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Supplements to fight stress and fatigue

My 5 Favourite Supplements To Fight Fatigue And Stress

Fatigue and stress are both things that most of us go through, and they’re inherently linked too – when you feel fatigued you become stressed, and when you feel stressed, you experience fatigue, it can often feel like a never-ending cycle.

Personally, as someone that has dealt with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for the last 25 years, I understand fatigue, and of course, like a lot of people, I’ve experienced a fair amount of stress throughout my life too.

Over the last few years, I’ve focused on curating an exercise routine that suits me, concentrated on sleep, improved my hydration, and put effort into lowering my stress levels.

However, the biggest part of conquering my fatigue and stress lies with nutrition.

Having tried and tested a variety of different supplements over the last two years, here are my 5 favorite supplements to fight fatigue and stress.

Supplements to Fight Fatigue And Stress

1 Supergreen Tonik – Body and Mind Greens Supplement

Adam mixing Supergreen Tonik with water

Supergreen Tonik is my own super greens formula that I specifically formulated to provide consumers with essential micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals, as well as boost energy levels, lower fatigue, reduce stress and anxiety levels, boost the immune system, and more!

Supergreen Tonik contains a wide range of ingredients, from super greens including spirulina, barley grass, chlorella, moringa, to herbal extracts such as ashwagandha, Rhodiola root, and garlic bulb extract.

Supergreen Tonik is also vegan, keto and low-carb friendly, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, caffeine-free, and 100% natural.

I’ve ensured that my greens powder has a fully disclosed ingredients label and contains sufficiently dosed ingredients to ensure that consumers know that the formula really will work – brand transparency is incredibly important to me.

Supergreen Tonik is naturally sweetened with stevia extract, meaning the formula has a smooth, sweet (yet not overwhelming or artificial) taste.

With a cost per serving of between $2.10 – $2.90, the formula may be slightly more expensive than others on the market, but with sufficiently dosed ingredients and a fully disclosed ingredients label, it’s cost-effective.

Overall, SuperGreen TONIK is a powerful formula that not only supplies you with essential nutrients needed for optimal health but also directly reduces fatigue and stress levels, making it the ideal fatigue and stress-fighting supplement!

PROS

  • Fully disclosed label.
  • Sufficiently dosed ingredients.
  • Pleasant taste.
  • Cheap.

Cons

  • May be a little too expensive for some people.

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2 Hydration Tablets (Nuun Sport Hydration Tablets)

Nuun-Sport-Tubs

Staying hydrated is essential if you’re going to fight fatigue because hydration impacts the flow of oxygen going to the brain. If you’re dehydrated, your heart has to work harder, making you feel fatigued.

Staying hydrated is also essential if you manage stress levels – if you’re dehydrated, your body can’t combat cortisol levels, and you put more stress on your body.

Nuun Sport, produced by the well-known Nuun brand, is one of my favorite no-sugar electrolyte hydration supplements.

Nuun Sport is a powerful electrolyte supplement that supports hydration and is perfect for everyone that needs a hydration boost, including athletes. In addition, the tablets only contain 1g of sugar within each serving!

The tablets are also certified vegan, kosher, gluten-free, non-GMO, and Informed Choice certified.

The ingredients label discloses the amounts of all essential mineral ingredients, showing great brand transparency.

Nuun Sport is available in a variety of flavors, including Cherry Limeade + Caffeine, Citrus Fruit, Fresh Lime + Caffeine, Fruit Punch, Lemon Lime, Grape, Mango Orange + Caffeine, Orange, Strawberry Lemonade, Tri-Berry, Tropical, Watermelon, and Wild Berry + Caffeine.

Personally, I’m a big fan of the flavor.

With a cost per serving of $0.70, these tablets are a little more expensive than other electrolyte supplements on the market. However, they’re still reasonably priced due to the fully disclosed ingredients label, great taste, and benefits.

Overall, this is a great electrolyte supplement, but it should be consumed alongside other supplements to ensure you’re fighting fatigue and stress as well as possible!

Pros

  • Popular, trusted brand.
  • Disclosed electrolyte amounts.
  • Pleasant taste.
  • Disclosed electrolyte amounts.

Cons

  • Doesn’t specifically target fatigue or stress.

3 Protein

Protein Photo Meat and Eggs

Protein consumption, either as powdered supplements or as a food source, is incredibly important when fighting fatigue and stress.

If you have a lack of protein, it can reduce strength, decrease muscle mass, slow down the metabolism, and can also lead to anemia.

All of these things worsen fatigue and stress.

Therefore, protein is essential for combatting and reducing stress and fatigue levels, whether you consume protein powder to supplement your protein intake from food or focus more on consuming protein sources.

Protein sources include lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs, lentils, and nuts, all of which slowly release sugar into the bloodstream, providing a long-lasting energy source.

If you consume whey protein, which is typically the powdered form of protein (unless you choose to consume a vegan protein powder), the main component, Alpha-lactalbumin, can help to reduce levels of cortisol and promote energy levels.

Obviously, you can spend as much or as little as you want on protein if you buy fresh food, but typically, protein powder comes in around $2-$4 and contains around 20 – 30g of protein per serving.

Overall, protein is an essential element of your diet for many reasons, and especially cannot be missed out on if you’re trying to fight fatigue and stress.

Pros

  • Varied price depending on what type of protein you buy.
  • Choice of taste.
  • Protein powders typically contain 20-30g of protein.

Cons

  • If you purchase a protein powder, it will most likely be slightly more expensive than other supplement powders.

4 Magnesium

 Magnesium Photo

Magnesium is an essential mineral that supports a variety of bodily functions, helps to regulate blood pressure, promotes bone health, and more!

One of the greatest benefits of magnesium is that it’s also incredibly important in reducing and combatting fatigue and stress.

Magnesium, specifically magnesium glycinate, helps to reduce anxiety, depression, stress, and fatigue.

One of the main signs of magnesium deficiency is fatigue, and not consuming enough magnesium can lead to muscle pain, weakness, and loss of appetite.

Therefore, you must consume enough magnesium daily to combat fatigue and stress.

You can either focus on consuming foods that contain high levels of magnesium, such as spinach, quinoa, beans, avocado, pumpkin seeds, and cashews, or you can take a magnesium supplement.

Magnesium supplements are generally inexpensive, with most supplements roughly working out between $0.05 – $0.50.

Therefore, it’s the perfect mineral to supplement with!

Overall, you must consume enough magnesium daily to fight fatigue and stress and keep your body at an optimal level of health.

However, you do need to be careful not to overdose (the standard recommended dose is 310–420 mg) as this can cause cramps, nausea, and stomach issues.

Pros

  • Cheap supplement to consume.
  • Variety of powerful benefits associated with magnesium and fatigue and stress combatting.
  • Easy and cheap food sources that contain magnesium – nuts, seeds, etc.

Cons

  • High doses can cause nausea, cramps, and stomach upset.

5 Green Tea

Green Tea Photo

Green tea has a variety of health benefits, from improving brain function and promoting weight loss to pushing toxins from the body and lowering the likelihood of various illnesses, hence it’s an incredibly popular drink.

Green tea also helps to fight stress and reduces fatigue.

The amino acid, L- Theanine, which’s found within green tea helps to relax the mind and body, reducing and managing cortisol levels.

Green tea also reduces fatigue by providing you with long-lasting, stable energy, because although it contains caffeine, it’s regulated by L-Theanine. Therefore green tea doesn’t give you the fast, anxiety-inducing shivers as coffee does.

In addition, this combination also improves brain function.

Green tea is also very affordable, whether you choose to drink pure green tea, or you supplement it with green tea extract tablets.

Green tea typically costs around $0.10 – $0.20 per serving, for both pure green tea and green tea extract tablets.

However, if you do choose to supplement with green tea extract, you may experience stomach upset and potentially constipation.

Overall, green tea has a variety of benefits, definitely fights both fatigue and stress, and tastes great, so it’s certainly something you should incorporate into your daily life.

Pros

  • Affordable whether pure tea or green tea extract.
  • Pleasant taste.

Cons

  • Green tea extract can sometimes cause stomach upset.

Frequently Asked Questions About About Fatigue and Stress – Answered!

What Causes Fatigue and Stress?

There’s a wide range of causes for fatigue and stress, with a lot of the causes often causing both at the same time.

Everyone’s body and mind will react differently, so some situations that other people don’t find difficult to deal with will cause you immense fatigue or stress, and vice versa.

However, it’s always good to be aware of what causes you to feel fatigued or stressed, so you can not only deal with it when it comes up, but so you can also reduce the likelihood of you becoming fatigued and stressed in the first place.

There are some common causes of fatigue and stress though!

The most common causes of fatigue are:

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Overexertion
  • Lack of sleep
  • Lack of essential vitamins and minerals
  • Being overweight or underweight
  • Dealing with depression
  • Certain medications, for example, those with sedative effects

The most common causes of stress are:

  • During a time of emotional turmoil
  • During a time of intense periods at work
  • When facing big changes in life
  • When facing financial pressure
  • Lack of sleep
  • Dealing with depression
  • No work/life balance
  • Lack of essential vitamins and minerals

Why Does Stress Cause Fatigue?

Stress and fatigue are inherently linked, as I said at the beginning of this piece, and although fatigue can cause stress because you might become anxious about your low energy levels and lack of motivation, stress causes fatigue much more commonly.

There are several reasons why stress causes fatigue, and although once again, it’s different for everyone.

There are some common reasons why stress causes fatigue, and I’ll tell you about three.

The first of which is because the constantly high cortisol levels put your body in a permanent state of “fight or flight”, draining your body’s energy levels and putting your body into sleep mode to cope.

A second common cause is that stress reduces sleep quality and increases the likelihood of insomnia, therefore reducing not only the amount of sleep you have but the quality of sleep you have, making you feel, naturally, more tired.

A third common cause is that your lifestyle (that’s hopefully healthy and active) takes a hit when you’re stressed, meaning you’re more likely to stay at home, exercise less, forget about your nutrition, and eat food that’s quick, easy, and most likely packed with sugar and fat. This change in lifestyle makes you feel fatigued.

Why Is Stress Bad For Us?

Stress causes cortisol levels to rise, and although cortisol levels do initiate our “flight or flight” response that’s useful in certain situations, if cortisol levels are high for too long (when stress occurs for a prolonged period), it causes both mental and physical problems.

These problems include fatigue, obviously, as well as gut issues, weight gain or weight loss, increased blood pressure, low libido, irritability, headaches, and muscle tension.

What Are The Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

If you are experiencing fatigue for a prolonged period of time, you could have chronic fatigue syndrome.

Although there isn’t actually a test to diagnose chronic fatigue, there are a set of common symptoms, and if all of these symptoms persist for longer than six months and you have no medical evidence of another problem, a doctor may diagnose you with chronic fatigue syndrome.

These symptoms include (but are not limited to):

  • Constant feeling of tiredness
  • Sleep problems and insomnia
  • Muscle pain
  • Inability to exercise without getting too tired
  • Headaches
  • Sore throat
  • Dizziness
  • Heart palpitations

If you are worried that you might have chronic fatigue syndrome, I advise finding a doctor or medical professional that specializes in this area of research to help you find clarity and ways to manage your symptoms.

How Else Can You Fight Fatigue and Stress?

As well as focusing on fighting fatigue and stress with supplements, you should focus on creating a healthy and active life for yourself that’s sustainable in the long run.

You can also use mindfulness practices, exercise (do things such as walking or gentle yoga if you can’t hack intense workouts), create a healthy work/life balance for yourself, and make sure you have time that’s designated regularly specifically to help you relax.

The Last Word

Fatigue and stress might be things that we all have to deal with from time to time, but they aren’t things that should stop us from living our lives, and they won’t be, as long as you know how to deal with them.

All of the supplements that I have mentioned in this article have helped me and continue to help me live a healthy, active lifestyle as someone that has chronic fatigue syndrome, so, they should definitely help you.

Just remember, good nutrition doesn’t only fuel the body, but it fuels your mind and your lifestyle too, so prioritize it.

Adam Author

About the LifeHacker Guy

Hi, I'm Adam the founder of the LifeHacker Guy.

I have a First Class Honours degree in Sports Science from Brighton University, specialising in exercise physiology and nutrition. In my youth I was a competitive Triathlete and long-distance runner placing top 10 in most triathlon races I completed.

Since suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I moved into web development, after a couple of years I then moved onto developing a number of online businesses. I've recently taken a sabbatical and I'm now looking to make big changes in my life, hopefully this may resonate with you - join me in my journey!

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