Whether it is to replenish energy, preserve the joints, manage the stress of a competition or even drain the body, plants are real assets for the athlete. Discover our selection of essential plants!
Refuel energy
Improving your sports performance starts with good nutritional intake, sufficient hydration, and quality sleep, but not only. Some plants are presented as a revitalizer that gives the body a significant “boost”.
Ginseng is particularly interesting in case of physical fatigue. The rhizomes of red ginseng or eleutherococcus (also called Siberian ginseng), help maintain energy and vitality.
Manage the stress of competitions
Everyone reacts differently to stress. This psychological state is particularly present during a sports competition and can, in some cases, become very disabling and reduce our performance. Stress is not uncontrollable!
Studies have shown that a plant, rhodiola rosea, promotes well-being, intellectual performance, psychomotor functioning, quality of sleep as well as more stable motivation and mood. This is largely due to its adaptogenic properties, that is to say the ability to counterbalance the harmful effects of physical or psychological stress.
These beneficial effects on mental functions may prove to be particularly interesting during competition before events in all disciplines that intensely require cognitive abilities (tennis, climbing; team sports such as rugby, handball, basketball; sailing …).
Preserve the joints
The practice of certain sports regularly solicits the joints and sometimes puts them to the test. To support them, the harpagophytum and the boswellia form a powerful duo! These 2 plants are traditionally used to help maintain joint mobility and flexibility.
Another must-have for athletes, the turmeric rhizome is thick and fleshy orange in color, rich in curcuminoids. It participates in the proper functioning of many major functions of the body and helps in particular to protect the joints and maintain their flexibility.
Drain the body
To ensure optimum metabolic functioning during the practice of a sporting activity, the liver is one of the organs that are particularly stressed. It performs three essential metabolic functions:
Digestive function: the liver secretes bile.
Purification function: the liver filters the blood.
Synthesis and storage function: the liver notably plays a central role in the metabolism of carbohydrates.
The liver filters, sorts and neutralizes toxins and waste which are then sent to the kidneys to be eliminated. Milk thistle and birch are two plants that act in a targeted manner on these two organs of elimination. Milk thistle contributes to the protection of the liver and birch supports the elimination functions of the kidney.
It is generally advisable to drain your body in spring and autumn so that it is more resistant to external aggressions.
