As sweet way to reduce stress

Despite having a more optimistic outlook for 2021, my “stress list” seems to have no end. (The two are completely unrelated.) Occupying the current top spots this week are the school calendar for next year, how that’s going to affect camp, what camp is going to look like in general, and keeping up with my work to-do list that never seems to get shorter no matter how much time I put in. (Oh yeah, and COVID and my fear of civil unrest, and all that stuff, too.)

I’ll stop because I don’t want to stress you out—and because it’s obviously time for my daily dose of Hum Nutrition’s Calm Sweet Calm. I’d eat these amazing sour-cherry flavored gummies all day if I could (alas, it’s two a day max) because even just the idea of its blend of adaptogenic ashwagandha (which I’ll never be able to spell correctly the first time around) and L-theanine (an amino acid found in green tea) chills me out ever so slightly.

Designed to reduce cortisol and symptoms of stress like fatigue and lack of focus while boosting your mood and promoting relaxation, Hum says it can take four to six weeks to reap the optimal benefits—but a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled (i.e. legit) clinical study did find that 125mg of Calm Sweet Calm’s patented ashwagandha extract reduced stress symptom scores by 62% and cortisol levels by 14.5% in 60 days.

So the way I look at it, I’m about 40 to 45 days away from Zen—and it’s a good thing Hum sent me enough to last until I start shopping and packing for camp.