 Many people often like energy and stamina. They are in a bad mood, they feel depressed, have brain fog, can't find motivation to do the daily activities, and one very probable cause of all those issues is too much stress and anxiety. Now, according to the American Psychological Association, 84% of Americans report experiencing stress at least once every two weeks. Among the many ways to deal with stress, one of the most popular one is to take stress-relieving supplements and notropics. And among all of the supplements, one seems to stand out. You guessed it. Rodiola Roséa. Hi friends, welcome back to the channel. My name is Greg and I'm a certified brain health professional. If biohacking, notropics, and optimizing brain performance interest you, then subscribe below and join our amazing community. Rodiola Roséa is one of the most popular herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine for vitality and longevity. Now, traditional doctors have been giving relatively high amount of Rodiola root to people who were not feeling well. And guess what? Rodiola often help them improve their well-being and health. But is this adaptogen herb really good for modern-day stress and anxiety? Saying it differently, if you have a stressful job, a difficult family situation, or just too many things on your plate, can taking this pot on herb really help you? Well, I analyzed it. I've used it for a few years. And in this video, I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about Rodiola Roséa. Now, before I talk about my experience, let's look at the potential benefits of Rodiola. By the way, guys, how can you handle stress nowadays? Do you feel like you have it under control? Let me know in the comment section Now, Rodiola Roséa may stimulate serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine activity, but it also contains potent compounds called rosavins and saligrocytes, and all of those are responsible for its many benefits. Now, the first and the most often discussed benefit of Rodiola Roséa is its effect on stress. Now, multiple studies looked at the effect of Rodiola Roséa on stress, and as a matter of fact, they found it to be very beneficial. For example, in this study, 400 milligrams of Rodiola Roséa per day for 14 days improved anxiety, stress, anger, confusion, and even depression. Now, this review of literature concluded that Rodiola Roséa demonstrates multi-target effects on various levels of the regulation of cell response to stress. And this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study concluded that repeated administration of Rodiola Roséa extract exerts an anti-fatigue effect that increases mental performance, particularly the ability to concentrate, and decreases cortisol response to awakening stress in burnout patients with fatigue syndrome. So not only does Rodiola help to reduce stress levels, it is also beneficial for reducing anxiety. However, Rodiola seems to be even more beneficial for reducing fatigue than stress itself. Actually, there are 14 studies that show the positive effects of Rodiola on reducing fatigue, and among them, this double-blind crossover study showed that a repeated low-dose regime of supplementing Rodiola leads to a statistically significant improvement of mental fatigue. Now, the dosage used in this study was relatively low, just 117 milligrams of Rodiola. For example, just for the past couple of weeks, I was taking about 500 milligrams of Rodiola per day. So this and many other studies show that supplementing Rodiola reduces fatigue and burnout that comes from too much stress and anxiety. But the unexpected side effect of reduced fatigue is also a better cognitive performance. Now, the previously mentioned meta-analysis shows that decrease of cognitive fatigue leads to increased reaction times, better memory and even improved well-being. In addition to those two effects, there are two more benefits that I need to mention. The first one is the effect on depression. For example, this study concluded that the standardized Rodiola extract shows anti-depressive potency in patients with mild to moderate depression when administered dosages of either 340 milligrams or 680 milligrams per day or a six-week period. But a few other studies didn't show such significant results. So we need more studies to know for sure what to expect in terms of its effects on depression. And the other benefits are neuroprotection and neurogenesis. Now, based on the limited data available, Rodiola seems to provide antioxidants that offer neuroprotection but may also trigger the formation of new neurons. Okay, that was enough talking about these study benefits. Now, let's see what Rodiola does in real-life scenarios. So, I've been occasionally supplementing Rodiola since 2015, but more often so in the past years. Now, I want to talk about two specific experiments that I did. One, when I was taking a bit higher dosage of Rodiola rosea, and that was around 500 milligrams per day. And the other, when I was taking about 50 to 150 milligrams of Rodiola daily. Now, first, the recent test with 500 milligrams of Rodiola per day. Now, I use this high dosage during a recent period when I was severely stressed due to lots of work and some personal issues. And here is what happened. So it's been about an hour since I took one capsule of this supplement here, Rodiola rosea. And right now I'm feeling really good. So I'm not as stressed as I was before and I'm much calmer. But at the same time, I'm slightly more focused. So with adaption herbs like Rodiola, for example, it's not like with sleep supplements like lemon balm that are sedative and that they kind of make you sleepy. Rodiola rosea, for example, it kind of acts in a way that it gives you a bit more energy. It makes you less stressed, of course, but it also makes you more focused, which can, of course, positively impact your productivity. And that's why you can easily take it in the morning or whenever you want to and it works really, really well. Rodiola seems to kick in about 30 to 45 minutes and then the effects last for about four to six hours. Now, that doesn't mean that after six hours, nothing is going on anymore. But I personally didn't feel the effects anymore. But the longer I took such a dosage of Rodiola, the more calm I felt even when I wasn't taking it. Now, I could definitely feel being less exhausted at the end of the day, but I also had more energy in the morning. And after about a month of really hard work, I believed I could easily handle that hard work with a minimum of stress during the day. So then I decided to decrease the dosage of Rodiola. Now, before this test, I've been taking about 50 to 150 milligrams of Rodiola daily. Now, why the difference, you may wonder? Well, because if you're going to supplement Rodiola for a longer period, we're talking about months, then you should probably consider taking a lower dosage because you don't need to take such a high amount daily. However, I still wanted to see how does a lower dosage compares to the higher one? So what exactly happened? Well, compared to the higher dosage, I couldn't really feel the effects of the lower dosage the first couple of days. But I continued taking Rodiola. And after a few weeks, I realized how much calmer I am, how much more energy I have, and how easy it is for me to handle stress. So after a month or so, I couldn't notice any difference between the low and the high dosage anymore. Now, since Rodiola is a typical adaptogen herb, it means that taking a lower dosage for a longer period is probably even better than just taking a super high dosage for a short period. Even more, Rodiola has this typical bell curve response, meaning that the best effects happen at a medium dosage. Now, those effects that I experienced during my tests are exactly what I learned from the studies about Rodiola. But was it only Rodiola responsible for the effects or had any other entropics anything to do with them? Well, before I answer that and share with you a few great entropics to combine with Rodiola, here is how you should take it to get the most out of it. By the way, do I know how well does your brain work? Go through a free assessment, link in the description below and get your brain performance score. Now, when it comes to dosage, the optimal daily dosage seems to be 50 to 300 milligrams, but for acute use, you can take up to 680 milligrams daily. Now, the extract should contain 3% of rosa vins and 1% of selidrosides, which are the active compounds responsible for the effects. Now personally, I'd recommend the following. If you are on your way to a complete burnout, so if you are extremely stressed at the moment, you completely lack energy and are in a really, really bad mood, then take a higher dosage of Rodiola for about one to two months to improve your well-being and then switch to the lower dosage and stick to it for a longer period. But if you're often stressed, but you still somehow manage to control stress and you don't feel you're going to burn out, then outtake a lower dosage up to 300 milligrams daily and I would cycle it as I cycle other natropics, so five days on, two days off, or four weeks on and one week off. By the way guys, if you like this video, please press the like button below and subscribe to the channel. When it comes to safety, Rodiola seems to be very safe for supplementation and the side effects are very, very rare. Personally, I've never experienced any issues by supplementing this pot and herb. However, if you take any drugs, do consult your doctor because Rodiola can interact with them, especially with drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes, and immunosuppressants. Now, before I mentioned that Rodiola may be very beneficial on its own, but do you need to combine it with other compounds to get the results? Well, not really, but it may be beneficial to do so. Now, based on the studies, many combine Rodiola rocea with Schisandra berry due to the synergies. Also, many combine Rodiola with Bacopa monairy, Ginseng, or Ashwagandha, which are all potent adaptogens. Now, I tried Rodiola on its own, but I also combined it with Bacopa, Ashwagandha, and Ginseng. Of course, the mix of free adaption herbs provided better and faster effects than just taking Rodiola on its own. Actually, my top rated nitropic supplements contain multiple adaption herbs together. So, no, you don't need to take other adaptions with Rodiola, but it may be beneficial to do so. So, my final verdict, is Rodiola the best nitropic for stress and anxiety? No, I actually believe Ashwagandha is even better, but Rodiola is a great nitropic that can reduce fatigue and stress, improve cognition, help with depression, and even improve well-being, which is why I recommend supplementing it. Now, below, you can find my favorite stack with Rodiola and my favorite Rodiola supplement. And to learn more about Ashwagandha, watch my next video up here. Thank you guys for watching this video, and I hope to see you soon again. Stay well.