Is ashwagandha the same as American ginseng?

It's not the same. But it's, they both are adaptogens, and what those adaptogens do is they help strengthen the part of the autonomic nervous system, whether it's one side or the other, dominant.

So they just strengthen the autonomic nervous system, allowing you to cope with stress a lot more. And I did release a video relating to this, it's called Heart Rate Variability Technology, HRV, and so there is a device that you can get to measure both the sympathetic and parasympathetic.

But there's a, it's a fascinating tool to be able to identify, first of all, your stress dates, and then also try out different adaptogens to see what creates the most change on your autonomic nervous system. You can go by symptoms, but it's nice to kind of see objectively what's happening with your parasympathetics, in relationship to stress and exercise.

You have to really be creative and kind of think of all sorts of things. But as a side note, the hormone that seems to be one of the best things to reduce cortisol is oxytocin. And oxytocin can be stimulated by bonding your baby, or an animal, or taking care of animals, or donating.