BONUS SURPRISE FIELD NOTES TO HOLD YOU OVER UNTIL PART 2 COMES OUT!
Hey all!
My dad is in town visiting from Florida, so I’ve been spending time with him this week and haven’t had quite enough time to sit down and properly write Part 2 of our HPA-axis series yet. It’s coming next week, I promise!
BUT, the planets aligned and my doctoral coursework handed me the perfect little Field Notes to hold us over in the meantime :)
As you may have noticed by now, I tend to pair what I’m writing about here with whatever I’m currently learning about in my doctoral coursework. One of my discussion assignments this week happened to focus on adaptogens, their potential role in adrenal function, and how one specific adaptogen may influence the HPA axis.
If you read Part 1, you know I pinky promised we’d eventually get to the plants. Apparently, we’re getting a tiny preview!
The prompt specifically used the word enhance when talking about the effects of adaptogens on the HPA axis, which immediately made me wonder... what does it mean to “enhance” the HPA axis physiologically? Are we stimulating it? Increasing cortisol production? Influencing the way the stress response is regulated?
So! Today I want to quickly cover:
What we mean when we call something an adaptogen
What “enhancing” the HPA axis could mean physiologically
One proposed mechanism involving Panax ginseng
A research literacy side quest that I was NOT expecting this assignment to send us on :) but I'm really happy it did!
