Ayurvedic healers have known about the many health benefits that the Holy Basil or Tulsi plant offers for thousands of years. It is even revered as a sacred plant and known as “The Incomparable One” because of its healing properties.
Clinical research has also proven that certain active ingredients in Holy Basil leaf extract can significantly affect how our bodies react to stress. Test subjects who took regular doses of Holy Basil extract experienced less symptoms of stress in only a few short weeks.
Holy basil has a primary active ingredient called ursolic acid that is said to improve the body’s response to stress. Ursolic acid blocks the mechanisms that produce damaging stress hormones called cortisol and gives your brain the boost it needs to deal with stress. By taking Holy Basil, you are reducing the existing cortisol levels as well as preventing more from being produced.
The most popular clinical study of holy basil’s effects on stress was published in the 2012 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal. The survey involved 158…