What are stimulants, how do they work, and where do we find them?

What are stimulants

This group of substances, regularly called stimulants, are psychoactive substances that serve to uplift the body and soul. We may divide stimulants based on their origin into plant, animal, and synthetic. Probably all of us use some daily stimulant that we have found that works for us. Sometimes, we all need to boost our efficiency, whether for work, sports, a long drive, or for learning. A different stimulant will work for each of us but luckily there is a wide range of substances and techniques.

How do stimulants work

Substances have an energizing effect on our central nervous system, they support optimal organism capacity and allow us to use the maximums of our body energy resources. Many individuals describe energy boost, euphoria, vigilance, and focus after stimulant use, which induces a feeling of vitality and significantly delays fatigue. Stimulants usually contain further active substances that support metabolism, resulting in more effective burning of fats from human’s organism during weight loss regime.

Stimulants are popular among sportsmen for their energizing effects not only during races and competitions, but also during training and in a daily life. It is suitable to use these substances mainly before and during sports activities. The blood circulation in muscle mass improves which leads to the feeling of being “boosted”. Nevertheless, remember that some stimulants often increase pulse and in a short-term also blood pressure.

When it comes to stimulants, professional athletes must be careful about those that are in the list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In this list we may also find some natural stimulants (for example ephedrine, atropine, or cocaine). It is important to be careful about the excessive and regular usage of stimulants as it might result in creating mental or physical addiction.

Other guaranteed ways how to feel fresh

In a daily life, there are other methods apart from legal stimulants and food supplements that may help us, such as enough sleep, refreshing cold shower, internal motivation coming from relaxation exercise, and least but not last, emphasize on a healthy diet that includes omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and some B vitamins that help us fight tiredness and exhaustion.

We may find stimulants also in common foodstuff

Stimulants also commonly occur in foodstuff like green tea, coffee, dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa, yerba mate, cola drinks, and others.

Nowadays trends call for healthy lifestyle and going back to natural substances. Stimulants are contained in foodstuff where we wouldn’t expect them, such as herbs or spice. Some examples are guarana, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, or chilli, whose capsaicin will awake all your senses.

Other stimulants popular for sports activities are for example L-arginine, taurine (derivative of cysteine amino acid), tyrosine, or L-carnitine that naturally occurs in meat, fish, dairy products, or in some kinds of soya.

Our tips for the end

• N1 Pro – Professional pre-workout with maximum concentration of active ingredients.
• N1 Shot – Practical single shot with effective ingredients for long-lasting stimulation.
• Gutar Energy Shot – Energy shot for endurance activities with plant extracts.
• Pump – Effective blend for pumping up muscles and boosting performance, without caffeine.
• Fat Direct Shot – Practical form of pre-workout and burner in one.

Sources

BŘENKOVÁ Barbora. Přírodní stimulanty ve sportovní výživě. Masarykova Univerzita. BRNO, 2019
FOŘT, Petr. Výživa (hlavně) pro kulturistiku a fitness. 2. vyd. Pardubice: Ivan Rudzinskyj, 2006, ISBN 80-864-6221-8.
Zdravé zdraví. Bylinky (online 7.12.2020) Available at: https://zdravezdravi.cz/bylinky