Stress, tension, and anxiety – these are some of the common issues we all struggle with these days. However, given our hectic schedules, this doesn’t come as a surprise.
If only there was a way to make life a little easier…
With medicinal mushroom supplements that we’re about to review today, you can, in fact, treat anxiety, mild depression, as well as boost productivity, motivation, and overall performance with all-natural ingredients.
In this guide, we’ll be taking you through some of the best mushroom supplements you must try out to help curb your anxiety. But before that, let’s talk about what medical mushrooms actually are.
What Are Medicinal Mushrooms?
Medicinal mushrooms have been used for centuries by both the ancient Egyptians and Chinese for their numerous physical and mental health benefits. It’s believed that these superfoods help promote well-being and combat various illnesses.
Being rich in protein with antibacterial and antiviral properties, these mushrooms help in boosting your immune system. As a result, your body starts building up a strong resistance to various disease-causing bacteria and viruses.
But that’s not all medicinal mushrooms are capable of. They also help you deal with stress and tension. In fact, as adaptogens, they can be used for the treatment of mild depression and anxiety, thanks to their high antioxidant content.
Having said that, evidence collected in recent years has linked the cause of anxiety with reduced levels of antioxidants. Therefore, the intake of medicinal mushrooms helps in supplementing the loss of these compounds, which inhibit oxidation.
Consequently, they manage to improve your mood by terminating oxidative stress while protecting you from the repercussions caused in the neurons. What’s more? Well, mushrooms are all-natural solutions compared to laboratory-made drugs. Therefore, they’re safer and have no potentially dangerous side-effects or mystery compounds that you’d find in synthetic supplements.
Being a type of fungi, they’re naturally found growing above the ground or on their food source. Now, that being said, not all mushrooms are edible and medicinal. There are a variety of species with their own unique blend of polysaccharides. So, knowing which mushroom comes with medicinal properties that treat anxiety and offer health benefits can be tricky.
Lucky for you, we’ve researched the three primary types of mushroom supplements that are beneficial for treating anxiety in the following section. Along with this, we’ve recommended products for each mushroom.
The 3 Best Mushrooms for Treating Anxiety
1. Reishi
First things first, it’s crucial to note that Reishi is not an edible mushroom. It needs to be processed in order to extract its medicinal properties. Reishi contains polypeptides, which possess peripheral anticholinergic and depressant effects to help relieve the symptoms associated with depression, OCD, and other related disorders.
In other words, as precursors of neurotransmitters, they release endorphins, which help you to provide an adequate response to external stressors. In fact, this mushroom supplement helps your body cope with stress and adapt to any challenge it may come across. The biggest challenge being – anxiety, which may lead to a full-blown panic attack.
Moreover, as you must already know, getting a good night’s sleep is a challenge for those suffering from mental health issues. Reishi contains compounds that you can depend on to help you unwind by getting deep, restful sleep.
Recommended Reishi Supplement: Real Mushrooms Reishi-415
With an experience of over 40 years, Real Mushrooms has been dedicated to producing pure mushroom supplements extracted from 100% organic mushrooms.
Similarly, the Reishi-415 from the brand is made exclusively from 100% organic and hand-picked Ganoderma Lucidum or Ganoderma Lingzhi (Red Reishi). It features an 8:1 concentration. In other words, around 8 kgs of ground reishi or dried mushrooms are needed to make 1 kg of reishi mushroom extract.
In fact, unlike other mushroom supplements, Real Mushrooms doesn’t add grain fillers and starch, or contain mycelium in its products. Additionally the Real Mushrooms’ Reishi-415 is entirely vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free. It also comes with high levels of beta-glucans, as verified by 3rd party laboratories.
What else? Keeping your health and satisfaction in mind, the supplement is manufactured in the US, in NSF and SQF-certified facilities that follow cGMP practices.
Each pill undergoes quality control testing for certified safety and longevity to provide the best possible results to combat stress. Plus, you get a hint of bitterness while consuming these easy-to-swallow capsules, which is one of the true indicators of quality. It comes with more than 4% beneficial tripertene compounds, which is usually absent in many other reishi supplements.
Read our full in-depth review if you’re looking for more information on the best reishi supplements on the market today.
2. Lion's Mane
Now, we move on to Lion’s Mane, an edible mushroom with a taste similar to that of lobster, resembling a white funky cotton ball or a mophead. It has been a part of traditional Chinese medicine for centuries because of its ability to boost cognitive performance.
In fact, some studies have shown that Lion’s Mane helps in improving sleep-related disorders and depressive states. This is because it modulates certain neurotransmitters involved in anxiety and stress.
But it doesn’t just end there. This medicinal mushroom manages to reduce brain inflammation, which, in turn, improves blood flow. In other words, it improves brain function by ensuring higher levels of oxygen. As a result, your mood gets alleviated, and you tend to focus more.
This consequently helps you adapt to stressful situations with ease. Furthermore, it boosts your overall productivity and daily performance. Plus, you won’t have to worry much about any potential adverse side-effects. Human studies have examined the effects of Lion’s Mane, and there have been no adverse reactions even at high doses taken over a three-month period.
Recommended Lion’s Mane Supplement: Real Mushrooms Lion’s Mane
100% organic lion’s mane mushrooms, hand-picked by experts with years of experience, are used to make this supplement from Real Mushrooms. The family-owned brand implores hot water extraction to achieve beneficial beta-glucans, hericenones, and other nutrients.
Consequently, each capsule has been scientifically verified for active compounds that focus more on health benefits, both physical and mental. So, along with boosting your brain’s regenerative functions, the supplement also serves as a natural immune support, thereby promoting overall health and wellness.
Having said that, being certified organic, non-GMO, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free, it’s a safe choice for busy individuals with stressful lifestyles that are concerned with taking all-natural products. You need not worry about its quality as Real Mushroom always makes its products with 100% whole fruiting bodies, and not mycelium on grain. But in case you’re unhappy with its results, you can request a refund or replacement.
Furthermore, the Real Mushrooms Lion’s Mane is competitively priced for the value it brings. A single bottle of 120 capsules is good-to-go for up to 2 months. And if you’re looking for a better deal, you could always consider opting for its variant – 300 capsules in a bottle for 5 months.
Read our review of our top picks for the best lion’s mane supplements available today.
3. Cordyceps
Anxiety releases toxins into your system that may cause brain inflammation. As a result, you may feel drained, and severely lacking in focus and productivity. Anxiety also manages to raise your heart rate and blood pressure, eventually making you prone to heart attacks and other heart-related problems.
That’s where Cordyceps steps in, proving to be a potential lifesaver. They modulate the nervous system and stimulate the adrenal glands in order to increase the production of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). This helps improve oxygen utilization during physical activities, and it also delivers energy to the muscles.
Hence, cordyceps enable you to fight fatigue by enhancing both your physical and mental endurance. In fact, they increase your adaptability to tackle any stressful situation with ease while being calm.
You can see how this mushroom helps to improve the cardiac and respiratory functions which help ease anxiety. But in addition to this, the medicinal mushroom also helps you fight various age-related issues, such as low libido and poor memory.
Recommended Cordyceps Supplement: Real Mushrooms Cordyceps-M
We found it imperative to introduce you to this cordyceps supplement from Real Mushrooms since it is a brand we trust, primarily because of its team of experts and their commitment to high quality products.
Manufactured in the US in NSF and SQF-certified facilities following cGMP practices, the Cordyceps-M is the most potent mushroom supplement for athletes and adventurers. It is made only from pure organic cordyceps militaris mushroom extract with no added grains, fillers, and additives.
Plus, it contains more than 25% of beta-glucans and less than 5% starch. That being said, it is the ultimate dietary supplement that can provide your body with the immune support, energy, and vitality it needs.
All you need to do is take two vegan capsules per day to get the nutritional benefits you desire. This is equivalent to 10 grams of fresh mushroom.
Moreover, it’s quite affordable; a single bottle of 120 capsules will last you for two months. In fact, you can also opt for a more budget-friendly deal by going for a bottle of 300 capsules.
Read our full review of some of the best cordyceps supplements on the market today to learn more.
Our Experience
Anxiety can be caused by various factors, including work, family, or finance-related issues. In fact, other than life experiences and circumstantial factors, genes and drug intake also play a significant role in stimulating this disorder. As such, people manifesting stress and tension often slip into depression.
The most common signs of anxiety disorders are fatigue, constant worry, lack of sleep and concentration, irritability, deep breathing, and palpitations, to name just a few. So, if you notice any two or more of the mentioned symptoms, it’s time you took action.
Having said that, our team members suffering from bad anxiety decided to try out the three recommended mushroom supplements over a span of 3 to 4 weeks. And they were definitely happy with their results.
But from experience, we’d urge you to give importance to your diet as well. Without a proper nutritional diet comprising whole grains, legumes, fish rich in omega 3, and raw nuts, the supplements won’t be as effective as desired.
Along with this, introduce yoga, meditation, and physical exercise into your daily routine. This is because their therapeutic benefits are similar to those of other cognitive-behavioral therapies. Also, a reduction of caffeine intake is a must! Don’t expect to see results if you’re consuming three cups of coffee per day.
All that said, each of the supplements mentioned above offers different health benefits. We observed that Reishi offers soothing properties, Lion’s mane improves cognitive performance, while Cordyceps combats fatigue and heart-related problems.
Now, it’s obvious that taking three different supplements per day can be tiring. For this reason, we’ve been supplementing with the Thrive 6 mushroom extract blend.
As a blend of 6 organic mushrooms cultivated in greenhouses, including Reishi, Lion’s mane, and Cordyceps, Thrive 6 offers the benefits of all three (actually six) supplements in one. Over the first week itself, we started feeling energized and revitalized. As a result, we were more motivated to work, thanks to the boost in productivity and creativity.
Moreover, it was easy to take. Most of us would add a scoop of the powder to our smoothie or food. And we actually ended up loving its taste. You can also opt to add it to your coffee or tea but the anxiety prone members of our team have completely cut out caffeine from their diets. Plus, being 100% organic and vegan with no added fillers, gluten, or mycelium, it is super safe for consumption.
As a result, there were no adverse side-effects that came with the powder. So, you should definitely try this product if you wish to tackle anxiety disorders and support your immune system. If you want a more indepth review – check out our full review of Freshcap Mushrooms’ Thrive 6.
Final Words
After much deliberation and research, we can conclude that medicinal mushroom supplements are the all-new natural remedies for anxiety. However, it’s essential to note that not all mushrooms come with medicinal properties. And most supplements that are said to have been made with medicinal mushrooms are not effective in treating anxiety disorders and depression.
This is because they’re not made using extracts from real fruiting bodies. Instead, they might contain added fillers, starch, grains, and mycelium. We suggest that you conduct thorough research before buying mushroom supplements.
Having said that, we’ve now come to the end of our informative guide. Each of the recommended products is worth a try, but if you’re looking for an all-in-one supplement, the Thrive 6 Mushroom Blend Extract is the winner. If you’re looking for something a little more robust or a bit different you can check out some of the best mushroom extract supplements that we love.
We hope you find at least some of these supplements helpful in treating your anxiety related issues like it’s helped us.
