Product Description
Hard training drives up cortisol — the stress hormone that breaks down muscle, disrupts sleep, and blunts recovery. A normal cortisol spike during a workout is fine. But when it stays elevated after training, when it creeps up night after night, that's when performance starts to erode and recovery stops stacking the way it should.
Phosphatidylserine is the compound your brain uses to regulate that response and bring cortisol back down.
Thorne Phosphatidylserine delivers 100mg of pure phosphatidylserine per capsule — the primary phospholipid in brain cell membranes — to help athletes manage the hormonal cost of high training loads and stay sharp under pressure.
Cortisol Control for Faster Recovery – Phosphatidylserine tells your body to dial down stress hormones after hard training. Clinical studies using 400–800mg daily found it blunted exercise-induced cortisol increases by 20–30%, supporting a faster return to a hormonal state where muscle repair, adaptation, and sleep quality can actually happen.
Sharper Focus and Cognitive Function Under Load – Phosphatidylserine improves cell-to-cell communication in the brain by maintaining cell membrane fluidity and supporting neurotransmitter production. Athletes using it consistently report better mental clarity, mood stability, and focus — especially during high-volume training periods when cognitive fatigue compounds alongside physical fatigue.
Protects the Anabolic-Catabolic Balance – When cortisol stays chronically elevated, testosterone levels fall, muscle breakdown accelerates, and the training adaptations you're working for get undermined. Phosphatidylserine helps preserve that balance — keeping the hormonal environment favorable for the adaptations your hard work is supposed to create.
How to Use Thorne Phosphatidylserine
Daily Dose: Take 1 capsule two to three times daily. For cortisol management around training, 300mg total daily (three capsules) is the most commonly studied dose. Higher-demand protocols use up to 800mg.
Timing: Take one capsule after training and one in the evening before bed. Post-training and evening dosing targets the two windows where cortisol management matters most — immediately after exercise and during the sleep onset period when elevated cortisol disrupts deep recovery.
Pro Tip: Phosphatidylserine works better alongside healthy fat. Taking capsules with a meal that contains fat supports absorption of this fat-soluble phospholipid. It also stacks naturally with omega-3s — research suggests the combination may enhance the cognitive benefits of both.
- Gluten free
Supplement Facts
60 Servings
Serving Size: One Capsule
Serving Per Container: 60
| Amount Per Serving | ||
|---|---|---|
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Phosphatidylserine Isolate 100mg | ** | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Daily Value (DV) not established
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Thorne Phosphatidylserine FAQ's
Everything you need to know about Thorne Phosphatidylserine.
The two most strategic windows are right after training and in the evening before bed. Both are times when cortisol — the stress hormone that breaks down muscle and disrupts sleep — tends to stay elevated longer than you want. Taking it post-workout helps your body shift out of stress mode faster. Taking it at night helps cortisol drop so your sleep actually does what sleep is supposed to do: rebuild you.
Daily, every single day. One capsule two to three times per day for a total of 200–300mg. This isn't a situational supplement you pull out for hard weeks — it works by accumulating in your cell membranes over time. Skip days and you're undermining the whole mechanism. Treat it like training: the adaptation comes from consistency, not occasional effort.
Every hard training session spikes cortisol — that's your body's stress hormone response to physical exertion. The problem is cortisol that stays elevated after training breaks down muscle, disrupts sleep, suppresses immune function, and slows the adaptation process. Phosphatidylserine is the compound that tells your body to dial down stress hormones — it blunts that cortisol response so your recovery window actually opens up the way it's supposed to. Less cortisol after hard efforts means less muscle breakdown, better sleep, and faster adaptation.
It's the primary building block of your brain's cell membranes — a fat-based compound your body produces naturally but not in quantities large enough to keep up with heavy training demands. Beyond the cortisol angle, it improves cell-to-cell communication in the brain, supports neurotransmitter production, and enhances glucose metabolism in brain cells. That's why athletes who use it consistently often notice sharper focus and clearer thinking alongside the recovery benefits — it's doing real work in the brain, not just in the hormonal system.
Yes, and it's specific to athletic contexts — not just general stress studies. Cortisol reduction of 20–30% during resistance training overreaching protocols has been measured in double-blind placebo-controlled research. Separate cycling studies have shown athletes taking phosphatidylserine reaching exhaustion roughly 30% later than placebo groups at 85% VO2 max. For endurance athletes, both of those outcomes — less cortisol and longer time to exhaustion — are directly relevant to what happens in training and on race day.