Natural vitamins have become a preferred way to nourish the body with all the energy and nutrients that it needs. With all the hype over the years, I decided to try out a wellness product for myself to see if it could provide the benefits that so many people are claiming it has.
I chose to dive into and finish a bottle of Daytime Zen Stress Support from Niyama Yoga Wellness, and today I’m reviewing this one single product from the brand.
Disclaimer:
All experiences are my personal reflections. This review is not a recommendation and everyone should consult a doctor before making any changes to their health routine.
What is Niyama Yoga Wellness?
Niyama Yoga is a Canadian natural wellness brand, with professional quality natural health products that are made specifically for Yogis. Now, I’m not a full-time yogi—in fact, most of my allotted exercise time is spent lifting weights at the gym—but I was totally intrigued by the idea of their Daytime Zen Stress Support capsules.
Daytime Zen claims to help your body deal with and adapt to daily stress and even anxiety. The product provides a natural alternative to prescription medication for those who want to help manage the symptoms without the scary side effects.
What’s in Daytime Zen? Ashwagandha
Ashwagandha is a natural medicinal herb and an adaptogen—which means it can help your body manage stress, and can also aid in improving thinking ability, decreasing pain and swelling (inflammation), and preventing the effects of ageing. The plant can also be applied directly to the skin to treat wounds and backache. In this case, however, Niyama offers this product at a 250mg dosage in each capsule, which I believe makes it the main ingredient, followed closely by a 200mg dosage of L-Theanine.
The 2 remaining ingredients are, as listed on the packaging:
Rhodiola (Rhodiola rpsea, Root) — 150mg
Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri, Herb top) — 100mg
The brand makes a few claims about each of the function of each of the 4 ingredients:
L-theanine is an amino acid extracted from green tea, which helps reduce the perception of stress and promotes alert relaxation and mental focus.
Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb with both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties used in Ayurvedic medicine to help the body adapt to stress and return to homeostasis.
Rhodiola is a balancing cortisol (the stress hormone) in the body, helps fight physical and mental fatigue and improves brain function.
Bacopa helps the body deal with stress, reduces feelings of anxiety and supports better memory function.
Why I Took It
I am definitely not a yogi. I like yoga, but I don’t practice it often enough to call myself a yogi. I mainly wanted to try Daytime Zen in order to start my day with something that will have a positive effect on my mind, body, and most importantly my mood.
The instructions for Daytime Zen advise that these capsules be taken on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, while consciously trying not to vary your wake time by more than an hour every day. Niyama founder and certified yoga instructor Jillian Miriani claims that by sleeping in, you essentially create a false jet-lag confusing your body into thinking you have switched time zones. If you’ve travelled, you know, jet lag is awful, and if you’re not changing your bad sleep habits but still trying to combat stress by taking Daytime Zen, you might not properly experience the changes you’re looking to create.
I would argue I have a pretty good sleep routine and wake up around the same time daily, so this product was the perfect addition to my morning wellness routine. I knew I was interested in Daytime Zen when I found I had been feeling overwhelmingly stressed and frustrated about the way my fitness levels had plummeted this year (and not to mention my metabolism slowing down immensely at age 26! Is that just me?!). I felt hopeless in the gym, and I lost the drive to go. That didn’t feel right so I needed to do something to change my mentality every morning when I woke up.
I personally believe that in order to succeed at any sport, you need to follow the same basic requirements as any other athlete or fitness lover when it comes to nutrition, health, and wellness. So I was automatically sold on this product when I realized that Niyama specifically targets Yogis—AKA people who are, in general, working to improve their health and fitness. Which is exactly what I was trying to do.
My Experience
First things first: I decided I needed to take a capsule at least 4 consecutive weeks in a row so as to determine whether or not Daytime Zen worked for me. So keep this in mind while I explain my experience consuming the entire bottle of 60 capsules.
I started taking Daytime Zen every morning around 8am with just a glass of water. Like any habit, in the first 2 weeks or so I forgot to take it on some days, and as a result, I wasn’t really feeling any of the positive changes I was meant to feel.
I decided I needed to stick to a strict routine, so I started setting an alarm for it and taking it every day from then on—until I finished the bottle.
For Stress
After about 2 consecutive weeks, I realized I hadn’t felt any aggressive tension in a while. I still wasn’t too happy about getting myself to the gym and performing poorly, but I made the effort and I felt better about my poor performance. Whereas before I would let it get to me and maybe even cry out my frustration a little, now I was accepting it and thinking positively about each visit to the gym.
In other aspects of life, like work and relationships, I was happy. I normally am anyway, but sometimes I would stress about work being sucky (who doesn’t though?). So I can’t really say much about the product in relation to work-induced stress, but I managed to cut out coffee in the morning for MONTHS and I still felt totally energized, clear-headed, and focused throughout the day.
Cons
Daytime Zen relies on habit—you have to take it everyday around the same time in the morning. If you’re not a morning person, or if you struggle with forming habits, it might be tough to feel its results in the beginning.
It’s hard to measure the exact effectiveness of the product without taking into consideration other aspects of a daily routine.
Questions I Had
Will it really work?
The most obvious question, as with any other natural wellness product is whether it will work for you or not. I personally felt great inside and out, but I definitely think it’s a personal experience that, if you’re interested, is worth trying out for yourself. From my experience, the pros outweigh the cons!
Does it have any side effects?
I’m happy to say I did not experience any side effects! In the beginning, I did, of course, experience stress, fatigue, and some anxiety, and I worried that it was the product, but now that I’ve finished the bottle I can confidently say those feelings were not related to my use of the product.
So there you have it!
Personally, I haven’t tried many natural wellness products and can sometimes be skeptical that a lot of it has to do with the placebo effect—but for some reason, I feel this product genuinely worked! I like the list of ingredients, I like the science behind it, and I would even be willing to try more from Niyama Yoga Wellness. It’s always great to have natural options as alternatives to products with a list of chemicals on the label that we can’t even pronounce, so if something healthier is working—why not keep going?
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