CONKA Formula Name: (ChC5+1)
Explanation:
CONKA Herbal Complex (5 key herbs + 1 supplementary)
Component 4 - Rhodiola Rosea (RR)
Pronunciation: ro·dee·ow·luhrow·zee·uh
Positive effects on fatigue, particularly mental fatigue, and exercise performance. Improves mood and evidence for improved memory performance and neuronal repair (Dr Chazot 2021)
The Facts:
Backed By History
The Greek physician, Pedanius Dioscorides, first recorded the medicinal applications of ‘rodia riza’ in 77 C.E. in De Materia Medica.
It grows in the dry sandy ground at higher altitudes and is indigenous to the United Kingdom. We are dealing with a resilient herb that grows well in the arctic areas of Europe and Asia.
The plant is 12 – 30 inches high and produces yellow blossoms. Russia and Scandinavian countries have utilised the plant for treating headaches and anxiety for hundreds of years.
RR contains 140 compounds in the roots. The critical components include rosavin, rosarian, rosin(collectively known as rosavins), salidroside, and tyrosol. If just one of these rosavins is missing RR doesn't work.
Some of these active compounds can only be found in RR, so CONKA includes whole herbs in the formula incapsulation rather than extracts. This means that the daily capsule dosage is high, but critically, it means we achieve 3% rosavins and 1% salidroside in every capsule.
Remember, it takes a synergistic combination of these chemicals for this herb to be effective. This is a precise science that many nootropic formulations deprioritise for the sake of consumer convenience.
CONKA is here for cognition control & performance first, and convenience second.
So What?
RR x Stress:
RR is known as an adaptogen. This means it helps your body adapt to stress, both mental and physical. The adaptation effect aids mental performance in challenging environments, improving your decision-making in demanding situations like the workplace and competitive sports.
Moreover, RR when applied for a 4-week period, was shown to be a safe and effective way of improving life-stress symptoms to a clinically relevant degree. Effects were observed even after 3 days of treatment.
RR x Anti-Fatigue:
Fatigue is commonly defined as a feeling of tiredness, lack of energy, emotional stability and motivation, or difficulty in concentration and memory, frequently aggravated by a variety of parallel symptoms such as headache or muscle pain, common in a contact sport.
Notably, repeated administration of RR exerted an anti-fatigue effect, with reduced
cortisol, together with increased mental performance, and particularly improved participants' ability to concentrate.
RR x Human Performance:
In an interesting study looking at stress during a student exam period, RR produced significant improvement in a series of physical fitness, mental fatigue and hand-eye coordination tests.
In a cross-over study, healthy doctors on night duty displayed a statistically significant improvement in general fatigue using RR when compared to a control group in a two-week period.
The tests in the referenced cross-over study involved complex perceptive and cognitive cerebral functions, such as associative thinking, short-term memory, calculation, the ability to concentrate, and speed of audio-visual perception.
Similarly, the CONKA app included with all memberships tests your neuro-visual and motor control, consistent capsule consumption and testing will see your scores improve within the first 2-4 weeks of using CONKA.
RR x Brain Repair:
Studies show RR even saves injured neurons. And encourages the growth and development of brain cells.
One animal study in China explored the effects of RR on the number of neurons in the hippocampus of rats with depression induced by chronic stress.
The hippocampus plays a vital role in regulating learning, memory encoding, memory consolidation, and spatial navigation. 50 rats were divided into 5 groups: normal control, untreated, negative & positive control and RR-treated groups.
The research team concluded that the number of neurons in the hippocampus in the RR-treated group increased and recovered to a normal level.
This study has a direct correlation to how RR works in the human brain and helps those with minor acute brain damage and chronic stress recover and perform at an optimal level within their demanding schedules to have cognitive control for longer in their life.
Brown R.P., Gerbarg P.L., Ramazanov Z. “Rhodiola rosea: A Phytomedicinal Overview” The Journal of the American Botanical Council Issue: 56 Page: 40-52 herbalgram.org
Olsson, E., von Schéele, B. and Panossian, A. (2008). A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Group Study of the Standardised Extract SHR-5 of the Roots ofRhodiola roseain the Treatment of Subjects with Stress-Related Fatigue. Planta Medica, [online] 75(02), pp.105–112. doi:10.1055/s-0028-1088346.
Edwards, D., Heufelder, A. and Zimmermann, A. (2012). Therapeutic effects and safety of Rhodiola rosea extract WS® 1375 in subjects with life-stress symptoms--results of an open-label study. Phytotherapy research: PTR, [online] 26(8), pp.1220–1225. doi:10.1002/ptr.3712.
Spasov, A.A., Wikman, G.K., Mandrikov, V.B., Mironova, I.A. and Neumoin, V.V. (2000). A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimen. Phytomedicine, [online] 7(2), pp.85–89. doi:10.1016/S0944-7113(00)80078-1.
Darbinyan, V., Kteyan, A., Panossian, A., Gabrielian, E., Wikman, G. and Wagner, H. (2000). Rhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue--a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night duty. Phytomedicine: International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology, [online] 7(5), pp.365–371. doi:10.1016/S0944-7113(00)80055-0.
Qin Y.J., Zeng Y.S., Zhou C.C., Li Y., Zhong Z.Q. “[Effects of Rhodiola rosea on level of 5-hydroxytryptamine, cell proliferation and differentiation, and number of neuron in cerebral hippocampus of rats with depression induced by chronic mild stress].” in Chinese Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2008 Dec;33(23):2842-6.
Dutta, S.S. (2019). Hippocampus Functions. [online] News-Medical.net. Available at: https://www.news-medical.net/health/Hippocampus-Functions.aspx.