Bacopa – benefits for memory, depression and anxiety

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Bacopa Monnieri and Caroliniana

Bacopa Monnieri and Caroliniana: Brain Boosters

Bacopa plant extracts can cure what ails you

Bacopa plant extracts are a natural and gentle alternative herbal remedy known to benefit people with a wide variety of symptoms from memory and learning issues to allergies to anxiety and depression. Studies have specifically focused on Bacopa extract’s beneficial mechanisms on brain function, and positive findings have been reported recently in areas such as the enhancement of learning skills, improvement in mood and memory, and reduction in adult ADHD symptoms when people use herbal bacopa plant supplements.

Some examples:

- In a double blind randomized placebo-controlled study in Australia Bacopa monniera extract was found to improve short term memory and longer term retention of information. The dose was 300 mg of Bacopa per day.

- In another study herbal Bacopa monniera plant extract was found to reduce the time needed for adult subjects to learn a complex task by 40%.

- In a third study herbal Bacopa caroliniana extract was tested on men who had already showed some memory issues and at the end of one year there was significant improvement in concentration, memory span, and overall mental performance.

- In animal studies Bacopa plany extract (monniera and caroliana) has been found to have a significant effect on stress, and clinical models have shown it to be possibly as effective but much safer than commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications

In summary, the herbal supplement Bacopa has been said to be helpful to remedy:

  1. Memory
  2. Learning
  3. Stress and Anxiety
  4. Depression.
  5. Adult ADHD.

We look forward to brining you the latest information and advice about herbal Bacopa plant extract, and hope you will check back often. We do not sell bacopa extract and are not directly affiliated with anyone who does sell bacopa or any other alternative medicine or product, so we aim to be fully independent and unbiased in our presentation of information.

As with any herbal supplement or alternative healing plant, you should check with your medical practitioner before using Bacopa monniera or caroliana. Natural remedies and cures can be powerful and positive, but they can also interfere with your current prescriptions or symptoms.

Aside from this front page where we will bring you the latest news and information about Bacopa Extract and related supplements, we have the following pages:

Ways of Taking Bacopa discussed the various forms of administration of Bacopa from capsules to wines, and everything in between

Bacopa Research explores all the scientifically sound studies of this natural herbal home remedy.

Bacopa Monniera: Insulates against Stress

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Many supplements and home remedies work to reduce stress after it has already occurred.  You feel stressed or anxious and you take whatever supplement.  That natural treatment of stress may work in some cases, but Bacopa Monniera has an advantage over that Approach: this supplement actually seems to insulate people against stress thereby reducing the stress produced by events in the first place.  Two animal studies help point this our scientifically:

- In one study the level of a hormone implicated is stress responses, known as “Hsp70″ was lower in non-stressed animals after they were given Bacopa Monnieri for only a week.

- A different study looked into enzymes that seem, in larger quantities, to help people manage stress better.  These two hormones, called ”P450s” were higher in rats who were taking Bacopa Extract.

These two studies of Bacopa as a natural home remedy and supplement point out the power and reach of this herb.  It works in two different ways to reduce stress or insulate people against stress, and this is only one of the many benefits of Bacopa Monniera.  Medicinal herbs can be effective and in this case safe, and those where scientific studies have been conducted to prove their mechanism – how they work – are even more compelling.

Bacopa can insulate you against stress, and it appears that waiting until the stress has arrived is a mistake!

Measuring the Memory-Boosting Effect of Bacopa

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Many people take supplements like Bacopa and feel strongly that they work.  And in the case of Bacopa there is research that suggests that they are likely correct.  However, is it possible that Bacopa does not work for everyone, or that an underlying problem might not respond to Bacopa?  Yes.  But how can a person using this home remedy really know whether it is working?  A supplement journal is one possibility.

A supplement journal basically sets out to measure the effects of a home remedy that you are taking by noting changes and progress along the lines of the symptom that you are trying to address.  In this case, if you are taking Bacopa for its memory-boosting powers you should note improvements in your immediate recall, short-term memory, and longer term recall.  Notice when you seem to remember something that you previously might not have, or when you seem to be able to learn and recall new information easier than before.

Ideally you would start a supplement journal even before you start taking the home remedy, whether Bacopa or anything else, so you can establish a “baseline” of functioning before you started taking the natural cure.  But if this is not possible, a journal that relies on anecdotal evidence is still a positive step.  Just try as hard as you can to compare current memory abilities with those that are comparable in the past.  You can even ask close family members and even friends to note when you seem to remember or learn more effectively if you want – or at least write down when someone comments that you showed a strong memory.

Bacopa is a powerful and in many cases effective memory and brain booster that has a lot of scientifically sound research surrounding it.  But as with any natural home remedy (or even synthetics for that matter) its effects on you personally are best measured by you.

Bacopa Monnieri and Stress Reduction

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Bacopa’s well known effect is as a brain booster, especially with regard to memory.  However, Bacopa, both Monnieri and Caroliniana has also been shown to be effective in helping reduce stress and anxiety.  Bacopa’s effect on stress is thought to come through one of two mechanisms:

1. There is a hormone called, for short, Hsp70, which increases in our brains when we are faced with a stressful situation.  In animal studies it has been found that after Bacopa Monniera the level of this hormone was significantly lower.

2. There are certain helpful enzymes which are released in our brains when we are under stress, in the group called ”P450″.  When Bacopa Monnieri is taken ahead of time the brain actually creates these enzymes to have on hand for use in upcoming stressful situations.

While human studies involving the measurement of these types of hormones and enzymes has not been done and would be very difficult, the animal studies of Bacopa Monnieri do match the anecdotal evidence about what Bacopa Extract is efficient at doing with regard to stress.

Bacopa and Memory: The Latest Research

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A recent study was performed to uncover the effects of Bacopa Monniera on memory.  Does Bacopa have the potential to be a memory booster as many have said, and can it prevent certain cognitive declines that occur with age?  76 adults between 40-65 years old took part in study which used a highly reliable double-blind randomized, placebo controlled approach – basically the most scientifically solid and unbiased way to conduct research.

This study of the effects of supplementation of Bacopa Monniera on memory function and anxiety, which not only tested participants right after their trial on Bacopa but also six weeks after, showed that Bacopa Monniera had a significant effect on helping these adults retain new information both immediately and in the medium term.  The particpants were matched with similar people taking a placebo, and neither group knew who was taking Bacopa Monniera and who was not.

This is just one study that showed that this simple and natural herbal supplement Bacopa, one that is available over the counter, could have very powerful effects on memory.  It is fair to say that Bacopa Monniera may indeed by the memory booster that many have claimed over the years.