This article is written in partnership with Pure Synergy—they’re dedicated to making all-natural nutrition easier, and we’re honored to work with them. ~ ed.

It’s only the start of the year and we’re exhausted.

We all have our own story.

Some of us have children at home and can’t even get five minutes to ourselves. Some of us live alone and crave that in-person connection we’re all wired for. Some of us are frontline workers seeing and dealing with things the rest of us can’t imagine…

The details of our individual stories may differ, but we’re all feeling the strain as we adapt to this extended period of extreme change and acute stress.

Stress isn’t all bad, of course. Healthy levels of it work similarly to vaccination on the immune system: helping build strength and resilience. However, many of us are stressed way beyond what could be considered healthy right now.

The Most Common Signs of Unhealthy Stress

Recognizing how stress manifests in our bodies and minds allows us to take appropriate steps to mitigate it. To that end, here are some common red flags that signal unhealthy levels of stress and tell us we need to give ourselves some extra TLC.

Common Physical Signs:

• Tense muscles
• Lack of energy and fatigue
• Headaches
• Sleep problems
• Recurring colds or infections
• Low libido
• Stomach upset and gut problems

Common Emotional Signs:

• Lack of focus or concentration
• Irritability or short temper
• Feeling overwhelmed or anxious
• Difficulty to relax or quiet the mind

Common Behavioral Signs:

• Overeating “comfort foods” or loss of appetite
• Lack of motivation to exercise
• Tobacco or alcohol use
• Social withdrawal

Once we recognize how stress may be negatively impacting our health, we can create lifestyle choices that work best for us to relieve and manage it.

3 Key Nutritional Supplements for Tired Bodies & Strung-Out Minds.

When I find myself on the edge, I come back to three basic questions:

How much am I resting? What am I eating/drinking? How often am I moving/getting outside? 

It’s important to first get enough sleep, healthy food, water, and exercise (especially outside if we can). Start where you are and do what you can.

No Jedi mind-tricks, top-shelf organic supplements, or clever life-hacks will ever replace these fundamental building blocks of mental and physical health.

That said, nutrition can go a long way to help soothe our stressed-out bodies and strung-out minds. A little extra support might even help us rebalance and re-energize when we need it most.

So, I asked the good folks at Pure Synergy for some advice. They make their own superfood supplements with whole, natural ingredients at their award-winning, wind-powered, certified organic facility in beautiful Moab, Utah. I recently got some of their goodies in the mail and my environmentalist heart was fit to bursting at their beautiful, eco-friendly packaging. And taking such carefully crafted natural products each day feels like a gift to myself when I need it most.

In these times of “Coronavirus Burnout” and “Pandemic Fatigue,” their experts recommend three powerhouse players:

1. Choline: the “newest” essential nutrient on the block.

Though it’s been around for as long as all the others, choline is also the newest required dietary nutrient established by the FDA and a recent addition to most food nutrition labels and dietary supplement labels.

It’s estimated that 90% of Americans don’t get enough of this essential nutrient, which is closely related to the B vitamin family. That’s a little alarming when you consider the many important ways choline supports our health:

• Critical for healthy liver function
• Essential for healthy brain and nerve function
• Improves muscle movement and health
• Important for healthy prenatal brain development
• Supports healthy cellular metabolism
• Fosters healthy energy levels
• Facilitates healthy bile and fat metabolism

The fact that choline is found in all living cells points to its critical role in the proper functioning of a whole host of body systems, including the liver, nerves, muscles, and brain.

Choline levels have also been shown to be a factor in the outcome of breast cancer diagnoses (1.). You need to get even more of it if you consume alcohol, which depletes choline levels (2.), or if you’re pregnant, because of its importance for a baby’s healthy brain development.

While our bodies can produce small amounts of choline, we need to supplement it to meet our daily needs. Many foods are natural sources of choline, but the hitch for the plant-based eaters among us is that it’s found most abundantly in animal products. Cruciferous vegetables, legumes, and nuts are also good sources but they’re not as choline dense (approximately 1/3 of the richest animal sources).

So, it’s something many of us should consider supplementing in addition. However, as is always the case with supplements, not all choline is created equal.

Read more: choline supplements & what to watch out for >>

Pure Synergy’s Choline Complex™ is a natural, vegan alternative to the synthetic isolates and offers 50% of the Reference Dietary Intake (RDI) for choline per tablet. It’s made using a fermentation process that converts choline into a food-form matrix, bound to important cofactors and nutrients found naturally in the diet that serve as chaperones to deliver the choline to where it’s needed in the body. This fermented choline is then blended with choline-rich cruciferous ingredients for a nature-wise approach. Plus, it’s made without any artificial fillers or chemical solvents.

Stock up on the most eco & body-friendly form of choline >>

2. The “B team”: vitamin super-athletes of sustained, natural energy.

Brain fog, low energy, lack of resilience to stress…these are all potential signs of B vitamin deficiency.

Chanté Wiegand, ND, explains: “You can think of the B vitamins as a team of super-athletes working together in your body to keep you energized and healthy. Also called the B-complex vitamins, these nutritional superstars are involved in hundreds of cellular processes.

While each of the B vitamins is essential for good health, like in every team sport, in order for each to be successful they depend on the performance of their other teammates. They don’t fly solo, rather they join forces, interact, and help each other get absorbed or processed.”

Superstar players of the “B Team” include:

• Thiamin (B1): vital for maintaining a healthy brain and nervous system.
• Riboflavin (B2): important for skin and mucous membrane health.
• Niacin (B3): the most important B vitamin for energy production.
• Pantothenic Acid (B5): essential for healthy hormone production and overall growth.
• Pyridoxine (B6): supports healthy mood and sleep patterns.
• Biotin (B7):  “the beauty vitamin” aids the synthesis of key fatty acids for healthy hair, skin, and nails.
• Folate or Folic Acid (B9): essential for fetal nervous system development, the formation of red blood cells, and healthy circulation and cellular repair.
• Cobalamin (B12): a nutrient heavyweight, critically important for overall health.

While eating a well-balanced diet is key to ensuring we get enough of these nutrient powerhouses; a significant number of us may not be meeting our needs through diet alone.

Processed foods, declining soil nutrients, and chronic health conditions that influence nutrient absorption are just a few reasons for this. Factors like age, pregnancy, medical conditions, genetics, and prescription medications can also increase our body’s demand for B vitamins.

That’s when a supplement of the B team can assist. Pure Synergy’s Super B-Complex™ is a food-form source of all eight B vitamins, all made through a fermentation process using organic vegetables and fruits, then activated with enzymes and probiotics for enhanced bioavailability. Super B-Complex is also gentle on the gut and can be taken on an empty stomach.

Meet your daily B-needs easily & naturally >>

3. Adaptogens: nature’s stress busters.

With all that’s going on in the world, it’s no wonder this elite class of stress-relieving herbs has been in the spotlight recently. While they may be news to us, they’ve actually been in use for centuries in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic (Indian) Medicine.

Chronic stress short circuits the body on many levels. One of the main systems that gets disrupted is the HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis), which controls our stress response. When our body is stressed, we go through three physiological stages: the alarm phase, the phase of resistance, and the exhaustion phase.

Adaptogens help reduce the repeated triggering of the stress response in our daily lives by modulating the overall output of stress hormones. This increases our capacity to handle everyday stress and raises our ability to maintain optimal balance in the face of physical, mental, and emotional stress.

Simply put: when the going gets tough, adaptogens help us keep going.

Ashwagandha might be the Beyoncé of this particular nutritional group, but there are other talented players, each with their own benefits. If Rhodiola and Holy Basil (commonly known as Tulsi) are the Kelly and Michelle of adaptogens, then Pure Synergy’s Stress Remedy™ is the Destiny’s Child of stress-relieving supplements.

Learn more: the “Queen of Herbs” & other amazing adaptogens >>

Stress Remedy™ harnesses the adaptogenic power of all three herbal superheroes plus other renowned adaptogens to invigorate energy and concentration while reducing stress and fatigue.

Their formula also contains unique neurorestorative herbs rarely used elsewhere, taking this rockstar supplement to a new level and providing a long-term balancing and calming effect on the nervous system.

“Soldier” on with the Destiny’s Child of Stress supplements >>

Every single one of Pure Synergy’s ingredients is certified organic and their potent botanical extracts are never made with chemical solvents.

Do more than just hang on by your fingernails through these trying times. Show up as your best self, each precious new day.

Sources:
(1.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2775010/
(2.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2136403/