The Best Natural Energy and Mood Enhancing Ingredients

You may be familiar with some of the mood enhancing ingredients that can help to increase your energy, such as caffeine, but there are many more that can work to boost your energy and focus, as well as elevate your mood.

Mood Enhancing Ingredients

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera, fam. Solanaceae) is also known as “Indian Winter cherry,” or “Indian Ginseng,” and is one of the most important mood enhancing herbs in the traditional Indian medicine system, Ayurveda. It is the most prominent among these traditional herbs and is considered to be a Rasayana – an herbal or metallic preparation that supports a rejuvenated state of physical and mental wellness. Most of the Rasayana herbs are adaptogens that can be used as anti-stress agents.

Ashwagandha is also believed to enhance the function of the brain and nervous system as well as improve memory. It is a strong adaptogen that enhances the body’s stability in the background of physiologic stressors. Studies show that adaptogens possess neuroprotective, anti-fatigue, anti-depressive, anti-anxiety, and CNS stimulating and tonic effects.

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Green Coffee Bean

Coffee – arguably the most commonly used caffeinated beverage – is integral to the productivity of everyone from college students to CEOs. Though it is known for its stimulating effect on the brain, its mood enhancing benefits expand far and wide beyond that.

After eating, our blood sugar levels tend to rise. This is especially true after eating a meal high in carbohydrates. Elevated blood sugar levels can trigger our bodies to store food as fat, and they can lead to a “crash” later. Studies show that taking a green coffee bean extract supplement you eat can significantly reduce blood sugar levels after your meal. This means there’s less chance that you will experience induced loss of energy and mood swings. When combined correctly with caffeine anhydrous, green coffee also helps keep you from getting a post-caffeine crash that no one likes.

You’re more likely to have consistent energy levels, as well as experience better overall health by keeping your blood sugar levels in check. Taking green coffee bean extract is shown to help keep blood sugar levels lower between meals too.

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Higenamine

Higenamine is a mood enhancing herb found in plants, such as aconitum napellus that have been used in Chinese and Japanese cooking. It became well regarded in China for its homeopathic use in respiratory complications, coughing, and the promotion of cardiovascular health. As for its application in the world of nutritional supplements, Higenamine’s power as a stimulant gained it’s prominence as a novel stimulant with a high degree of safety. As a pre-workout supplement, it helps increase energy, improve focus, and enhance mental clarity.

Another benefit of Higenamine is that it does not appear to have an effect on nitric oxide, which is another commonly used supplement among athletes and weight trainers alike. Nitric oxide is involved in the physiology of blood flow. Most stimulants interact in these pathways, but since Higenamine does not it can be used in conjunction with nitric oxide supplements.

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Rhodiola

Rhodiola is a plant that grows in high altitudes in regions of Asia and Europe. This plant has been used in Russian and Chinese folk medicine and has been classified as an adaptogen – a medicinal plant that can strengthen resistance to stress, as well as improve concentration, performance, and endurance during fatigue. In 1969, the plant was approved for medicinal use by the Soviet Ministry of Health and has been described as an anti-fatigue agent in the Textbook of Phytomedicine for Pharmacists. It has been used in Europe for medical conditions ranging from anxiety to headache.

As a mood enhancing stimulant, it has been used to enhance physical endurance, manage stress, and improve attention and memory. Unlike conventional stimulants such as sympathomimetics (a class of chemicals that includes ephedrine and phentermine), adaptogens are not addictive, do not result in tolerance, and will not impair mental function or cause psychosis with extended use.

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N-Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Taken as a mood enhancing supplement, acetyl-L-carnitine can help increase energy production in the mitochondria (a cell’s “power plants”) through carnitine’s involvement in cellular metabolism, ultimately providing those who take it with a noticeable increase in energy.

As complicated as the scientific details of acetyl-l-carnitine may be, it is clear that it plays a pivotal role in the molecular metabolic pathways underlying the body’s ability to turn fat into energy as well as in the regulation of muscle fuel metabolism. Supplemental carnitine was found to increase weight loss in animals and increase the oxidation of long-chain fatty acids in adults, increase insulin sensitivity, and stave off fatigue with physical exertion.

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Caffeine

Caffeine has many valuable mood enhancing effects on exercise performance and energy. It stimulates the Central Nervous System and activates the metabolism. Caffeine decreases fatigue, increases energy, and improves reaction time by enhancing mental focus and concentration.

One study found that a single scoop of caffeine ingested 20 minutes before the exercising can result in an increase in total work done, also performed at a higher level of intensity. This performance enhancement occurs secondary to suspended fatigue, and the ability to preserve increased energy levels.

Though it probably is not surprising to you that caffeine provides your body with a significant boost, the extensive scientific evidence supporting its immense positive health implications may be the reason for a newfound appreciation for this ingredient’s undeniably significant role in the world of exercise and nutrition.

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You can use one or all of these ingredients to help increase your energy, whether it be to just get through the day or to power your workout, as well as improve your focus and mood, but you will have the best results from taking a product that utilizes them all together to provide you with the most effective solution to easily reach your goals.