Stress & Fatigue

We all have stress in our lives. Money worries, pressure at work, study, or just a pressing deadline – these can all combine to give us a feeling of being overburdened. Most of the time, our innate ability to handle stress gets us through these periods; in fact, a little stress can often help us perform at our peak.

But sometimes it can feel like too much to bear – and it's important to remember that your body takes stress seriously. Your natural reaction to stress is physiologically similar to the instinctive response to danger – the ancient "fight or flight" response. It's just as if you were in danger from a predator: different nutrients are mobilised from your body's reserves; blood flow shifts away from non-critical systems like digestion in favour of the muscles that can help you survive by running or fighting.

The problem is that whereas physical danger is usually over in seconds or minutes, stress and anxiety can last days or even weeks – and that can place your body under strain it was never designed for, impairing your performance instead of maximising it.

Traditional herbal medicine is all about bringing the body into balance, so it's only natural that more and more New Zealanders are looking to herbs as a way of addressing some of the problems that anxiety and stress can bring.