Tusli/Holy Basil (Ocimum Sanctum) is an adaptogen/adaptogenic herb which sits at
the top in Ayurveda.
Because of its innumerable and
immense benefits it is also known as "The Incomparable One",
"The Mother Medicine of Nature", and "The Queen of Herbs".
Adaptogens constitute a new class
of metabolic regulators (of a natural origin) which have been shown to increase
the ability of the organism to adapt to environmental factors and to avoid
damage from such factors (source: http://www.scicompdf.se/rosenrot/panossian_1999.pdf).
Most importantly an adapogenic herb has to be non-toxic to be classified as adaptogen.
An adaptogen can help an athlete
in various ways to adapt to training stressors, especially stressors (mental
and physical) which originate from endurance sports. Adaptogens are also essential
in maintaining and facilitating an individual’s homeostasis.
The most important effects of an
adaptogenic herb for an endurance athlete are, (i) reduction in the stress
hormone Cortisol, (ii) increase in stamina (source: ibid), and (iii) increase
in immunity to fight off respiratory infections.
Usually, Cortisol increase and Immunity
decrease are directly proportional to increase in weekly distance/exercise
intensity or a combination of both.
I have realised that management
of (i) and (iii) i.e. Cortisol and Immunity are key factors in maintaining an uninterrupted
training season. Number (iii) above i.e., stamina may be assisted by an
adaptogen but it is more of a function of regularity- you have to exercise
regularly and systematically to see progression in stamina.
Studies using forced-swimming,
restraint and cold-exposure stress in laboratory animals have shown that Tulsi
enhances aerobic metabolism, improves swimming time, reduces oxidative tissue
damage and normalizes many physiological and biochemical parameters caused by
physical stressors (source: ibid).
Modern food industry, especially
processed food industry is broken and because of that people end up purchasing
and consuming ungodly amounts of toxic chemicals and pesticides through food.
Tulsi has been shown to significantly reduce the damage to humans from such
foreign bodies.
Moreover, in a heavily polluted
country like India, it can also reduce the harmful impact of air pollution. It
was observed in a study that in automobile related high air pollution areas- Tulsi
plants develop leaf injury symptoms and alter their metabolism and leaf
architecture to acclimatize to new environment and then, quite amazingly, such plants
adapt and survive well at the polluted environment sites (source: http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.ijmb.20170701.01.html).
Because of its anti-stress properties,
regular consumption of Tulsi tea can be compared with regular practice of yoga
(source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4296439/).
Marc Maurice Cohen, in his research paper calls it “Liquid Yoga”.
The Queen of Herbs originated in
India- North India to be specific, and therefore a very powerful adaptogen is
available to all athletes in India in a very accessible manner and at an
extremely cheap price.
I have recently started using
Organic India Tulsi capsules, and I’m waiting for a shipment of Himalaya Tulsi
to arrive. Most studies which highlight the benefits of Tulsi are based on Ocimum Sanctum (Krishna Tulsi) variety and
as per a study quoted above, Krishna Tulsi (black/purple variety) has a higher
phenolic content and anti-oxidant capacity than white Vana (wild) Tulsi (Ocimum Gratissimum).
What I have seen on the label on
Organic India Tulsi is that it has 2/3rds Vana Tulsi. As per the
label which I’ve checked online -- Himalaya Tulsi is 100% Krishna Tulsi. On
paper Himalaya Tulsi appears a better buy.
A one month supply of 60
capsules/tablets is available for less than Rs. 200.
