The 8 Best Vitamins and Supplements for Stress

The 8 Best Vitamins and Supplements for Stress

While everyone has specific life stressors, factors related to job pressure, money, health, and relationships tend to be the most common.

Stress can be acute or chronic and lead to fatigue, headaches, upset stomach, nervousness, and irritability or anger.

Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and good nutrition are some of the best ways to better equip your body to combat stress, but several vitamins and supplements can also help.

Rhodiola rosea

How to use: A study showed that taking 400 mg of Rhodiola extract daily for 12 weeks improved associated symptoms, including anxiety, exhaustion, and irritability (1Trusted Source).
Best used for: Rhodiola may be used to help combat stress and can help fight fatigue, depression, and anxiety.

Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea), is an herb that grows in regions of Russia and Asia.

It has long been known as an adaptogen, a natural, nontoxic herb that stimulates your body’s stress response system to increase stress resistance (2Trusted Source).

The adaptogenic properties of Rhodiola are linked to two of the herb’s potent active ingredients — rosavin and salidroside (3Trusted Source).

An 8-week study involving 100 people with chronic fatigue symptoms, such as poor sleep quality and impairments in short-term memory and concentration, found that supplementing with 400 mg of Rhodiola extract daily improved symptoms after just 1 week (4Trusted Source).

The symptoms continued to decline throughout the study.

Rhodiola is well tolerated and has a strong safety profile (5, 6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

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Melatonin

How to use: Melatonin supplements range in dosage from 0.3–10 mg. It’s best to start with the lowest dose possible and work up to a higher dose if necessary (8Trusted Source).
Best used for: Melatonin supplements are best used for those who have difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep.

Getting adequate amounts of quality sleep is important for relieving stress.

Stress is strongly linked to insomnia, a sleep disorder characterized by difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep — or both (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).

That said, achieving adequate quality sleep may not be the easiest if you’re under stress, which in turn could worsen its severity.

Melatonin is a natural hormone that regulates your body’s circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake cycle. Levels of the hormone increase in the evening when it’s dark to promote sleep and decrease in the morning when it’s light to promote wakefulness.

In a review of 19 studies involving 1,683 people with primary sleep disorders — those not caused by another condition — melatonin decreased the time it took people to fall asleep, increased total sleep time, and improved overall sleep quality, compared with a placebo (11Trusted Source).

Another review of 7 studies involving 205 people investigated the effectiveness of melatonin for managing secondary sleep disorders, which are those caused by another condition, such as stress or depression.

The review demonstrated that melatonin decreased the time it took people to fall asleep and increased total sleep time but did not significantly affect sleep quality, compared with a placebo (12Trusted Source).

Though melatonin is a natural hormone, supplementing with it does not affect your body’s production of it. Melatonin is also non-habit-forming (13Trusted Source).

While melatonin supplements can be purchased over the counter in the United States, they require a prescription in many other countries.

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Glycine

How to use: A small study found that supplementing with 3 grams of glycine before bed reduced daytime sleepiness and fatigue following 3 days of sleep deprivation (14Trusted Source).
Best used for: Glycine is known to have calming effects and can be helpful for trouble sleeping and trouble focusing.

Glycine is an amino acid that your body uses to create proteins.

Studies suggest that glycine may increase your body’s resistance to stress by encouraging a good night’s rest through its calming effect on the brain and ability to lower your core body temperature (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).

A lower body temperature promotes sleep and helps you stay asleep during the night.

In one study, 15 people who had complaints about the quality of their sleep and took 3 grams of glycine before bed experienced less fatigue and increased alertness the following day, compared with a placebo (14Trusted Source).

These effects occurred despite no difference in the time it took to fall asleep or time slept, compared with a placebo, suggesting glycine improved sleep quality.

In a similar study, taking 3 grams of glycine before bedtime was shown to improve measures of sleep quality and performance on memory recognition tasks (17).

Glycine is well tolerated, but taking 9 grams on an empty stomach before bed has been associated with minor stomach upset. That said, taking 3 grams is unlikely to cause any side effects (18).

Keep in mind that although studies show that glycine may be helpful for getting better sleep, more research is needed to prove the benefits of the supplement for reducing stress.

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Ashwagandha

How to use: A study investigating the safety and efficacy of ashwagandha supplements in people with chronic stress noted that taking 600 mg of ashwagandha for 60 days was safe and well tolerated (19Trusted Source).
Best used for: Ashwagandha is good for lowering stress levels, elevating mood, and lowering cortisol levels.

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an adaptogenic herb native to India, where it has been used in Indian Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest medicinal systems (20Trusted Source).

Similarly to rhodiola, ashwagandha is thought to enhance your body’s resilience to physical and mental stress (21Trusted Source).

In one study on the stress-relieving effects of ashwagandha, researchers randomized 60 individuals with mild stress to receive 240 mg of a standardized ashwagandha extract or a placebo daily for 60 days (22Trusted Source).

Compared with the placebo, supplementing with ashwagandha was strongly associated with greater reductions in stress, anxiety, and depression. Ashwagandha was also linked to a 23% reduction in morning levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

What’s more, a review of five studies examining the effects of ashwagandha on anxiety and stress observed that those who supplemented with ashwagandha extract scored better on tests measuring levels of stress, anxiety, and fatigue (23Trusted Source).

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Proven Health Benefits of Ashwagandha

Proven Health Benefits of Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an ancient medicinal herb with many health benefits that come from its anti-inflammatory activity.

L-theanine

How to use: One older study showed that taking supplements with 200 mg of l-theanine reduced measures of stress, such as heart rate, in response to performing a mentally stressful task (24Trusted Source).
Best used for: L-theanine is a natural component of tea leaves that has been shown to reduce stress and promote relaxation.

L-theanine is an amino acid most commonly found in tea leaves.

It has been studied for its ability to promote relaxation and reduce stress without exerting sedative effects (25Trusted Source, 26Trusted Source).

A review of 21 studies involving nearly 68,000 people found that drinking green tea was associated with reduced anxiety and improvements in memory and attention (27Trusted Source).

These effects were attributed to the synergistic effects of the caffeine and L-theanine in the tea, as each ingredient on its own was found to have a lesser impact.

However, studies suggest that L-theanine by itself may still help relieve stress.

In another study in 34 people, drinking a beverage containing 200 mg of L-theanine and other nutrients lowered levels of the stress hormone cortisol in response to a stressful task that involved multitasking (28Trusted Source).

L-theanine is well tolerated and safe when supplemented with at its effective dose for relaxation, which ranges from 200–600 mg per day in capsule form (29Trusted Source, 30Trusted Source).

For comparison, L-theanine comprises 1–2% of the dry weight of leaves, corresponding to 10–20 mg of L-theanine per commercially available tea bag (31Trusted Source).

That said, drinking tea is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on stress. Nonetheless, many people find the act of drinking tea to be relaxing.

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B complex vitamins

How to use: In one 12-week study involving 60 people with work-related stress, those taking one of two forms of a vitamin B complex supplement experienced less work-related stress symptoms, including depression, anger, and fatigue, compared with those in the placebo group (32Trusted Source).
Best used for: The eight B vitamins, collectively known as B complex vitamins, may improve mood and reduce stress by either lowering homocysteine levels or maintaining healthy levels of this amino acid.

B complex vitamins usually contain all eight B vitamins.

These vitamins play an important role in metabolism by transforming the food you eat into usable energy. B vitamins are also essential for heart and brain health (33Trusted Source).

Food sources of B vitamins include grains, meats, legumes, eggs, dairy products, and leafy greens.

Interestingly, high doses of B vitamins have been suggested to improve symptoms of stress, such as mood and energy levels, by lowering blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine (34Trusted Source, 35Trusted Source, 36Trusted Source).

High levels of homocysteine are associated with stress and an increased risk of several conditions, including heart disease, dementia, and colorectal cancer (37Trusted Source, 38Trusted Source, 39Trusted Source, 40Trusted Source).

What’s more, a review of 8 studies involving 1,292 people found that taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement improved several aspects of mood, including stress, anxiety, and energy (41Trusted Source).

Though the supplement contained several other vitamins and minerals, the study’s authors suggested that supplements containing high doses of B vitamins may be more effective at improving aspects of mood.

Another study observed similar results, suggesting that supplementing with B vitamins as part of a multivitamin and mineral supplement may improve mood and stress by lowering homocysteine levels (42Trusted Source).

However, it’s unclear whether people who already have low homocysteine levels will experience these same effects.

Vitamin B complex supplements are generally safe when taken within the recommended dosage ranges. However, they may cause harmful side effects like nerve pain when taken in large amounts. Plus, they’re water-soluble, so your body excretes any excess through urine (43Trusted Source).

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CBD

Research into the effects of CBD is still ongoing. But several studies have suggested that cannabidiol can have positive outcomes with patients experiencing symptoms of stress.

One 2020 review analyzed 76 research articles published in 2019 and 2020 regarding the effects of CBD on specific conditions, like stress, anxiety, dementia, and depression.

The study concluded that, while CBD is a promising treatment for stress and anxiety, more studies are needed.

A separate 2020 study researched the effects of CBD on a small sample of 15 participants. It found that the “results identify potential mechanisms of CBD for a range of conditions associated with altered memory processing, including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder.”

In a study of 33 clinically high risk [CHR] psychosis patients, half of whom were administered 600 mg of CBD per day, “the results provide preliminary evidence that CBD may affect … the psychological responses to acute stress in daily life in CHR patients.”

While research of CBD’s effects is ongoing, initial studies have promising results. However, it’s important to remember that CBD doesn’t work for everyone, so it’s a case of trying it and monitoring the results for yourself.

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Supplement Stress Formulas

Formulas like MegaFood Stress Protect Combines a trademarked Sensoril Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Holy Basil, and other herbs to promote a healthy stress response and ward of fatigue.

Also consider a MegaFood’s multivitamin for Daily Stress Relief, with B-Vitamins, and the Sensoril patented Ashwagandha.