Relora Study: It’s Effective for Stress and Anxiety

Stress getting to you? Relora might help.

As the pace of life gets faster and life itself becomes more complicated, you’ll have plenty of company if you occasionally feel anxious and overwhelmed by temporary events or an over-committed schedule.  What would really help in circumstances like these is something to subdue the anxiety, but without powerful sedative or relaxant properties. Something that helps with anxiety, but not by sending you to the couch for a nap. Something that still allows  you to function.  A doctor might prescribe an anti-anxiety drug, but that’s not the first option most people want to try. Instead,  people have turned to natural remedies such as herbs and amino acids to see what, if anything, is there to help them navigate the occasional anxiety-provoking episodes in life without making them feel tired or sleepy.

Relora is a combination of two herbs that are each important parts of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, although only occasionally in this particular combination.  One herb is derived from a type of magnolia bark, the other from a species of phellodendron.

There was tremendous interest in Relora shortly before it was  introduced in the late 90’s, helped in part by high profile teases on Oprah and other shows.  Relora was said to have several useful effects; calming anxiety and reducing stress, reducing the appetite especially with respect to those who overeat when they feel stressed, and acting as weight-loss aide, partly due to the appetite suppressant effects.

Marketers didn’t really seem to know what to do with Relora. Most brands unfortunately emphasized the weight-loss potential of Relora to the point of hyping it, while downplaying the effects on anxiety and stress.

It now appears they had it all backwards.

While Relora – as a weight loss aide – got good results for some people, it failed to live up to the unreasonable expectations generated by all the hype. Interest in Relora quickly dropped off from that initial peak, and ever since then Relora has languished at the margins of the supplement realm, mostly overlooked by customers who would otherwise be interested in one or more of its properties.

A recent study compels us to take another look at Relora, suggesting that its main benefits don’t pertain to weight loss, but rather that Relora is an effective way to help reduce stress and anxiety without inducing drowsiness or sleepiness.  As we were saying near the top of this blog, many people are seeking non-sedating approaches to managing stress and anxiety, but there hasn’t been much we could confidently recommend .  L-theanine is a good choice, but not everyone  responds well to it. So any other non-sedating options are welcome and it’s good to see that even moderate doses of inexpensive Relora are effective at reducing anxiety and stress. After all, there are almost too many choices of products for weight loss, but far too few options for non-sedating effects on anxiety and stress.   One wonders if Relora wouldn’t be more popular now if it had been touted more as an anti-anxiety agent and less as a weight-loss aide from the start. If you’ve been looking for a natural approach to stress and anxiety, and especially if other things haven’t worked, consider trying Relora.