The Incredible Power of Functional Mushrooms and How to Implement Them Into Your Life
Nature’s most beneficial superfood.
I take a lot of supplements — from comprehensive multivitamins and fish oil to creatine and BCAAs. People laugh at how many things I take every day. I just want to cover all my bases and make sure I’m getting all the nutrition my body needs.
I could write a whole article about how our food actually isn’t very bioavailable — meaning that even though you’ve had your 5 servings of vegetables today, what you actually absorb is far less than that. For example, the bioavailability of broccoli is only 37% in its most bioavailable state — raw. So I take vitamins.
But I also use something else: Functional mushrooms.
Functional mushrooms are amazing. They have been used for over 5000 years around the world and are an ancient tradition in many cultures. Functional mushrooms generally grow on trees, whereas other mushrooms don’t.
They also have proven and studied benefits for humans, being loaded with antioxidants, and have numerous health benefits. In general, these mushrooms help our bodies to reset the stress response and achieve a greater sense of focus and balance, cope with stress, improve immunity, reduce inflammation, and fight oxidative stress. But these mushrooms all contain their own specific benefits as well.
Benefits
There are loads of different varieties of functional mushrooms, but there are four main ones that are often used for human consumption.
Lion’s Mane
Lion’s mane can emulate the effects of a cup of coffee — without the jitters or caffeine addiction. It was traditionally used by Buddhist monks to increase focus during meditation. It is used for the following benefits:
- Focus
- Concentration
- Memory (and can help improve Alzheimer’s Disease)
- Creativity
- Mental clarity
- Improving depression symptoms
- Exercise recovery
Lion’s Mane also has neuroprotective benefits and increases levels of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). BDNF promotes nerve growth, maturation, and maintenance, and is therefore very important for overall brain and nerve health.
This study showed that taking Lion’s Mane daily improved symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and that these effects stopped when the supplement stopped.
I used Lion’s Mane every day after receiving a concussion last year, as it has numerous proven benefits for helping with concussion recovery. Lion’s Mane can reduce inflammation in the brain after trauma, reducing recovery time by up to 41%. This is due to the increased levels of BDNF and the promotion of new neural growth as well as re-myelination of damaged nerve cells.
Reishi
The Queen of Mushrooms — once only used among kings and queens. This mushroom is traditionally used in the evenings to promote relaxation and restful sleep and is great for anti-stress benefits. Reishi has been proven to help with the following:
- Stress
- Sleep
- Rest
- Wake up feeling refreshed
- Exercise recovery
Reishi works on the endocrine system to reduce systemic stress. It relaxes you and calms you down without making you drowsy.
Chaga
The king of mushrooms, the immunity mushroom. Chaga is full of antioxidants and trace minerals.
“This is a great daily functional mushroom, adaptogen to build and nourish your system and give you that extra armour.” - — Danielle Ryan Broida, National Educator of Four Sigmatic
Chaga has the following benefits:
- Anti-inflammatory — reduces oxidative stress
- Immunity
- Slowing the progression of cancer
- Decreasing blood sugar
Cordyceps
This mushroom has been used in China for centuries to promote energy, vitality, and endurance. It is often used now to enhance athletic performance and for continuous energy throughout the day. This mushroom is therefore very popular among athletes.
Cordyceps are good for:
- Increasing VO2 max (maximum oxygen uptake)
- Increasing energy levels
- Increasing the sex drive
- Longevity
How to implement functional mushrooms
Swap your morning coffee or tea for either a coffee mushroom blend (either a pre-made blend or by blending mushroom into your coffee) or by making a mushroom drink.
I usually have a cup of black coffee, and then afterward will mix a mushroom blend with some organic cacao and vanilla MCT oil powder. I will often also add in extra Lion’s Mane, as I am usually about to do some writing or work on my thesis and like the extra cognitive boost.
“Functional mushrooms are meant to be used every day, to build and nourish the system long-term. This is really different from other herbs or natural products where perhaps you might take them as a bandaid or for an acute symptom you’re experiencing. Functional mushrooms, for the thousands of years they’ve been used, have always been used as a daily tonic.” — Danielle Ryan Broida
There are different times of the day when the different mushrooms are more effective.
Morning
- Lion’s Mane (focus, concentration)
- Chaga (immunity, reducing oxidative stress)
- Cordyceps (energy)
Evening
- Reishi (relaxing)
Pre-workout
- Cordyceps (energy, increased VO2 max)
Post-workout
- Reishi (relaxing, recovery)
- Lion’s Mane (nervous system recovery)
Functional mushrooms are an incredible superfood with myriad benefits for almost everything. They are so easy to incorporate into your routine and can be used alongside or in the place of your usual morning and evening drinks.
Functional mushrooms can improve:
- Cognition
- Memory
- Focus
- Inflammation
- Immunity
- Blood sugar
- Cancer
- Athletic performance
- Recovery
- Stress
There really is no reason not to give them a try.