Best Supplements for Stress Relief: From Magnesium to Mushrooms
Why Supplements Can Help with Stress
Stress isn’t just in your head — it affects your entire body. When cortisol (your stress hormone) stays high, your body burns through nutrients faster, leaving you depleted and more vulnerable to anxiety, fatigue, and brain fog.
That’s why the right supplements can make a huge difference. They don’t replace good sleep, nutrition, or exercise — but they do support your nervous system, hormones, and resilience when life gets overwhelming.
Here’s a round-up of the best supplements for stress relief in the UK, plus the one category that we think deserves the crown: functional mushrooms. 🍄
1. Magnesium: The Chill Pill Mineral
If stress has a nutrient kryptonite, it’s magnesium. This mineral regulates your nervous system and helps muscles (and your mind) relax. But here’s the kicker: up to 50% of adults in the UK are deficient.
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Why it helps: Reduces anxiety, eases tension, improves sleep quality.
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Best forms: Magnesium glycinate (for calm and sleep) or citrate (for digestion).
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Top tip: Take in the evening for better rest.
2. B Vitamins: The Energy Boosters
Think of B vitamins as the spark plugs for your nervous system. Stress burns through them faster, leaving you tired and moody.
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Why they help: Support energy, neurotransmitter balance, and stress resilience.
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Best choice: A B-complex supplement to cover all bases (especially B6, B9, B12).
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Signs you need them: Fatigue, irritability, brain fog.
3. Vitamin C: More Than Immunity
Vitamin C isn’t just for colds. Your adrenal glands (which pump out stress hormones) use it heavily. When you’re under constant stress, your Vitamin C gets used up quickly.
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Why it helps: Lowers cortisol spikes after stressful events, supports collagen (skin glow bonus).
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Best sources: Supplements plus fresh fruits like kiwi, oranges, and strawberries.
4. Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Calm the Inflammation
Stress creates inflammation in the body — omega-3s help cool things down.
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Why they help: Reduce anxiety, improve brain health, support mood.
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Best sources: Fish oil (EPA/DHA) or vegan algae-based omega-3s.
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Fun fact: Studies show omega-3s can reduce anxiety symptoms by 20%.
5. Adaptogens: Nature’s Stress Balancers
Adaptogens are herbs and fungi that help your body adapt to stress and restore balance. Instead of pushing you up or down, they bring you back to centre.
Ashwagandha
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Calming, reduces anxiety, improves sleep quality.
Rhodiola
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Energising, fights mental fatigue, boosts focus.
Functional Mushrooms 🍄
This is where things get exciting. Unlike quick-fix supplements, mushrooms are holistic adaptogens that support multiple systems at once.
Functional Mushrooms: The Stress Superstars
Functional mushrooms deserve their own spotlight because they work differently to standard supplements. They don’t just “mask” stress — they help your body adapt to it.
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A true adaptogen that helps bring the body back into balance.
It works by regulating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, your body’s stress-control centre, helping to lower cortisol levels and support deep, restorative sleep.
💡 Extra Benefit: Reishi also supports the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” mode), easing tension, slowing the heart rate, and promoting emotional balance after long or stressful days.
🌿 Bonus: Over time, Reishi builds resilience — meaning your body becomes less reactive to future stress, so you stay calm even when life gets chaotic.
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Lion’s Mane Mushroom ("The Brain Mushroom")
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Its unique compounds, hericenones and erinacines, stimulate Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) — a protein that supports brain cell repair and communication. When stress leads to brain fog or mental fatigue, Lion’s Mane helps rebuild clarity, memory, and focus.
💡 Extra Benefit: Lion’s Mane supports the gut-brain axis, reducing inflammation in the digestive tract — which helps regulate mood and lower stress hormones naturally.
📈 Bonus: Regular use is linked to improved concentration, reduced irritability, and a stronger sense of calm focus — ideal for high-pressure days.
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Beyond boosting physical stamina, Cordyceps helps the body manage stress by supporting adrenal function — the glands responsible for producing cortisol.
When your adrenals are overworked, you experience fatigue, brain fog, and low motivation. Cordyceps helps balance this response by improving oxygen utilisation and enhancing ATP (cellular energy) production, so you feel energised without the caffeine crash.💡 Extra Benefit: Cordyceps helps improve mental endurance and stress tolerance, allowing you to stay focused under pressure.
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Turkey Tail isn’t just an immune booster — it’s a mood stabiliser through gut health.
It contains powerful prebiotics (polysaccharopeptides PSP and PSK) that feed beneficial gut bacteria, helping reduce inflammation and support serotonin production (90% of which is made in the gut).💡 Extra Benefit: By improving gut microbiome diversity, Turkey Tail promotes a calmer, more balanced mood and reduces the physiological impact of chronic stress on digestion and immunity.
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👉 This is why at PURE JOY Mushrooms, we’ve built blends that simplify stress support:
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Morning Blend → Cordyceps + Lion’s Mane + Chaga (focus & energy).
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Mind & Mood → Reishi + Lion’s Mane (calm & clarity).
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Evening Blend → Reishi + Turkey Tail + Shiitake (deep rest & recovery).
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Skin & Hair → Tremella + Shiitake + Reishi (detox & glow).
Final Word
When it comes to stress, supplements aren’t a magic wand — but they do give your body the resources it needs to recover, reset, and perform better.
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Magnesium relaxes.
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B vitamins energise.
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Omega-3s soothe.
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Vitamin C protects.
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Adaptogens balance.
And functional mushrooms? They do a bit of everything — calm, focus, energy, recovery — all in one.
👉 Ready to feel calmer, sharper, and more in control? Explore our full collection of PURE JOY Mushrooms and start your stress-balancing ritual today.
