Dr. Andy Galpin

I could spout out.

What is it?

Both, right?

So you have both of those effects.

But the only little bit of mechanism data is maybe cortisol, right?

Maybe something HPA access, maybe dopamine, maybe serotonin, like something's happening here.

What you will generally see is if you look at markers like heart rate variability,

What will often happen with rhodiola is the same dose of high intensity exercise when you use rhodiola will not drive HRV as much.

That's why we say it's like an adaptogen.

That's why it mitigates the stress response.

I have not seen any evidence that rhodiola would do something like improve baseline resting HRV over time.

So it's not like a recovery agent, but it seems to make harder, higher intensity exposure things not as damaging without compromising performance.

Correct.

In fact, some data have indicated that, but most of the research suggests actual performance enhancements from it.

We're just now, with the cortisol and stuff, we're speculating.

Because at some point, if you actually block cortisol response, then you actually inhibit stimuli, which you don't want.

So our hands are up in the air.

I haven't seen anybody really do a lot of human trials in figuring out definitive mechanisms.

That too.

But yeah.