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Tongkat Ali And Stress

When it comes to the topic of Tongkat Ali and stress relief, many people still haven’t heard of Tongkat Ali or refuse to believe it can relieve stress to the level its supporters claim. Neither issue is surprising, as it is still a fairly new supplement on the Western market that has yet to crack the mainstream.

That said, this doesn’t make it any less disappointing that so many people are overlooking a supplement that could do them so much good, especially as studies show a whopping 84% of people deal with at least moderate stress at minimum once per month.

That is why we decided to write this article and explain exactly how Tongkat Ali provides stress relief, to ensure that everyone is well informed enough to make the right choice to attain a stress-free life.

Table of Contents

What Is Tongkat Ali?

Tongkat Ali is a herbal extract made from the roots of a plant found in Southeast Asia known as longjack, Eurycoma longifolia, and Malaysian ginseng. Used for years in many types of traditional medicine in the region, there is a longstanding belief that it offers a wide range of health benefits for the human body.

Outside of Asia, these claims were widely dismissed for years, due to them being based on hyperbolic evidence. However, as clinical trials have backed up the claims of its supporters in recent years, it has become more widely used, and Tongkat Ali supplements are among the fastest-growing on the market.

The evidence shows it can produce health benefits due to the many natural compounds it contains. These include the quassinoid compounds eurycomanone and eurycomanol, canthin-6-one metabolites, eurycolactones, eurypeptides, and eurylene and teurilene, two derivatives of the triterpene squalene (1).

Its benefits include boosting testosterone production and levels, male sexual health and functions, brain and immune system health and functions, exercise performance, muscle growth, and stamina, reducing anxiety, stress, blood pressure, recovery time, and the signs of aging, and combating fatigue and fever.

In today’s article, we will concentrate on Tongkat Ali’s ability to relieve stress. However, if you are interested in learning how it produces any of the other benefits we mentioned above, we recently published two articles that cover them in great detail, which you can read here and here.

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Tongkat Ali And Stress: How Does Tongkat Ali Relieve Stress?

Reduces Cortisol Levels

The main way in which Tongkat Ali relieves stress is by reducing the production of cortisol, which is better known as “the stress hormone”.

Cortisol is directly responsible for controlling the human body’s “fight or flight” response, and it is the number one cause of stress, anxiety, irritability, fatigue, sleep issues, and a sense of being overwhelmed in most people. All these feelings will become far more prominent the higher your cortisol levels are.

A 2013 study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition found that Tongkat Ali supplementation significantly reduced cortisol levels by as much as 16% in stressed individuals (2).

Check out our article on Tongkat Ali and Cortisol here

Boosts Testosterone Production & Levels

Another hormone that Tongkat Ali affects is testosterone, as supplementing with it can boost a person’s testosterone production and levels. It achieves this by stimulating the production of luteinizing hormone (LH), which signals the Leydig cells in the testes to produce testosterone.

Studies show that low testosterone levels can cause feelings of stress, anxiety, anger, confusion, fatigue, irritability, brain fog, depression, and tension, and even lead to mood swings. This means boosting your test levels is a great way to relieve all these unpleasant feelings, including stress (3).

Not only that, but the improved energy levels, confidence, mental clarity, motivation, and emotional resilience that high testosterone levels are known to provide can further relieve stress on their own. This makes it particularly useful for combating stress for anyone with chronically low testosterone levels.

We go into more detail on Tongkat Ali and testosterone here

Increases Dopamine and Serotonin Sensitivity

Recent studies have shown that daily Tongkat Ali supplementation can modulate the production of certain brain chemicals and neurotransmitters in animals, such as dopamine, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), serotonin, and noradrenaline.

These play a key role in areas like your mood, motivation, pleasure, stress levels, ability to relax, and overall brain health and functions. By helping you maintain an optimal neurotransmitter balance, Tongkat Ali can help to relieve stress, as well as issues like depression and a lack of motivation (4).

Produces Adaptogenic Effects

Tongkat Ali is an adaptogen, which is a natural substance that helps the body combat physical and emotional stress, whether it be due to a biological, chemical, or physical cause.

It achieves this by regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is the human body’s central stress response system in the brain.

As a result, it promotes a more well-balanced stress response, further preventing excessive cortisol production and overall heightened cortisol levels, especially during periods of stress, and helping you return to homeostasis (your optimal state of balance) afterwards (5).

Improves Sleep & Recovery

Poor sleep is known to increase stress and vice versa, creating a vicious cycle that hurts both areas of your life. Tongkat Ali can help improve sleep quality through several pathways.

This includes reducing cortisol levels, anxiety, inflammation, mood swings, and fatigue, promoting a better hormonal balance, and improving recovery. Many of these functions will also relieve stress directly, at the same time as helping you sleep, making them doubly beneficial for your stress levels (6).

Supports Your Overall Health and Fitness

Tongkat Ali is great for a person’s overall health and fitness for several reasons.

It improves testosterone production and levels, muscle mass, energy levels, stamina, body composition, exercise performance, and brain and immune system health and functions, and reduces blood pressure, illnesses, recovery time, the signs of aging, and fatigue (7).

Each of these could help relieve stress on its own, but when you combine them all, they virtually ensure your body is as healthy and stress-free as possible.