February 2025 in Pharmaceuticals
A new review published in Pharmaceuticals (February 2025) looks in detail into how plant-based adaptogens might help people suffering from long-lasting brain fatigue. This condition, often following stroke, brain injury, or chronic stress, leaves many struggling with persistent mental exhaustion and cognitive difficulties. The authors look at whether adaptogens can help restore your mental energy and resilience?
Why Brain Fatigue Is More Than Just Feeling Tired
Long-lasting brain fatigue is a persistent mental exhaustion that often follows stroke, traumatic brain injury, or chronic stress exposure. Unlike normal tiredness that resolves with rest, brain fatigue can endure for months or even years, severely impairing memory, focus, emotional well-being, and daily functioning. Surprisingly, the severity of brain fatigue doesn’t always match the severity of the original injury—mild concussions can cause prolonged symptoms.
What’s Happening in the Brain?
Brain fatigue is linked to disruptions in energy production and neurotransmitter balance. Neuroinflammation, excessive glutamate (an excitatory neurotransmitter), and impaired glucose metabolism overwhelm brain networks, reducing their efficiency and ability to recover. This leads to symptoms such as mental fog, memory problems, and a dramatically reduced ability to sustain cognitive effort.
What Are Adaptogens?
Adaptogens are a special class of plant-derived compounds that help the body resist and recover from physical, mental, and emotional stress. Unlike many supplements that focus on a single target or symptom, adaptogens act broadly across multiple systems—nervous, immune, hormonal—to restore balance and increase resilience.
There are two main groups of adaptogens based on their chemical structure:
- Phenolic compounds, which resemble neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine, helping regulate brain signaling and mood.
- Triterpene glycosides, which are structurally similar to steroid hormones such as cortisol and testosterone, playing a role in hormonal balance and inflammation reduction.
Adaptogens interact with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathoadrenal system, the body’s main stress response pathways, to maintain homeostasis during chronic stress. This broad, multitargeted action makes them particularly promising for managing complex conditions like long-lasting brain fatigue.
How Adaptogens May Support Brain Recovery
Emerging research highlights adaptogens’ potential to promote neurogenesis—the growth of new neurons—and angiogenesis—the formation of new blood vessels—both crucial for brain repair and restoring energy supply. These botanical compounds help modulate gene expression related to these processes, suggesting they may accelerate recovery after neurological injuries or viral infections like COVID-19.
A botanical hybrid preparation (BHP) combining Rhodiola rosea (Arctic Root) and Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) stands out as a promising example. This blend has demonstrated abilities to enhance cognitive function, reduce fatigue, and build resilience to chronic stress.
Dr. Hunt: What This Means for You
Adaptogens offer a natural way to support your brain’s recovery and resilience from long-lasting fatigue. Used alongside healthy habits, they may help improve mental energy, focus, and stress tolerance over time.