Stimulant / Energizing Effects and Sedating / Relaxing Effects
At lower doses (usually below 5 grams per day), kratom tends to have stimulating, energizing effects on the body. This is likely due to mitragynine’s activity at adrenergic receptors. In Southeast Asia, most people use kratom daily as an energizing herb that’s similar in some respects to coffee (Mitragyna speciosa, after all, belongs to same family as coffee plants).
Kratom has a dose-dependent bi-phasic profile such that lower doses produce energizing and pain-relieving effects, however, pain relief is a bit less at the lower doses. At high doses, kratom acts more like a relaxant or a sedative with higher pain-relieving effects. Different veins and strains of kratom produce different qualities in terms of pain relief, stimulation, sedation, and mood modulation.
Click here to schedule a health coaching session with us.
That being said, pain is highly subjective and some people get sufficient pain relief at lower doses. Other people need higher doses of kratom in order to kill their pain. My own experience with kratom is that this herb levels my mood and my energy levels. I have never had a huge energy boost from kratom. Rather than feeling energized, kratom at lower doses makes me feel normal and just okay energy-wise. But also, I rarely take white vein as a stand-alone medicinal agent. White vein kratom is more energizing than the other vein-colors.At higher doses in the evening or at night, I feel the sedative effects or red vein kratom in my body more like muscle relaxation that contributes to pain relief. Green kratom can sometimes make me too contemplative where I might lay awake thinking in the middle of the night. Yellow or gold kratom is acceptable for evening or nighttime for me. But this is simply my experience. Lydian's opinion of the kratom veins and strains differs from mine. My husband John also has his own tastes as far as kratom veins and strains.
White vein kratom is the most energizing of the vein colors, but it is also the least pain-relieving. Some strains (the strains are named for where the kratom tree was grown) of white vein kratom have very specific pain-relieving qualities. For example, Lydian has found that White Sumatra (white vein kratom from Sumatra) works very well to kill pain related to ovulation.
Click here to buy Kratom.
Kratom strains and veins can be mixed to produce a more or less energizing (or sedating and relaxing) impact. For example, if you wanted the pain-relieving effects of Green Malay kratom, but with a bit more of a energizing effect, you might add some White Thai to it.Red vein kratom tend to be more relaxing / sedating so people tend to use this vein for pain relief during sleep or at times of the day when they’d like to relax. There are a variety of red vein strains. Red Borneo, red Bali, and red Hulu are all an excellent choice for sedation / relaxation, especially at doses above 3-5 grams.
Click here to do a free trial of EMDR to Release Trauma.
Resources:
• Swogger, M. T. et al. (2022). Understanding Kratom Use: A Guide for Healthcare Providers. Retrieved May 14, 2026 from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.801855/full?mibextid=Zxz2cZ
• Annuar, N. A. K. et al. (2024). An insight review on the neuropharmacological effects, mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics and toxicity of mitragynine. Retrieved May 20, 2026 from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332224000155
