why We Need Better Solutions for Stress and Sleep

Before getting into the specific nutrients, let’s set the stage for why this matters. We’re living in an age of chronic stress. Surveys show that a large proportion of adults report high stress levels on a regular basis, and anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions. On top of that, many people are not sleeping enough or are getting poor quality sleep. This isn’t just an inconvenience. It has serious health ramifications. Chronic stress has been linked to issues like hypertension, insulin resistance, depression, digestive disorders and more. And sleep deprivation affects everything from our cognitive function and mood to our immune defense and risk of chronic disease.

Conventional treatments have their place. Psychotherapy, for example, can be beneficial for anxiety and sometimes medications are necessary, but pharmaceutical options for anxiety and sleep, like benzodiazepines, sleeping pills, or SSRIs, often come with significant downsides– sedation, dependence or withdrawal issues, memory impairment, and other side effects. Many people either don’t get sufficient relief from these meds or just prefer to avoid them and seek more natural approaches. That’s where these nutrients come in. They offer a gentler way to nudge our physiology in the right direction, helping to reduce stress hormones, balance neurotransmitters, and promote a state of calm without knocking us out or turning us into zombies.

I also want to emphasize that using nutraceuticals is not about ignoring foundational strategies. Your baseline should always be a nutrient dense diet, regular physical activity, good sleep hygiene and stress management techniques like meditation, breathing exercises, time in nature, etc. But in my experience, adding targeted supplements can accelerate progress and make those lifestyle changes easier to implement and maintain. For someone who’s so anxious or exhausted that they can’t even begin to exercise or meditate, the right supplement can give them that foothold, a bit of relief so they can build healthier habits that sustain long term wellness. In short, these nutrients are tools that support you, not magic bullets, but they can make a world of difference when used appropriately. With that context in mind, let’s get into the five nutrients. We’ll start with one that might surprise you:

Saffron: The Mood-Boosting Spice for Stress Relief

Saffron is famous as a culinary spice– those red threads that give dishes like paella a rich, golden color. It comes from the flower Crocus sativas. Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice by weight, due to the labor intensive harvesting process. But beyond its use in cooking, saffron has a long history in traditional medicine, particularly in Persia, Iran, and other Middle Eastern cultures, as a mood enhancer and relaxant. In recent years, modern research has zeroed in on saffron’s potential as a natural antidepressant and anti-anxiety agent.

Saffron’s power lies in its biochemical effects on the brain. It contains several active compounds, notably crocins and safranal, which have been shown to influence neurotransmitters. To put it simply, saffron tends to boost levels of our “feel-good” chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, while reducing stress hormones and oxidative stress in the brain. One way to think of saffron is that it acts a bit like a gentle serotonin reuptake inhibitor– similar mechanism to SSRIs, but naturally occurring and milder. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which are beneficial since chronic inflammation is linked to depression and anxiety.

Research on saffron for mental health is impressive. Multiple clinical trials and meta-analyses have concluded that saffron can significantly improve symptoms of depression and anxiety compared to placebo. In fact, a meta-analysis of 21 randomized trials found that saffron had a large positive effect on reducing depression scores and a notable effect on anxiety as well without serious side effects. Some head-to-head studies even suggest that saffron’s efficacy in mild to moderate depression is comparable to prescription antidepressants like SSRIs, but with far fewer side effects. For example, saffron doesn’t typically cause sexual dysfunction or drowsiness, like some antidepressants do. This is huge for those who are looking for alternatives or adjuncts to medication.

Beyond mood support, saffron helps with sleep quality, which makes sense, because if you’re less anxious and your mood is lifted, sleep often improves. But saffron might have direct sleep benefits too. One study looked at people with sleep complaints and found that taking a standardized saffron extract for six weeks led to noticeable improvements in sleep quality and ease of falling asleep compared to placebo. Participants taking saffron reported that they fell asleep faster and woke up less during the night, and their overall rest was better. Objectively, in that trial they even used devices to measure sleep and found increased time in bed and better sleep efficiency in the saffron group. Mechanistically, saffron may promote sleep by interacting with certain brain receptors involved in the sleep-wake cycle. For instance, safranal, one of its compounds, can activate sleep promoting pathways in the brain’s VLPO nucleus, while crocin might reduce arousal signals. So saffron is not sedating like a knockout pill, but it helps rebalance the system toward a healthier sleep pattern.

I had a patient, I’ll call her Maria, who struggled with what I describe as high-functioning anxiety and low mood. She was an executive in her 50s, dealing with a lot of stress at work, and she described feeling mildly depressed, especially in the winter months, along with trouble sleeping through the night. She was interested in alternatives because she’d had side effects from SSRIs in the past. We decided to trial a saffron supplement– 28 milligrams of a high quality saffron extract per day, which is a typical research-backed dose. Over the course of eight weeks, Maria’s mood noticeably lifted. She reported feeling “like a cloud had been lifted” and her anxiety was less pervasive; she didn’t have that constant tight feeling in her chest by the afternoon. As a bonus, she started sleeping better after the first few weeks. Instead of tossing and turning at 3am, she was sleeping mostly through the night. And importantly, she had zero side effects. In fact, she noticed an increase in libido and a general sense of well-being, which isn’t common with many conventional medications. This is just one case, of course, but it mirrors what the science says and what I’ve seen in the clinic. Saffron can meaningfully improve mild to moderate depression and anxiety and, by extension, improve sleep quality.

The dose used in most studies is 28 milligrams of saffron extract per day, usually standardized to its active compounds. You want to make sure you’re using a standardized extract from saffron stigmas, not just saffron flavoring or threads you’d cook with. In research, a proprietary extract called Affron has been used frequently. It’s standardized for consistent levels of saffron’s active compounds and has shown benefits for mood in clinical trials, and this is the extract that I used the most in my clinical practice. Looking for something like “standardized saffron extract” or “Affron” on a label can ensure you’re getting a product similar to what has been studied. Saffron can either be taken once daily or broken into split morning and evening doses, which I prefer because it spreads the effect through the day. It’s fat-soluble, so taking it with a meal can improve absorption.

One thing I love about saffron is its safety profile. In the meta analyzes, the incidence of side effects on saffron was very low and often indistinguishable from placebo. At 28 milligrams a day, it’s extremely well tolerated. Toxicity has only been noted at very, very high doses that no one would realistically take in supplement form. So saffron gives us an option that’s gentle but really effective. It’s not going to numb you out, but it can brighten your mood and take the edge off anxiety. Patients often report they just feel more like themselves and less overwhelmed when using saffron consistently.

To sum it up, saffron earns its place as one of my top nutrients for stress and mood. It works on key neurotransmitters to boost mood, it has anti-anxiety and potential sleep enhancing effects, and it’s backed by solid research, including modern clinical trials. If you’re battling the blues or daily stress and you want a natural approach, saffron should be at the top of your list.

L-Theanine: Finding Calm Focus (Zen in a Teacup)

Next up is L-theanine, an amino acid most commonly found in green tea leaves. If you’ve ever felt a sense of relaxed alertness after a cup of good quality green tea, you can likely thank L-theanine for that. It’s one reason why tea can energize you (from the caffeine) but also produce a kind of calm, centered feeling– a very different experience than the jittery buzz that coffee alone might give. L-theanine is one of my favorite recommendations for people who need to stay sharp and focus under stress, whether it’s work, studying, or even athletic performance requiring concentration.

Unlike some herbs that directly induce sleepiness or heavy relaxation, L-theanine is more subtle. It’s often described as promoting “alert calm” or calm focus. It crosses the blood-brain barrier and influences brainwave activity and neurotransmitters. L-theanine increases alpha brainwave activity, which is the pattern you see when someone’s awake, but in a relaxed, meditative state. Think of alpha waves as the mental state of being calm yet attentive. At the same time, L-theanine can modulate levels of neurotransmitters like GABA, the main inhibitory or calming neurotransmitter, dopamine, and serotonin, and even reduce excitatory signaling like glutamate to some extent. The net effect is a reduction in feelings of stress and anxiety without sedation. You stay clear-headed.

Because of these properties, researchers have looked at L-theanine for stress relief, anxiety reduction, and cognitive performance. One placebo-controlled trial in healthy adults found that taking L-theanine daily over a month led to reductions in stress-related symptoms and improvements in aspects of cognitive function. Participants reported lower stress and anxiety levels, and interestingly, their sleep quality improved too with L-theanine. We’ll talk more about that in a second. Other studies have shown that even a single dose of L-theanine at 200 milligrams can help attenuate the body’s stress response. For example, when people are put through stressful cognitive tasks, those who took L-theanine have lower markers of stress like reduced heart rate or stress hormone output and report feeling more relaxed than those who took a placebo. And those effects can kick in relatively quickly, within an hour or so of ingestion for acute stress relief.

Now, L-theanine’s claim to fame in the neurotropic or brain enhancing world is its synergy with caffeine. There’s a lot of research showing that combining L-theanine with caffeine yields a better performance on attention and memory tasks than caffeine alone, with fewer side effects. One study demonstrated that about 100 milligrams of L-theanine taken with a moderate dose of caffeine significantly improved focus and accuracy on cognitive tasks while reducing the jitteriness or anxious feeling caffeine can induce. Essentially L-theanine smooths out the rough edges of caffeine. It prevents the spike in blood pressure and the overstimulation, creating a more sustainable alertness. Many people find that pairing their coffee or tea with an L-theanine supplement gives them energy plus calm concentration, as opposed to energy plus nervous energy. In practice, this combination can be great for anyone who needs to be “on” mentally but still composed– think students taking exams, professionals giving presentations, or gamers and e-sports competitors who need steady focus.

Let me share the story of a patient I’ll call Jeff, a 35-year-old software engineer. Jeff loved coffee and needed mental energy for his job, but he also had a lot of anxiety. Tight deadlines and constant Zoom meetings made him feel quite jittery, and by mid afternoon, he’d either be crashing or over-caffeinated and feeling completely frazzled. I suggested he try adding L-theanine. Specifically, we adjusted his routine so that in the morning he took 100 milligrams of L-theanine with his cup of coffee, and another 100 milligrams in the early afternoon with a cup of green tea, instead of reaching for a second big coffee. The difference for him was night and day. He reported back that he felt calm but alert during his work hours. He said, “I’m still just as productive, but I don’t have that constant knot in my stomach or the racing thoughts. I can actually focus on the code in front of me.” He also noticed he didn’t get the usual 3pm energy crash or feel the need for sugary snacks to pep up. The L-theanine seemed to help keep his energy and concentration on a more even keel. Importantly, Jeff also struggled with some social anxiety. For example, speaking up in meetings. He found that taking 200 milligrams of L-theanine about 30-60 minutes before a big meeting helped him feel more at ease and confident without any sedation or cognitive dulling. Hearing feedback like “I felt like myself, just not as anxious” is common with L-theanine. It takes that adrenaline edge off stressful situations.  And sure enough, Jeff’s sleep improved a bit too. By reducing late afternoon caffeine and stress levels, he was able to wind down in the evening more easily. L-theanine is not a sedative, but by lowering overall anxiety, it can indirectly lead to better sleep onset.

L-theanine is typically taken in the 100 to 200 milligram range per dose. For acute anxiety or focus, you can use it as needed– for example, before a stressful event, or alongside caffeine in the morning. For general anxiety reduction, some people take it a couple of times a day, morning and evening, at bedtime. What I appreciate is that L-theanine at these doses is very safe and not habit-forming. It doesn’t cause drowsiness for most people, so you truly can take it during the day and still function normally– in fact, arguably, function better due to improved focus. There is no risk of dependency, and you can use it regularly or just on high stress days.

If you’re a tea drinker, note that an average cup of green tea might only contain between five and 20 milligrams of L-theanine, depending on how it’s brewed and the tea quality. So while drinking green tea is great, you won’t reach the doses used in research from beverages alone, and that’s where a supplement can help if you want the full effect. Any product from a reputable manufacturer that lists L-theanine and not D-theanine and has good reviews should be fine, as L-theanine is a pretty stable and straightforward compound.

I also want to highlight an emerging area, which is L-theanine for sleep. Some studies and a lot of anecdotal reports, suggest that taking 100 to 200 milligrams of L-theanine in the evening can improve sleep quality, not by knocking you out, but by calming the racing mind that often interferes with falling asleep. It can reduce the tendency to ruminate when your head hits the pillow. In fact, one randomized trial in people with generalized anxiety showed that L-theanine not only reduced anxiety scores, but also improved sleep parameters like sleep latency (how fast they fall asleep) and sleep efficiency. So, it’s multi purpose. Use it in the day to stay calm and focused, or at night to ease into sleep. It’s quite rare to have a compound that can do both, but L-theanine’s modulating effect on brain waves seems to allow that flexibility. In sum, L-theanine helps you to achieve a state of relaxed alertness. For anyone dealing with stress, anxiety, or concentration issues, and especially if you consume caffeine, L-theanine is a fantastic research-backed tool to consider.

Lemon Balm: Nature’s Gentle Tranquilizer for Anxious Minds

Now let’s move on to lemon balm, which we could call nature’s gentle tranquilizer. Lemon balm is an herb in the mint family. If you crush the leaves, they give off a lovely, lemony scent, hence the name. It’s been used for millennia in European herbal medicine as a calming and soothing remedy. Traditional uses range from easing indigestion to lifting mood and helping with sleep. In medieval times, it was brewed in teas and tonics for melancholy and to ward off nightly spirits, which today we’d interpret as relieving anxiety and insomnia. It’s even said that Paracelsus, a famous 15th century physician, believed lemon balm could completely revivify a person. While that might be an exaggeration, it speaks to the high regard this herb has historically enjoyed for its therapeutic properties.

Modern science has revealed several ways lemon balm works its magic. The most well known mechanism is through the GABA system. GABA, as I mentioned before, is our primary inhibitory or calming neurotransmitter. When GABA binds to its receptors in the brain, it essentially tells our neurons to slow down firing, which produces a sense of relaxation and reduces anxiety. Lemon balm contains compounds, most notably rosmarinic acid, but also others like ursolic acid, that inhibit the enzyme GABA-transaminase. Why does that matter? Because GABA-transaminase is the enzyme that breaks down GABA. By inhibiting this enzyme, lemon balm causes more GABA to be available in the brain. Think of it like preventing the cleanup crew from mopping up all of the calming neurotransmitter so GABA accumulates and continues to exert its calming effect. This is a similar strategy to how some pharmaceutical anti-anxiety drugs work. For example, a drug like valparate, which is used in anxiety and epilepsy, also inhibits GABA-transaminase. Additionally, compounds in lemon balm can bind directly to GABA-A receptors and activate them, essentially mimicking GABA’s natural calming action. It may not be as strong as a prescription sedative, which is good because you avoid heavy sedation and dependence, but it’s enough to produce a notable anti-anxiety effect. In plain terms, lemon balm helps turn down the volume on brain activity when it’s too loud, especially in those worry circuits.

Beyond GABA, lemon balm has some other brain benefits. It has mild cholinergic activity, meaning it can inhibit the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, [which is] the neurotransmitter involved in memory and focus. This could contribute to a clear mind or even cognitive enhancement, which is interesting, because often we assume anything calming might dull cognition. Not so with lemon balm at typical doses. There’s also emerging evidence that lemon balm might modulate the HPA axis (our stress response system) and even interact with the gut-brain axis in beneficial ways, but those effects are still being studied.

Lemon balm’s efficacy for anxiety, stress, and insomnia has been supported by several clinical trials and a few systematic reviews. One meta-analysis in 2021 pooled results from a number of studies and found that lemon balm significantly improved anxiety symptoms in the participants. The effect size for anxiety in that analysis was quite robust– nearly one standard deviation of improvement versus placebo, which tells us this herb is not a placebo. It’s doing something real and measurable. The same meta-analysis also found a benefit for mild to moderate depression, which often goes hand in hand with anxiety.

There have been studies on specific formulations of lemon balm as well. Lemon balm is commonly taken as an herbal tea or in capsules, but recently, a specialized extract called Relissa has drawn attention. Relissa is basically lemon balm extract enhanced with a phospholipid delivery system, often called phytosome technology, to improve absorption of its active compounds like rosmarinic acid. In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial on adults with moderate stress and sleep disturbance, 400 milligrams a day of Relissa for three weeks led to significant improvements in multiple parameters. It reduced feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress as measured by standard questionnaires, and it improved sleep quality and overall mental well-being. People taking the lemon balm extract reported better mood and less anxiety, and they also had higher scores on a well-being scale and quality of life measures compared to the placebo group. Notably, these improvements happened in just three weeks and without side effects– no drowsiness, dependency issues, etc. Essentially, that study confirmed lemon balm, especially in a highly absorbable form like Relissa, can act as a natural calming agent for those dealing with emotional distress and sleep problems.

Another interesting aspect: some trials have found that lemon balm not only calms people, but can also improve cognitive performance under stress. For instance, in one study, healthy volunteers who took lemon balm extract experienced reduced anxiety and improved mood, but they also did better on certain cognitive tasks like memory and attention tests compared to placebo. This likely ties back to lemon balm’s dual action of reducing anxiety, which can itself improve cognitive function since anxiety impairs it, and its mild pro-cholinergic effect that might sharpen the mind a bit. Think of lemon balm as taking away the anxious noise in your head, which lets your natural focus and cheerfulness come forward.

I want to share a case from my clinic that illustrates lemon balm’s benefits nicely. David was a 47-year-old patient who described himself as being constantly on edge. He had a demanding job, and after work he struggled to transition into relaxation mode. His mind would continue racing about emails, tomorrow’s tasks, etc. By the time he went to bed, he felt exhausted but wired, and often had trouble falling asleep because he just couldn’t shut his brain off. He didn’t want to take prescription sleep aids or anti-anxiety meds due to fear of dependency and next day grogginess. So we started a regimen focused on evening relaxation, and a key component was Relissa lemon balm, the highly bioavailable form I just mentioned. He started taking 200 milligrams twice a day in capsule form. Within about two weeks, David reported a significant change. He said, “I actually feel evening now. Before it was like my daytime anxiety just never stopped, and evenings were no different. Now I can feel myself unwinding after dinner.” His descriptions included being able to sit and watch a show with his wife without his mind drifting back to work catastrophes, and feeling physically more relaxed. He noted his shoulders weren’t up by his ears all the time, and his jaw unclenched. When bedtime came, he felt sleepy, something he hadn’t felt in a long time because he was always too tense. He started falling asleep faster, and importantly, staying asleep through the night. His sleep tracker showed his restlessness at night decreased markedly. David’s wife even asked him what changed, because he was noticeably less irritable and more present in the evenings. Aside from the lemon balm, we did work on other habits, like no work emails after 7pm, dimming the lights, and addressing sleep hygiene. But he’s convinced the lemon balm was the secret sauce, and that allowed him to actually stick to those habits by giving him that internal sense of calm. And I agree. The timing of his improvement strongly corresponded with adding the Relissa lemon balm.

From a safety perspective, lemon balm is very gentle. In that meta-analysis I mentioned, no serious adverse effects were attributed to it. It doesn’t typically cause morning grogginess or memory issues. The most one might experience is a bit of relaxation, or if you took a lot during the day, possibly a touch of sleepiness, though many find it non-sedating enough to use during daytime for anxiety relief. Historically, lemon balm was even used in kids and elders for calming, which speaks to its safety. It’s typically considered fine to use daily, and you can also use it situationally. For example, taking some before a flight if you have travel anxiety, or before a dentist appointment, if that stresses you out.

If you enjoy herbal tea, lemon balm tea in the evening is a great ritual. But for a stronger effect and more consistent dosing, standardized extracts are available in capsules or tinctures. Common doses range from about 300 milligrams up to 600 milligrams of lemon balm extract per day, often in divided doses. The Relissa extract I mentioned was dosed at 400 milligrams per day in the trial, 200 milligrams twice a day. So something in that ballpark is a therapeutic dose. When you’re looking for a lemon balm supplement check to make sure it’s standardized. For example, “standardized to 5% rosmarinic acid” or similar. That ensures you’re getting a potent product. Also, the Relissa form is a specific phospholipid-bound extract. While you can’t get that exact formulation unless a supplement label says “Relissa phytosome,” any high-quality lemon balm extract should confer good benefits, perhaps just requiring a slightly higher dose if absorption is lower.

Many of my patients take lemon balm in the late afternoon or evening, as that’s when its calming effects are most welcome, But if you have anxiety during the day, you can take smaller doses during the daytime as well. It generally won’t impair function. One example is an individual might take 200 milligrams in the morning to combat afternoon stress and another 200 milligrams after dinner to prepare for sleep. It could be a bit of a trial and error to find the optimal timing for you. To summarize, lemon balm is like a gentle tranquilizer provided by Mother Nature. It’s not going to knock you out or erase your anxiety 100 percent in a snap. Don’t expect a drug-like slam effect. But it will tone things down significantly. Studies in traditional use both back that it reduces anxiety, promotes a sense of calm, lifts mood, and aids sleep– essentially everything we’re looking for in a stress relief nutrient. It pairs beautifully with the other supplements we’re discussing. In fact, combos of lemon balm with things like L-theanine are common sleep formulas, and we’ll talk more about synergy soon. If you’re someone who feels “tired and wired” or experiences a lot of nervous tension, lemon balm is a must-know tool in the natural toolbox.

Holy Basil: A Sacred Adaptogen for Calm and Clarity

Let’s move on to holy basil, with the Latin name of Ocimum sanctum or Ocimum tenuiflorum. Often called tulsi, holy basil is revered in traditional Ayurvedic medicine as a sort of elixir of life. In fact, the Sanskrit name tulsi means “the incomparable one,” reflecting the high esteem for this herb over more than 3000 years of use. It’s a leafy shrub in the mint family, like lemon balm, and Hindus consider it a sacred plant. You’ll often find holy basil growing around temples and shrines in India as a symbol of purification and protection. Traditionally, holy basil has been used to promote overall well-being and spiritual balance, but it’s especially renowned for helping the body and mind adapt to stress. Herbalists classify it as an adaptogen, meaning it helps restore equilibrium in the face of physical, emotional and environmental stressors. In other words, holy basil gently nudges your stress response system back toward normal when life throws it off kilter.

Modern research is now validating holy basil’s broad benefits. One of its key roles is as a natural stress reducer and anxiolytic, or anxiety reliever. Holy basil contains phytochemicals like ursolic acid, eugenol, and rosmarinic acid that work on multiple pathways. They help lower elevated cortisol levels and modulate neurotransmitters involved in mood. Some studies suggest holy basil may influence GABA and dopamine activity, and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain. Think of holy basil as providing a double benefit. It calms the mind while also dampening the physical effects of stress on the body. For example, in animal studies holy basil has prevented stress-related ulcer formation and memory problems, showing effects comparable to conventional anti-anxiety medications, but without the heavy sedation. This has led researchers to investigate holy basil on people dealing with stress, anxiety, and related issues like brain fog or fatigue.

The human studies, while fewer in number than those for nutrients like Ashwagandha, are quite encouraging. In one placebo controlled trial, 150 adults with high stress levels took a holy basil extract for six weeks. The holy basil group saw significant reductions in stress-related symptoms– things like forgetfulness, sexual problems caused by stress, exhaustion, and sleep difficulties improved compared to placebo. Another clinical trial focused on people with generalized anxiety disorder. Participants who took holy basil twice a day reported notable decreases in anxiety, stress and depression after eight weeks, versus minimal changes in the control group. What’s striking is that these benefits came without significant side effects. In these studies and others, holy basil was very well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. Some research even indicates cognitive perks. Holy basil might help with mental clarity and memory. For instance, a small study found improvement in attention and cognitive flexibility in adults after taking holy basil for 15 days. Many people describe feeling more centered and less mentally scattered when using this herb– essentially less “wired and tired” and more calmly alert.

To illustrate its impact, let me share a case from my practice. Alex, a 34-year-old software engineer, came to me with what he called “afternoon angst and brain fog.” His mornings were okay, but by late afternoon, he’d feel anxious, mentally cloudy, and craving sugary snacks– a pattern I often see in stressed individuals with fluctuating blood sugar. He also had trouble unwinding in the evenings, his mind churning over work problems. Alex was hesitant to try stronger supplements or medications that might make him drowsy, so we decided to incorporate holy basil into his routine. He started by drinking a cup of organic tulsi tea in the late afternoon instead of a second coffee, and then he added a 200 milligram capsule of a concentrated extract standardized to 2% ursolic acid with his lunch each day. The changes were subtle at first, but by about four weeks, Alex noticed a significant difference. He told me, “That frazzled feeling I usually get at 4pm isn’t hitting me as hard. I still feel a bit tired, but I’m not as panicky or foggy. I can think straight to finish my work.” He also observed that he wasn’t grabbing junk food as often. “I realize now I was stress snacking. The holy basil tea takes the edge off so I don’t reach for cookies out of nerves.” In the evenings, his wife remarked that he seemed more present and relaxed instead of distant and agitated. Alex found he could engage in some kind of calming activity after work without his mind racing, which in turn helped him sleep better at night. This case is a great example of how holy basil can provide gentle, whole-person support– less anxiety and racy thoughts, clearer thinking, fewer stress cravings, and an easier wind-down in the evening. It wasn’t a knockout punch like a sedative, but more like a buffer between Alex and his stress, so he was less reactive and more resilient.

When it comes to using holy basil, there are a couple of options. As Alex did, you can drink it as an herbal tea. Tulsi has an earthy, slightly spicy flavor that has been enjoyed for centuries as a daily health ritual in India. But for a more potent and measurable dose, standardized extracts are available in capsules and tinctures. Doses in human studies have varied quite a bit, but if you’re using an extract that has been standardized to 2% ursolic acid, then I think a dose of about 200 to 300 milligrams a day is best, especially when you’re combining holy basil with some of the other compounds we discuss in this show. Holy basil can be taken at different times depending on your needs: morning or midday to promote calm focus through a stressful work day, and/or in the late afternoon or evening to smooth the transition into a relaxed state. It’s quite flexible. Since it’s not stimulating, you don’t have to worry that a later dose will keep you up at night. And in fact, it may help with racing thoughts at bedtime and sleep.

One of the best aspects of holy basil is its safety profile. This herb has been used in culinary and therapeutic contexts for millennia, and modern research backs up its gentle nature. Studies in humans have reported no significant adverse effects. For example, a systematic review of 24 trials noted that not a single serious side effect was attributed to holy basil. Some people might experience minor issues like nausea or loose stools at higher doses, but those are uncommon and often avoided by taking holy basil with food. It’s also non-habit forming and doesn’t cause the sedation or cognitive impairment that medications like benzodiazepines can. That said, a few precautions are worth mentioning. Because holy basil has traditionally been noted to affect fertility, and animal studies in very high doses showed anti fertility effects, we avoid it in pregnant women or those trying to conceive, just out of an abundance of caution. Also, holy basil can mildly lower blood sugar and thin the blood, so if you’re on insulin or diabetes medication or blood thinners, you’d want to consult with your healthcare provider and monitor those effects. But for the vast majority of people, holy basil is exceptionally safe. It is an everyday stress tonic that you can use by itself or alongside other supplements.

In summary, holy basil earns its title as the “incomparable herb” by calming the mind, protecting the body from stress, and enhancing overall resilience. It’s a perfect bridge between ancient wisdom and modern stress management– a sacred plant helping us to find a state of calm clarity amidst the chaos of life.

Ashwagandha: The Adaptogen for Resilience and Restful Sleep

Finally, let’s talk about ashwagandha, the powerhouse adaptogen for resilience and restful sleep. Ashwagandha is an herb rooted in the Ayurvedic tradition of India, sometimes called Indian ginseng, though it’s not related phytochemically to ginseng, it’s an analogous concept as a general tonic. The name somnifera actually means “sleep inducing” in Latin, hinting at one of its traditional uses as a sleep aid and relaxant. But ashwagandha is much more than a sleep herb. It’s classified as an adaptogen, which means it helps the body adapt to stress and normalize functions that have been thrown out of balance by stressors. Adaptogens essentially improve your stress tolerance and help bring you back to equilibrium, whether stress has you ramped up, anxious, hyper, or wiped out, fatigued, or burnt out.

Ashwagandha’s effects are quite broad. It has active compounds called withanolides that impact several physiological pathways. One of the main actions is on the HPA axis, or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is our central stress response system. When we’re chronically stressed, this system can get dysregulated, often resulting in elevated cortisol (the primary stress hormone) at the wrong times, which can then cause anxiety, sleep issues, blood sugar issues, etc. Ashwagandha has been shown in multiple studies to reduce excessive cortisol levels back toward normal. It likely influences the hypothalamus and pituitary to temper down their panic signals, and it may also increase the sensitivity of cortisol receptors so that the body senses enough cortisol and doesn’t overproduce. The net result is a more balanced cortisol curve, higher when it should be in the morning and lower when it should be in the evening, rather than flat out high all the time or spiking at night. This translates into feeling less stressed and more energetic in the day and calmer at night.

Ashwagandha also has direct anti-anxiety effects. For one, it can bind to GABA receptors, though not as directly as lemon balm does, and it’s thought to mimic some GABA-like calming activity. It may also reduce the over-firing of neurons in fear or worry centers in the brain. Some animal research suggests ashwagandha can lower adrenaline and other stress chemicals and increase serotonin in certain brain regions, contributing to anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects. Beyond the brain, ashwagandha supports the thyroid and immune system. Chronic stress often suppresses thyroid function and immunity, so ashwagandha’s normalizing effect here helps reverse that. It even has antioxidant effects that protect the brain and body from stress related wear and tear.

Ashwagandha is one of the most studied adaptogens. Let’s start with anxiety and stress outcomes. Several randomized controlled trials have shown that ashwagandha significantly reduces anxiety levels in people with stress and anxiety disorders. For example, one notable eight-week trial in adults with chronic stress had participants take either ashwagandha extract, 300 milligrams twice daily of a standardized extract, or a placebo. The ashwagandha group saw big reductions in their anxiety and stress scores on assessments like the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and stress questionnaires, and importantly, their cortisol levels dropped by an average of around 30 percent relative to placebo. Think about that– a 1/3 reduction in a major stress hormone through an herb, which is quite remarkable. These individuals also report a better mood, less irritability, and often improved focus, likely because when you’re not drowning in stress hormones, you can think more clearly. Another trial found similar outcomes, lower anxiety scores and significant cortisol reduction versus placebo.

What about sleep? Ashwagandha shines here too. Trials involving people with insomnia or poor sleep have found that ashwagandha supplementation can improve multiple sleep parameters. A 2019 study in insomnia patients using 300 milligrams twice daily showed improvements in sleep quality, latency, and anxiety levels compared to placebo. Another trial on healthy but stressed individuals found that ashwagandha increased total sleep time and sleep efficiency, and people woke up feeling more refreshed. Ashwagandha’s Latin name somnifera is well earned. It helps restore healthy sleep, likely through cortisol reduction (high cortisol at night is a common reason for people being unable to fall asleep or stay asleep), and through overall CNS calming. Unlike a sedative that forces your brain into sleep, ashwagandha gently nudges your body toward a natural sleep state by reducing the obstacles like stress hormones and hyperarousal.

Another area to mention is ashwagandha’s effect on energy and fatigue. Chronic stress often leaves people exhausted. Burning the candle at both ends catches up eventually. Ashwagandha, being adaptogenic, can simultaneously calm your nerves and combat fatigue by supporting the adrenal glands and mitochondrial function. People taking it frequently report not just feeling calmer, but also experiencing a subtle boost in their endurance and energy during the day. That makes ashwagandha unique in that it can both invigorate and relax. Basically, it helps normalize whatever direction stress pushed you toward. If stress made you anxious and hyper, it will likely calm you. If stress made you depressed and fatigued, it may energize you. This bidirectional modulation is a hallmark of adaptogens.

I have many, many examples of ashwagandha helping patients. It’s one of the most reliably helpful supplements in my toolkit. Let’s talk about Stephanie, a 40-year-old working mom who came to me with what she called “frazzled and fried” syndrome. She had a demanding job in marketing, two young kids, and aging parents she was helping care for. The quintessential sandwich generation stress load. Stephanie’s symptoms: she was anxious, feelings of being overwhelmed, racing mind especially at night, chronically fatigued. Despite the anxiety, she felt utterly drained, waking up tired, needing caffeine to get moving, and her sleep was poor. She’d wake up at 3am with her mind churning over tomorrow’s to-do list, and her heart beating out of her chest. She also noticed she was getting sick more often, colds, flus, etc, likely because stress was hammering her immune system. Lab tests showed her cortisol curve was abnormal. Instead of peaking in the morning and then gradually falling, hers was kind of flat in the morning, explaining the fatigue, and then spiked in the evening, explaining the second wind at night and insomnia.

Feeling wired, anxious, or exhausted? In this episode of Revolution Health Radio, Chris Kresser shares his top 5 nutrients (saffron, L-theanine, lemon balm, holy basil, and ashwagandha) to support calm, focus, and restful sleep. #ChrisKresser #RHR #StressRelief

This is classic HPA axis dysregulation from chronic stress. We put together a plan that included lifestyle changes, better sleep hygiene, boundaries around work emails at night, blood sugar balancing diet, etc. But a central element was ashwagandha. I started her on a high-concentration extract called Sensoril, which is known for its potency and gentle effects and only requires a dose of about 125 milligrams per day. At her four-week follow up, Stephanie had already noticed improvement. She said her anxiety decreased markedly. She felt more level headed and less reactive when work crises came up. She wasn’t experiencing that heart pounding panic mode as often. She even mentioned, somewhat surprised, that she felt more energy during the day. “I’m still tired,” she said, “but it’s not that bone-deep fatigue, and I’m not relying on three lattes to get through the day anymore. I have a bit of natural energy.” She also believed her focus at work improved, likely because she wasn’t so exhausted and anxious. By eight weeks, her sleep was much better. She was sleeping through the night, and if she did wake she was able to fall back asleep. Prior to ashwagandha, any little wake up would lead to two hours of anxious tossing and turning. An interesting observation here. She had a mildly underactive thyroid, subclinical hypothyroidism, before starting ashwagandha, and when we rechecked her 12 weeks after she started, her thyroid hormone levels had improved somewhat. Ashwagandha can support thyroid function in those who are low, which is a nice perk, although you need to be careful with this if you’re taking thyroid medication or if you have hyperthyroidism, because it may affect the dose of your medication, or it may push you further into hyperthyroidism, if you’re already hyperthyroid.

We also retested her cortisol, and it had shifted. Her morning cortisol went up closer to normal, which is a good thing, because it was too low before, and her evening cortisol came down, which is also good. Ashwagandha essentially helped repair her cortisol rhythm. Clinically, that translates to feeling more awake in the morning and calmer in the evening, which is exactly what we wanted. Over the next few months, Stephanie continued to thrive. Her immune resilience improved, fewer sick days. Her mood was more upbeat. She didn’t feel as blue during particularly stressful weeks. Ashwagandha has some antidepressant qualities, for sure, and overall, she said, “I feel like I can just roll with the punches now, instead of getting knocked down by every little thing.” That, in essence, is what adaptogens like ashwagandha do– increase your capacity to handle stress.

When choosing an ashwagandha supplement, quality and standardization are key. My favorite extract at this point is Sensoril, a blend of root and leaf extract, standardized to 10 percent withanolides. It stands out because it uses both the root and leaf of the plant, which aligns more closely with the traditional Ayurvedic use of ashwagandha. This is both more holistic and it’s safer. Sensoril is standardized to a higher withanolide content, yet you need a lower dose, typically 125 to 250 milligrams per day, than you would with most root-only extracts. Clinical trials using Sensoril have shown significant reductions in anxiety, perceived stress, and cortisol levels by up to 30 percent compared to placebo, along with reported improvements in sleep quality and overall vitality. Importantly, emerging safety data suggests that certain forms of ashwagandha with extremely high withanolide content, like 40 percent, have been associated with liver injury in rare, susceptible individuals. Several case reports and observational studies found herb-induced liver injury linked to ashwagandha products, especially those with these extremely high levels of root-only withanolides. Keep in mind these cases typically involved large daily doses and they resolved upon discontinuation, but some did have prolonged course or serious outcomes, especially in people with pre-existing liver conditions. Mechanistically, compounds with extremely high withanolide content may damage liver cells under low-glutathione states. Fortunately, Sensoril uses a balanced root and leaf profile that avoids unnecessarily high withanolide content, potentially reducing this risk.

Ashwagandha can be taken any time of day, but I often split the dose, morning and late afternoon or evening. Taking some in the evening is helpful for the sleep aspect. It won’t knock you out immediately, but it sets the stage for less nighttime cortisol and better sleep. Some people also take it about an hour before bed for that reason. It’s generally very well tolerated. A small number of people might experience mild GI upset. If so, taking it with meals helps. And as a precaution, those with hyperthyroidism or on thyroid medication should consult with a doctor, since ashwagandha can raise thyroid hormone levels, which, again, can be great for hypothyroid folks, as long as you’re watching your medication dose, but exercise caution in hyperthyroidism. Pregnant women are usually advised to avoid ashwagandha because of traditional cautions. The research is very limited here. I think the precautionary principle applies. Otherwise, it’s considered safe for most people and has been traditionally used for a long time.

Ashwagandha is sometimes called a “rasayana” in Ayurveda, meaning a rejuvenative. It not only helps acutely with stress and anxiety, but it also supports overall vitality and resilience when used over the long term. Think of it as helping to fortify your stress armor. After a few months, many people feel they just don’t get as frazzled as they used to, and they recover from stress more quickly. That’s an amazing gift in today’s world.

Synergy: Combining These Nutrients for Maximum Benefit

Okay, we’ve talked about four fantastic nutrients individually– saffron, L-theanine, lemon balm, and ashwagandha. Each one on its own can make a real difference in how you feel. But one of the most exciting aspects of using natural interventions is the potential for synergy, where the combined effect is greater than the sum of its parts. These four actually complement each other extremely well, because they act on different but interconnected pathways of stress and mood regulation. Let’s do a quick recap of their lanes and how those lanes merge.

Saffron works primarily by boosting positive neurotransmitters like serotonin and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the nervous system. It elevates mood and has mild anti anxiety effects and can aid sleep by improving overall emotional balance.

L-theanine modulates brain waves and neurotransmitters to promote calm alertness. It directly helps with anxiety and stress without sedation and improves focus. It’s great for acute stress and for enhancing cognitive function under pressure.

Lemon balm increases GABA’s availability and directly soothes the nervous system through GABAergic pathways. It’s particularly effective for tension, anxiety, and insomnia. It’s like an herbal chill pill that can also lighten mood and ease you into sleep.

Holy basil helps the body adapt to stress on multiple levels. As an adaptogen, it normalizes stress hormones, for example taming high cortisol, and calms the nervous system. It reduces anxiety and mental fog, and its antioxidant properties protect the brain from stress-related damage. In short, holy basil provides both mental tranquility and physical stress relief, filling in any gaps in our anti-stress arsenal.

Ashwagandha reduces the hyperactivation of the HPA axis, lowering cortisol and adrenaline, while also possibly boosting GABA and serotonin in the brain. It addresses the root of stress by strengthening the body’s stress response system. It calms anxiety, improves resilience and supports deeper sleep by fixing stress hormone rhythms.

Now, notice how these cover different angles. Saffron and lemon balm both help with mood and anxiety, but saffron is more about neurotransmitter balance (antidepressant-like), while lemon balm is more about neurotransmitter inhibition (anti-anxiety via GABA). L-theanine and lemon balm both promote calm, but L-theanine keeps you sharp, great for daytime, and lemon balm is a bit more relaxing, great for the evening. Ashwagandha kind of works in the background on the endocrine level (hormones) to make sure the stress response isn’t overreacting, and that sets the stage for the others to work even better. Holy basil overlaps with ashwagandha’s adaptogenic role, helping to stabilize cortisol and shield the body from stress, and it shares some of lemon balm’s direct calming effects on the mind. In this way, holy basil serves as a bridge, providing both physical and mental stress support and rounding out the team.

By combining them, we can achieve a 24-hour spectrum of support.

Morning and daytime: ashwagandha and holy basil will help moderate your stress hormones as you head into your busy day, and saffron will give a gentle boost to your mood and outlook, offsetting that grumpy or anxious morning feeling some of us get. Saffron can also help if you tend to get stress-related cravings or midday slumps. Some research indicates it reduces snacking driven by low mood, and holy basil can do that as well. L-theanine can smooth out any jitteriness from your morning caffeine while enhancing your focus and performance. The result is an upbeat yet centered start of the day.

Evening: this is where lemon balm, holy basil and ashwagandha really shine. Together they relax your nervous system, quiet racing thoughts, and prep you for restorative sleep. The ashwagandha and holy basil in the late afternoon or early evening ensure that cortisol is coming down to appropriate nighttime levels so you don’t get that second wind of wired energy at 9pm, while lemon balm directly eases you into a tranquil state without sedatives. You might feel your tension unspool, muscle tightness easing, mind less preoccupied, setting you up for a good night’s rest.

Bedtime: Lemon balm, saffron and L-theanine can work together if needed to calm the mind and promote deep and restful sleep. A cup of lemon balm plus holy basil tea alongside an L-theanine capsule, or taking them all together as supplements, makes a nice non-drug nightcap to signal your brain it’s time to sleep. And unlike a glass of wine, this combo won’t disrupt your sleep architecture or leave you groggy.

All these together cover a lot of ground– neurotransmitters, hormones, brain waves and receptor modulation. Instead of hitting one pathway hard, like a prescription might do, we’re nudging multiple pathways gently. This tends to yield a more balanced effect and fewer side effects. It’s like the difference between a single-note approach versus a harmonious cord. The cord (combo) can be richer and more adaptive to the body’s needs. It’s important to note that none of these supplements is addictive or causes dependency. In fact, some of them, like ashwagandha, may have sustained benefits even after you stop, because they help reset your stress response. Some patients eventually taper down the doses or come off once they’ve achieved a stable improvement and have integrated other lifestyle changes. But many choose to continue taking them, akin to how someone might take a daily multivitamin.

When taking these nutrients, look for reputable companies that do third party testing. For example, ensure your saffron is real. Yes, unfortunately, there have been adulterations with cheap spices, especially on Amazon. Get one at sites using clinically studied extract.  Ensure your lemon balm actually contains Melissa officinalis and is standardized. The same goes for holy basil– check for a standardized extract with 2 percent ursolic acid so you know it’s potent. For the combos I described, one might buy them separately or find a formulated product that includes several of them. The nice thing is that saffron, L-theanine, lemon balm and ashwagandha do not have any known negative interactions with each other. They play very well together, so you can feel comfortable that taking them in combination is not only effective but safe, as long as you follow the recommended doses and consult with a healthcare provider if you have any specific medical conditions or are taking medications.

Speaking of safety and medications, one should always use a bit of caution and ideally medical guidance when combining supplements with prescription drugs for mood or sleep. For example, saffron has a mild serotonin boosting effect, so if someone is on an SSRI antidepressant that also boosts serotonin, they should talk to their doctor. While saffron has been used safely along antidepressants in several studies, it’s wise to monitor for any signs of too much serotonergic effect, although, again, the risk of that is low at the recommended dose. Lemon balm and L-theanine are very safe, but if someone’s on sedatives, adding any calming agent could have an additive effect, so they’d want to adjust accordingly. Holy basil is also very gentle, but because it can modestly lower blood sugar and may slow blood clotting, anyone on insulin or blood thinner should use caution with it as well.  Ashwagandha is also generally fine alongside many medications, but as I noted, watch thyroid levels if you’re on thyroid meds or you have hyperthyroidism, and it can potentiate sedatives a bit, though usually not an issue in clinical practice. The beauty of these naturals is that their side effect profiles are mild, if they exist at all, and they typically don’t cause the kind of strong pharmacological interactions many drugs do.

Now, synergy isn’t only biochemical. There’s also the aspect of behavioral synergy. When you’re less anxious and sleeping better, you’re more likely to exercise, make healthy food choices, have the patience to meditate or do yoga. Those lifestyle behaviors often further reduce stress and improve sleep, creating a virtuous cycle. I often say supplements like these give you a window of opportunity to implement healthier habits. For example, if lemon balm and ashwagandha calm your evening anxiety enough that you can actually enjoy a relaxing activity like reading or gentle stretching instead of pacing around worrying or scrolling on your phone, that activity itself will further reduce stress.

I want to highlight that using these supplements in combination is very much in line with the functional medicine, or holistic approach. We’re looking at the person as a whole– their neurotransmitters, hormones, sleep cycles, mental state, and addressing multiple nodes in that network. It’s a contrast to the single-drug, single-symptom paradigm, and patients often report that this holistic approach just feels more natural to their body. They feel supported on multiple levels. Many say things like, “I didn’t realize I could feel this calm and clear without feeling drugged.” To me, that’s a sign we’re working with the body, not against it.

Also remember that consistency is key, especially for saffron and ashwagandha. These tend to show more and more benefit over several weeks as they work their balancing magic on the brain and HPA axis. L-theanine and lemon balm can give more immediate effects, within an hour or two for theanine, within a day or two, for lemon balm’s sleep benefits. But they also have cumulative benefits over time, like lemon balm’s impact on GABA levels might increase with regular use. So, give it at least two months of regular use to fairly judge the effects. Many of the studies we cited were six to eight weeks or even longer, and they saw improvements continue over those periods.

To close out the episode, we learned that saffron, L-theanine, lemon balm, ashwagandha, and holy basil are five of the top natural compounds to combat stress and anxiety, support a calm and focused mind, ease the transition into evening relaxation, and improve sleep quality. They each have unique benefits: Saffron lifting mood and fighting depression, L-theanine providing calm focus, lemon balm soothing anxiety and tension, and ashwagandha building stress resilience and improving sleep by taming stress hormones. And they work even better in concert, covering for each other’s gaps and reinforcing each other’s strategies. By incorporating these, you’re addressing the chemical, neurological, and hormonal aspects of stress holistically. You’re effectively sending a signal to your body that it’s okay to switch from “fight or flight” mode into “rest and digest” mode. And when you spend more time in that latter mode, you heal, you think more clearly, you connect with others more easily because chronic stress can impede social engagement, and you simply feel more like yourself– the you that isn’t dominated by stress.

I want to emphasize how exciting it is that we now have scientific validation for these natural therapies. It’s a beautiful example of modern research catching up with ancient wisdom. Who would have thought that a spice like saffron could work as well as antidepressants in some cases, or that an herb used in medieval gardens like lemon balm could outperform placebo for anxiety, or that a tea amino acid like L-theanine can help us achieve a meditative brain state on demand. Holy basil, with its storied history in Ayurveda, is likewise gaining scientific validation as a natural stress reliever. And ashwagandha, with thousands of years of use in Ayurveda, is now showing up in peer reviewed journals as a legitimate treatment for stress and insomnia. For those of us looking for integrative approaches, this is validation of what we intuitively believe: that nature offers powerful solutions if we study and use them wisely.

I want to thank you for joining me in this exploration of stress supporting nutrients. If you found this useful, please share the episode with friends or family who could benefit. Chronic stress and anxiety are so common now, chances are you know someone who’s struggling and looking for help. These tools can truly be life changing for them. Thanks for listening to Revolution Health Radio. Please send your questions in to ChrisKresser.com/podcastquestion and I’ll talk to you next time.