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Summary
On episode 403 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with David Winston, a clinical herbalist who has studied medicinal plants since 1969 and is the author of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief.
David breaks down what actually makes an herb an “adaptogen” in scientific terms, tracing the idea back to Soviet military research and explaining how these herbs work through the body's two master stress systems, the HPA axis and the sympathoadrenal system.
The conversation moves into how adaptogens support allostasis, the body's ability to actively rebalance under stress, why they are not interchangeable or a cure all, and why they only work as a supplement to real foundations of health like sleep, diet, and movement.
Links
- https://herbalstudies.net
- https://herbaltherapeutics.net
Key Takeaways
- Adaptogens are a modern scientific category, not a folk term. An herb only qualifies if it is non-toxic at a normal dose, creates a general resistance to stress, has a balancing effect on the body, and works primarily through the HPA axis or the sympathoadrenal system, the body's two master stress control systems.
- Adaptogens support allostasis, the body's active balancing act, not just homeostasis. Homeostasis keeps things steady, but allostasis is the constant small adjustment needed to stay balanced, similar to shifting your weight on a surfboard, and adaptogens help the body make those adjustments under stress.
- They work like a stress vaccine, priming the body before stress hits. Similar to gradually building strength at the gym, adaptogens tell the body to prepare for stress at the cellular level, but unlike muscle gains, the benefit fades if you stop taking them regularly.
- Not every adaptogen fits every person. Some are stimulating, such as Asian ginseng or rhodiola, some are calming, such as ashwagandha or schisandra, and some are nourishing, such as American ginseng, so the right choice depends on the individual's specific pattern rather than a single default pick.
- Adaptogens are not a substitute for the foundations of health. Sleep, diet, exercise, and healthy lifestyle choices come first, and without them, adaptogens can only help someone “abuse themselves a little longer” before the body eventually collapses.
- Chronically high cortisol drives real disease. Elevated cortisol from poor sleep, obesity, or ongoing stress is pro-inflammatory, raises blood pressure, disrupts digestion and immunity, and is linked to abnormal tissue growth ranging from skin tags to fibroids to cancer.
- Herbs work best in individualized combinations, not as single silver bullets. Clinical herbalists pair adaptogens with companion herbs like nervines, nootropics, and restorative tonics, building a formula around the whole person rather than treating a diagnosis in isolation.
- David's strategies to get and stay well (he named four foundations): get 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep, move often throughout the day, eat a genuinely healthy diet suited to your own body rather than a fad, and nurture emotional and spiritual health through relationships and a sense of something larger than yourself.
“Great herbalists don't treat diseases, we treat people.”
David Winston