The stress is the major problem on the Earth. All are subject to stress - from neonatal up to the ailing old man.

Some consider that the person in the modern world is in less stressful situation, than the person of past epoch. Rather on the contrary. It is impossible to argue with the Selye, that the fear and trembling of the primitive hunter before a predator invoked the same stressful reaction, as well as fear of the modern employee before the terrible chief. Endocrine - biochemical alterations probably similar, but in the second case is absent an opportunity for merely physical relaxation (an offence, escape behavior), emotions are not discharged, and it is necessary to suppress them. The primitive person had less rich imagination (he was not skilful “to make mountains out of a molehill”); he touched much less variants possible, particularly remote, consequences of a dangerous situation, reducing probability of development of a mental stress. According to the modern data four from five adults suffer from any form of a strain and alarm. Despite of all modern conveniences making our life “easier”, we taste in one day more stress, than our primitive ancestors in month or year. Except that, technical progress results in formation of principally new stressful factors, such as radiation, products of the chemical synthesis, the modified forms of causative organisms, toxic byproducts, environmental pollution etc. One of latest and thus the most dangerous on its consequences for broad masses of the population the stressful factor is the international terrorism. Acts of exhibiting, which invoke deep depression in a society, down stroke of creative and vital potential of the most productive, highly educated and consequently most vulnerable part of the population.

On a question about if it was possible to live without stress? Only the negative answer follows. To live without stress is impossible and even harmful. The question is different: How to live in conditions of stress? According to Selye it means to provide to itself a “stress without distress” (such Selye has entitled one of his last books (1); a distress - harmful, unpleasant stress). For achievement of this purpose the Selye offers correctly estimate a situation and to switch on one (cattotoxic) or another (syntoxic) group of hormones. The first - for “fight”, for “war”, the second - for complacency. Selye considers that we too roughly react on that, actually does not demand such reaction. That the person itself should define for himself an optimum level of a stress. How to achieve it? The founder of the doctrine about a stress correctly recommends to estimate the forces and not to try to solve a problem which is higher than opportunities of the given person.

Well and what in general has saved up experience of mankind what may be put against stress? Let's review the active methods of rising of the general resistance (ability to resist to factors of external influence) of organism. They can be divided into three groups.
The first group includes the methods using physical factors of influence. It is physical training, physical conditioning, an acupuncture, staying of people in conditions of a mid-land. The second group: autogenic training, psychotherapy, hypnosis. And the last, third group of methods of rising of a resistance of an organism is related to application of the biologically active substances. Professor Brekhman I.I. called it -pharmacosanation.

From all possible methods and agents of adaptation people have preferred biologically active substances.

Huge amounts of biologically active substances get into an organism with nutrition, wine, soft drinks and medicinal preparations.

Undoubtedly, that the diverse vegetative nutrition plays the important role in modern conditions of human life. It brings up in an organism not only a limited set of vitamins, but also the much greater number of the diversified biologically active substances. People from ancient times understood and appreciated useful influence of these fetuses of the ground and sun. It is possible to believe, that reduction of this one part of nutrition is seriously reflected in a state of health of people and their resistance to a stress.

Avicenna and other adherents of Oriental medicine widely used “medicinal nutrition”, or “alimentary medicine” which was separate plants acted or more often their complex mixtures. Among medicinal plants of Oriental medicine of some countries food plants make about half.
Stress protection – is a decision of peculiar engineering problem. As for example there are mechanisms that may work in conditions of high temperature and humidity, and in our case there is a person who is necessary for making steady against a stress. He should pass through stressful influence and remain alive minimally damaged, kept the capacity for acting.

Agents are necessary which would raise body resistance to stresses and would not decrease thus its work capacity.

The specified purpose may be achieved only by optimization of the physiological processes inherent to the organism providing a natural general nonspecific resistance. This way has been chosen by professor N.V.Lazarev, which has offered together with professor M.A.Roziny the new remedy - Dibazolum, and named new group of medicinal substances - adaptogens. Further the doctrine about adaptogens has received development in works of Great Russian scientific and my teacher, professor I.I.Brehman. The big role in formation of the group of remedies characterizing as adaptogens has played the Eleutherococcus.

So, what are adaptogens? Adaptogens - a new class of biologically active agents, basically of the connatural parentage, creating in an organism a state of the nonspecific raised resistance, and at long consuming rising of adaptable abilities of an organism. As was already mentioned earlier, the state of the nonspecific raised resistance arises at muscle trainings and has some similarity to a stage of a resistance of the general adaptation reaction, though is not completely identical to it.

Numerous experiments with Eleutherococcus, one of the most investigated and popular adaptogens have shown that it is a pharmacological agent which relaxes the manifestations of stress and simultaneously enlarges resistance and durability of an organism.

This property of an Eleutherococcus was repeatedly confirmed in observations in studies with volunteers. In long sea voyage the Eleutherococcus has lifted body resistance of rank-and-file members of crew up to a level of the qualified sportsmen (2) which tolerated tropical conditions more easily. Other well-known adaptogen - the leusea carthamoides was successfully used for improving a function state of nervous system, augmentation of mental and physical efficiency at sailors in conditions of long Arctic navigation (3). Preventive action of an Eleutherococcus successfully utilized for downstroke of a sickness rate among workers on chemical production (4) and other production enterprises, and also workers of agriculture (5). The most numerous (up to 60 000 workers) was study on Volzhsk automobile factory in Tolyatti where the sickness rate an influenza has decreased on 30-35 %, and work-losses - on 20-30 %. Rather convincing is the study which have been carried out with the truck drivers which received with tea (in voyages they took thermoses with the same tea) daily a 0, 25 ml of Eleutherococcus extract within 2 months. Such courses of prophylaxis carried out 2-3 times per one year within 6 years. Such application of an Eleutherococcus reduced the sickness rate with influenza and other illnesses, such as an ischemia and a hypertonia (6) few times.

Whereas adaptogens use the steady popularity, many explorers and the commercial companies frequently hasty rank as adaptogens mass of new drugs, those not is being. With sufficient confidence it is possible to attribute to adaptogens only some agents: preparations of a ginseng (Panax ginseng C.F.Mey), Eleutherococcus (Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim.) (7; 8; 9), leusea (Leuzea carthamoides DC.), rhoddiola (Rhodiola Rosea L.) (10), echinopanax (Echinopanax elatum Nakai), aralias mandzhurica (Aralia mandshurica) (11), acantopanax (Acantopanax sessiliflorum), schizandra (Schizandra chinensis) (12), Pantocrinum and rantarin. At present, in connection with the big scope of scientific data obtained we can attribute to a class of adaptogens the Olygomeric Proanthocyanidin complexes (13), possessing the necessary set of biological activities (14). Considering, the fact, that olygomeric proanthocyanidins represent the basic part of a polyphenolic complex of a grapes, wine, apple and cider, its consuming by the humans counts already more than 6000 years (15.) such age has viniculture and winemaking (16). All this allows us to express the statement about evolutionary adaptedness of an organism of the human for perception of these biologically active substances (13) which is proved by numerous studies of pharmacological activity of this group of substances.

The listed preparations, not looking on some differences in properties, nevertheless have much in common on the basic “adaptogenic” properties. They are “Generators of Adaptation”. They have a wide spectrum of protective activity against numerous unfavorable factors. They raise fastness of animals to an overheating and a frigorism, to the raised muscular load and to a hypokinesia, to a centrifugal acceleration and to a hypoxia, have a protective action to toxic influence of various chemicals and too many infection contaminations, and stimulate detoxication function of a liver.

On a normal background adaptogens have rather modest promoting effect. Their basic property - to recover, restore physiological functions, including ones during the activity. In difference from stimulators of Phenaminum class, which effect is carried out as a result of the “exhaustive mobilization” of energy resources invoking subsequently long droop of function activity, adaptogens do not render such “squeezing out” effect.

Demands to which there should conform an adaptogen were formulated by professor I.I.Brehman (8):