Mushrooms for mood and stress resilience

Two mushrooms for everyday mood and stress resilience. Reishi goes in the evening and is the most studied mushroom we sell, with 17 clinical trials pooled in a 2025 review. Lion's Mane goes in the morning: in a double-blind pilot of a Lion's Mane preparation, healthy young adults reported feeling less stressed after 28 days. Both are hot water extracts from fruiting bodies. They are taken for general wellbeing, not as a treatment for any condition.

Our top picks

ReishiGanoderma lucidum

the evening one, and the most studied

Start here if sleep and winding down are part of the problem. Reishi has more human trials behind it than anything else we sell.

Extraction: Hot Water 10:1
Beta-D glucans: ≥30%; USDA Organic

Lion's ManeHericium erinaceus

the one with a human stress finding

Second, and the morning half. It is the only mushroom we sell with a human result on self-reported stress, small as that result is.

Extraction: Hot Water 8:1
Beta-D glucans: ≥20%; USDA Organic

A bundle built for this

Save $25.98 Steady Bundle: Reishi, Lion's Mane and Chaga Powder for Stress and MoodReishi for the stress response, Lion's Mane for mood and mental clarity, Chaga for the oxidative load sitting beneath both. Both as extract powder, 100 g each, 60 servings apiece. Save 25...StressMoodMental clarity $93.99~~$119.97~~ See the bundle

How they compare

#	Mushroom	Key compound	Best for	From
1	Reishi	Triterpenes, beta-glucans	Evening wind-down	$29.99
2	Lion's Mane	Hericenones, erinacines	Daytime stress and focus	$29.99

Reishi: the evening one, and the most studied

Ganoderma lucidum

Start here if sleep and winding down are part of the problem. Reishi has more human trials behind it than anything else we sell.

Reishi is the hard, lacquered bracket fungus of the Chinese materia medica. It is genuinely bitter, which is why most people take it in capsules rather than in a drink.

Ours is a 10:1 hot water extract from fruiting bodies, tested to 30% beta-glucans. Take it in the evening, an hour or two before bed. It is described in the traditional literature as calming rather than sedating.

Extraction: Hot Water 10:1
Beta-D glucans: ≥30%
Best for: Evening wind-down; USDA Organic

What the research says

A 2025 systematic review pooled 17 randomised controlled trials across 971 participants and found significant improvements in BMI, creatinine, glutathione peroxidase and resting heart rate, while rating the certainty of that evidence low.

Reishi is the most-studied mushroom we sell, and it has been the evening choice for winding down for two thousand years. Sleep and stress shape mood more than almost anything, which is why it leads this page.

Shop Reishi

All Reishi extracts →

Organic Reishi Mushroom Powder 10:1 Extract

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Organic Reishi Mushroom Powder 10:1 Extract. Relax, Restore, Rejuvenate (3.5oz / 100g)

$34.99

~~$39.99~~

Organic Reishi Capsules Mushroom 10:1 Extract

-14%

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Organic Reishi Capsules Mushroom 10:1 Extract (120 count) Relax, Restore, Rejuvenate

$29.99

~~$34.99~~

-27%

Organic Bulk Reishi Powder Mushroom 10:1 Extract (1 KG / 2.2 LB) (10 Bags)

$290.00

~~$399.90~~

Lion's Mane: the one with a human stress finding

Hericium erinaceus

Second, and the morning half. It is the only mushroom we sell with a human result on self-reported stress, small as that result is.

Lion's Mane is the white, cascading mushroom that grows on hardwood, and a culinary species before it is a supplement. Ours is fruiting body only, hot water extracted at 8:1, tested to a minimum of 20% beta-glucans.

Take it in the morning. Nothing about it is settling, so it does not belong in an evening routine, and Reishi is the one for that end of the day.

Extraction: Hot Water 8:1
Beta-D glucans: ≥20%
Best for: Daytime stress and focus; USDA Organic

What the research says

A pilot trial in healthy young adults reported lower self-reported stress after 28 days, alongside faster performance on a processing-speed task after a single dose (Docherty 2023).

It is a pilot, which is a signal to run a larger trial rather than a result to build on. The larger Lion's Mane trial, in adults with mild cognitive impairment, measured cognition rather than mood (Mori 2009). Both are linked at the foot of the page.

Shop Lion's Mane

All Lion's Mane extracts →

Organic Lion's Mane Mushroom Powder 8:1 Extract

-13%

Subscription

Organic Lion's Mane Mushroom Powder 8:1 Extract. Fuel for a Sharper Mind (3.5oz / 100g)

$34.99

~~$39.99~~

Organic Lion's Mane Capsules Mushroom 8:1 Extract

-20%

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Organic Lion's Mane Capsules Mushroom 8:1 Extract (240 count) Fuel for a Sharper Mind

$39.99

~~$49.99~~

-14%

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Organic Lion's Mane Capsules Mushroom 8:1 Extract (120 count) - Fuel for a Sharper Mind

$29.99

~~$34.99~~

-27%

Organic Bulk Lion's Mane Powder Mushroom 8:1 Extract (1 KG / 2.2 LB) (10 Bags)

$290.00

~~$399.90~~

-51%

Bulk Lion's Mane + Chaga (50/50) Powder Mushroom 10:1 Extract (1 KG / 2.2 LB)

$195.00

~~$399.90~~

Clear Head mushroom extract powder bundle

-17%

Clear Head Bundle: Lion's Mane and Cordyceps Powder for Focus and Energy

$65.99

~~$79.98~~

-22%

Steady Bundle: Reishi, Lion's Mane and Chaga Powder for Stress and Mood

$93.99

~~$119.97~~

How long until it works

Week 1 Reishi in the evening, Lion's Mane in the morning if you are taking both.
Weeks 2 to 4 The Lion's Mane stress finding came at 28 days. Earliest sensible checkpoint.
Weeks 4 to 8 The window the Reishi trials use.
Ongoing Daily rather than on bad days.

What customers report. Individual experience varies; none of this is a clinical claim.

Shop all mood mushrooms

-13%

Subscription

Organic Lion's Mane Mushroom Powder 8:1 Extract. Fuel for a Sharper Mind (3.5oz / 100g)

$34.99

~~$39.99~~

-13%

Subscription

Organic Reishi Mushroom Powder 10:1 Extract. Relax, Restore, Rejuvenate (3.5oz / 100g)

$34.99

~~$39.99~~

-20%

Subscription

Organic Lion's Mane Capsules Mushroom 8:1 Extract (240 count) Fuel for a Sharper Mind

$39.99

~~$49.99~~

-14%

Subscription

Organic Lion's Mane Capsules Mushroom 8:1 Extract (120 count) - Fuel for a Sharper Mind

$29.99

~~$34.99~~

-14%

Subscription

Organic Reishi Capsules Mushroom 10:1 Extract (120 count) Relax, Restore, Rejuvenate

$29.99

~~$34.99~~

-27%

Organic Bulk Lion's Mane Powder Mushroom 8:1 Extract (1 KG / 2.2 LB) (10 Bags)

$290.00

~~$399.90~~

-27%

Organic Bulk Reishi Powder Mushroom 10:1 Extract (1 KG / 2.2 LB) (10 Bags)

$290.00

~~$399.90~~

Frequently asked

Can mushrooms help with depression?

These are foods, taken daily for everyday mood and stress resilience, the way Reishi has been taken in China for two millennia. If you are dealing with something more than that, a doctor is the right first call and worth making.

What does the research actually show?

One pilot trial in healthy young adults reported lower self-reported stress after 28 days of Lion's Mane. Reishi has 17 randomised trials across 971 people measuring various outcomes, none of them mood. That is the whole of it, and it is thinner than most pages on this topic will admit.

Can I take these alongside an antidepressant?

Ask the doctor who prescribed it. These are foods and people take them alongside all sorts of things, but interactions are not something we are going to guess at, and anyone who answers that question confidently without knowing your prescription is guessing.

Reishi or Lion's Mane?

Reishi if the problem shows up at night, in the evening. Lion's Mane if it shows up as not being able to think straight during the day, in the morning. Plenty of people take one at each end.

How long before I judge it?

Four weeks of daily use. The Lion's Mane stress finding came at 28 days and the Reishi trials run over weeks.

Is this a substitute for therapy or medication?

No. These are foods, taken alongside proper care rather than instead of it.

References

The acute and chronic effects of Lion's Mane mushroom supplementation on cognitive function, stress and mood in young adults: a double-blind, parallel groups, pilot studyDocherty S, Doughty FL, Smith EF
A double-blind trial in healthy young adults. A single dose produced faster performance on a processing-speed task, and after 28 days of daily use participants reported feeling less stressed. An encouraging early result, and the reason larger trials are now being called for.
Nutrients · 2023
The nutritional significance of Ganoderma lucidum on human health: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trialsJafari A, Mardani H, Mirzaei Fashtali Z, Arghavan B
The widest survey of the Reishi literature: 17 clinical trials covering 971 participants, at doses from 200 to 11,200 mg a day. Pooled analysis found significant improvements in BMI, serum creatinine, glutathione peroxidase and resting heart rate. Many other markers did not move, and the reviewers rate the certainty of the underlying trials as low and call for better-designed studies, which is the usual state of a field this active and this young.
Food Science & Nutrition · 2025
Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trialMori K, Inatomi S, Ouchi K, Azumi Y, Tuchida T
Thirty adults aged 50 to 80 took 3 g a day of powdered Hericium erinaceus or placebo for sixteen weeks. Cognitive scores climbed steadily in the mushroom group and not in the placebo group. Four weeks after they stopped, the gain drifted back, which is the clearest possible sign that the mushroom itself was driving the change.
Phytotherapy Research · 2009