The Queen of Mushrooms

With up to 1.5 million types of mushrooms, most people aren’t sure where to start. My recommendation: the beautiful reishi mushroom (AKA the Queen of Mushrooms, Mushroom of Immortality, Lingzhi, or Ganoderma lucidum) This mushroom has been used to support wellbeing for over 2,000 years in China and Japan[*]. While it isn’t a staple in the USA (yet 😉), it’s time we started using this incredible ally to chill out.

Reishi Mushroom Benefits List

• Supports sleep cycles
• Helps reduce stress
• Aids immune support

Different types of reishi mushroom

Reishi is a woody mushroom with a glossy exterior. It’s shaped like a saucer and ranges in color from red ❤️ to black 🖤 to green, 💚 to purple, 💜 and even white[*]! 🤍

The most studied is red reishi which grows primarily on Hemlock trees. This is the type of reishi we use in Four Sigmatic products. Just like in nature (where reishi grows on trees), we believe in only using log-grown reishi. Other types of reishi you can buy are grown on either sawdust, grain, cork, or other cheap substrates like rice and oats.

Reishi Mushroom for Sleep

Reishi can help with sleep but not by making you "feel" sleepy. Unlike valerian or magnesium, it won’t make you drowsy (it’s non-sedative). Instead, reishi helps you to chill out, balance hormones, and help  your body better deal with the inevitable stressors that life throws your way. This aided ability to deal with stress supports healthier, more consistent sleep cycles when consumed in continuous, daily doses. 😴

👉 PRO TIP: Personally, I've found that daily use seems to show more promise than just taking it once or twice.

The science behind reishi for sleep

Because reishi affects multiple systems in the body, it's not a simple answer. One study found 34 key components in reishi that can help with sleep problems.

Some research suggests reishi binds with GABA receptors (proteins in the brain and nervous system that help calm down neural activity and promote relaxation). Similar to other sleep medications, this binding can help the receptors work more effectively.

Another study found that reishi improved the total sleep time and non-REM sleep (AKA deep sleep) after just 3 days.  

How to best use reishi for sleep

We recommend taking reishi in the late afternoon or early evening. This allows reishi to start supporting your nervous system so by the time you’re ready to bed, it’s easier to fall into that deep sleep you crave. 

For the best results, try to take it about 30 minutes before or after eating. 🍊 One exception: if you’re enjoying vitamin C-rich foods like cherries, citrus, or pomegranate, feel free to take it together with reishi. By increasing your body’s ability to utilize the compounds in reish, Vitamin C actually helps your body make the most of reishi's benefits!

Bonus: enjoy in a warm (and delicious) beverage as an after dinner treat!

If it tastes delicious, you're more likely to take reishi regularly and build up the benefits over time. Plus, sipping a hot drink is like a cozy hug while reishi works its magic. 😌

• Try Calm Cacao Mix with mood-boosting cacao in a healthy hot chocolate
• Or sip as a soothing reishi spiced tea in our delicious caffeine free Calm Chai Latte

Learn more from Tero (Four Sigmatic's founder) about  the 6 steps how to become a sleep ninja and improve your sleep quality. Watch the video:

🎥 Video: The 6 Belts of Sleep

Reishi Mushroom for Stress

Reishi is used in herbal medicine as an adaptogen, meaning it helps your body adapt to stressors. It is non-toxic 👍 and safe for long-term use. This grounding mushroom helps you to chill out and adapt to whatever life throws your way. 🧘

The science behind reishi for stress

A double-blind study on 132 participants found that reishi helped reduce fatigue and increase a sense of well-being. Tested against placebo, the reishi group has significantly lower scores: a 28.3% reduction in fatigue and a 38.7% improvement in well-being.

How to best use reishi for stress

You might be tempted to turn to reishi once the stress hits. But it's much easier to bounce back to a balanced state when you take reishi daily, before the stress hits. ☮️

Try starting your mornings with reishi to stress-proof your day

• Sip zen with our decaf Calm Organic Ground Coffee in the morning
• Or take a chill pill with our Calm Mushroom Complex Capsules

Reishi Mushroom for Immune Function

Reishi also supports your immune system. It contains a variety of polysaccharides, antioxidant properties, and beta-glucans that help immune function. 🦠

The science behind reishi for immunity

Research on reishi mushrooms links its immune support powers to its impact on white blood cell activity. One study saw that reishi increased white blood cell count in participants with colorectal cancer.

Another found that reishi can help reduce inflammation and control immune response. Compounds found in reishi, such as polysaccharides and triterpenoids, make it an immune system modulator—meaning it works with your body to either upregulate or downregulate immune cells to keep your immune system working optimally.

How to best use reishi for immunity 

If you've read this entire article, you already know what we're about to say. 😅 Take reishi daily for the best results!

It's ideal to use reishi prior to getting the sniffles. It's much less effective when taken after the fact.  Remember, you can mix reishi with Vitamin C-rich foods (also great for immunity) to boost absorption of the immune boosting compounds in reishi mushrooms. (For best results, always opt for whole, organic foods that are naturally rich in Vitamin C as opposed to taking a synthetic ascorbic acid).

• Try mixing reishi with other mushrooms for whole body wellness in our Protect Mushroom Blend (also contains rose hips for that Vitamin C kick!)
• Or nourish your body and mind with Sweet Vanilla Plant-Protein made with a combination of reishi in a blend of 1500mg other functional mushrooms and adaptogens

Curious about the top 5 mushrooms for functional magic? Watch the video:

🎥 Video: 5 mushrooms that will change your life

Reishi's connection to the liver

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) reishi is a time-honored remedy to strengthen the liver. The liver is the key organ in TCM related to someone's Qi.

"Qi" represents the vital energy or life force flowing through the body.

• Vital Energy: Qi is considered the essential energy that sustains life. It's responsible for maintaining health, vitality, and balance in the body.
• Flow and Balance: Qi flows through specific pathways in the body called meridians. For good health, Qi must flow smoothly and be in balance.

Reishi is believed to balance and strengthen the liver which improves Qi, overall energy levels, and wellbeing.

Detoxifying the body

In TCM, reishi is a detoxifying herb. It's believed to help cleanse the body by supporting the liver’s natural detoxification processes, thereby improving overall health and vitality.

Research on reishi and the liver

One study found that reishi extract helped reduce liver damage, inflammation, and stress markers in rats. They also saw that reishi increased levels of protective substances in the liver.

Another study revealed that Ganoderma lucidum (reishi) had strong liver-protective properties. It helped reduce liver damage caused by toxins, decreased levels of harmful enzymes, and lowered oxidative stress in the liver. 

Reishi Mushroom Nutritional Information

Nutrients come in various forms: macronutrients, micronutrients, and what we like to call, nano nutrients. 

• Macronutrients (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) are the 3 primary energy sources for your body. 
• Micronutrients (essential vitamins and minerals) support numerous physiological functions. 
• Nano nutrients, while not a scientific term, refer to highly concentrated, bioactive compounds like polysaccharides, triterpenoids, and sterols that have powerful effects on the body.

Reishi mushrooms are incredibly low in calories, fats, and carbohydrates, making them an excellent addition to your diet without adding to your calorie count. But what they lack in macros, they more than make up for in nano nutrients. Reishi is packed with these potent compounds that work on a cellular level to support your overall well-being, from boosting immunity to reducing inflammation.

Nutritional Info

Here's a general overview of its macro and nano nutritional profile at 500mg of extracted reishi fruiting body:

• Calories: ~4 kcal
• Protein: ~0.3g
• Fat: ~0.1g
• Carbohydrates: ~1g
• Dietary Fiber: ~0.5g
• Vitamins and Minerals: Reishi mushrooms contain vitamins (like B vitamins) and minerals (such as potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium) but these are not the primary reason to consume reishi. 

Where reishi really shines are its powerful bioactive compounds (aka the nano nutrients):

• Polysaccharides: known for immune-boosting properties
• Triterpenoids: have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects
• Sterols: plant sterols that can benefit heart health
• Peptides: with various health-promoting effects

To maximize the impact of these bioactive compounds, we ALWAYS use the fruiting body of the mushroom. Many brands use mycelium which has measurably less bioactive compounds (particularly the triterpenoids and sterols) compared to the fruiting body.

🚨 WARNING: It's also very important that functional mushrooms like reishi are extracted. Without extraction, all of the many beneficial compounds are not bioavailable to your body. Basically, not extracted = no benefits. Look for "extract" on the supplement or nutrition panel where ingredients are listed to confirm this. 🔍

How Reishi Tastes

I’ll be real with you. Reishi tastes bitter. It is rarely used as a culinary mushroom, unless boiled for many hours in a soup or broth. To hide the bitter flavor, its great to mix with other bitter flavors you love. Most common: coffee and chocolate.

👉 PRO TIP: many health foodies will know that the most bitter foods are often the ones that are best for us. 

Bitter foods help stimulate enzymes in the stomach to help with digestion, stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the gut, help with nutrient absorption, and promote detoxification in the liver (which have many benefits including glowing skin)!

In fact, extracted reishi fruiting bodies are much more bitter than mycelium products, which often taste like rice. After all, mycelium powders are up to 90% ground up substrate (whatever the reishi mycelium is growing on). That’s why mycelium doesn’t developed the bitter flavor that come from the powerful triterpenoids.

I recommend adding it to hot chocolate 🍫 or decaf coffee, ☕ foods that are already bitter. Adding coconut butter, cinnamon and milk (or a milk alternative) also cuts that bitter edge and makes reishi a delicious, soothing drink.

Four Sigmatic Reishi Mushroom Products

At Four Sigmatic, we love reishi in our Calm Elixir (contains 1500 mg of extracted reishi mushroom!), or our Calm Cacao and Calm Chai Latte.

Our reishi mushroom powder is always:

• 100% fruiting bodies (the actual mushroom and part with the most bioactive compounds)
• most studied red reishi (vs other varieties)
• grown on logs (just as nature intended)
• USDA organic
• non-GMO
• free from fillers, grains and carriers

The fruiting bodies are not used in many competitor products because it takes several more months to culture them, rather than just using the mycelium. This makes pure fruiting body products significantly more expensive than cheap mycelium[*]. Since most of the research on reishi is on the fruiting bodies (plus a 2,000+ year documented history of using only the fruiting body!) we believe it’s well worth the wait and additional investment.

Duel-Extracted for Maximum Benefits

We extract reishi twice. First in hot water to get the water-soluble compounds (like the polysaccharides and beta-glucans) that help to support your immune system. 💧 Then we use an alcohol extraction to get more adaptogenic compounds (like triterpenes). 🍺

This double-extraction method helps ensure you get all possible benefits from reishi mushroom.

We also never sell ingredients, we sell formulas. Our in-house Registered Herbalist creates all of our formulas. She always combines reishi mushroom extract with other natural ingredients to make our products as effective as possible for the benefits we promote.

For example, in our Calm Elixir, reishi mushrooms are paired with adaptogenic tulsi (holy basil), rose hips (for the high Vitamin C content which increases bioavailability) and organic mint to balance its energetics.

3rd Party Tested

Every single batch of our ingredients and final products get tested in a third-party lab for heavy metals, allergens, bad bacteria, yeasts, molds, mycotoxins, pesticides, herbicides, and irradiation before they get in your hands. In fact, the product doesn’t leave the manufacturing site until the third-party lab has cleared it. We are very serious about only offering the cleanest, most pure, and effective products possible! :) 

We can’t wait for you to add the Queen of Mushrooms to your daily routine! Any questions? We’d love to geek out as much as you want to hear us talk about mushrooms. :) 

Email support@foursigmatic.com or text us at +1(213) 699-4616