Ashwagandha

 

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an adaptogenic herb used in Ayurvedic medicine to help the body resist physical and psychological stress. It is primarily taken to reduce anxiety, lower cortisol levels, and improve sleep quality, with clinical trials supporting its efficacy for generalized anxiety disorder.

Key benefits and considerations include:

• Stress and Anxiety: Extracts significantly reduce perceived stress and fatigue, with optimal effects often seen at doses of 300–600 mg/day of standardized root extract.

• Sleep and Energy: It promotes restful sleep and may improve energy levels, endurance, and cognitive focus, particularly in individuals with insomnia or stress-related fatigue.

• Other Potential Uses: Research suggests it may support thyroid function in hypothyroidism, enhance testosterone levels in men, and improve reproductive health, though more robust studies are needed for some claims.

• Safety and Interactions: Common side effects include gastro-intestinal upset and drowsiness. It should be avoided by pregnant individuals and those with hyperthyroidism or autoimmune conditions. It can interact dangerously with sedatives, thyroid medications, diabetes drugs, and immuno-suppressants, so medical consultation is essential before use.

  ~AI

Ashwagandha is an ancient medicinal herb that's been around for centuries. It's actually an evergreen shrub that can be found in Africa, India, and the Middle East with multiple benefits that have been well documented in animal and human trials.

First of all, it's associated with stress reduction and improved mental well-being. It's been known for its adaptogenic properties, which means that it helps the body adapt to stress and promotes a sense of balance. It's been used for centuries to reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression.

One of the ways it does this is by regulating cortisol, a hormone related to response to stress, thereby producing a calmer state of mind and overall mental well-being. In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, Ashwagandha also improved sexual performance and testosterone levels.

The reduction in cortisol levels actually improves sleep and Ashwagandha has been shown over and over again to improve sleep... and getting a great night's sleep is one of the best things you can do to improve your overall health and improve your longevity.

Second, it enhances physical performance and endurance. Ashwagandha has been traditionally used to boost energy levels and enhance physical performance. Research shows that it improves cardiovascular endurance, increases muscle strength, and reduces exercise-induced muscle damage. It also improves exercise recovery time, reduces fatigue, and aids athletes engaging in regular physical activity.

It also has anti-inflammatory and immune boosting effects. Ashwagandha contains compounds that improve anti-inflammatory properties. These reduce inflammation in the body and can support a healthy immune system. Ashwagandha's immune-enhancing ability is attributed to its ability to enhance the performance of immune cells and promote overall immune function.

On top of all these incredible benefits, Ashwagandha can also uncouple your mitochondria, which is the ultimate way of improving life span and muscle performance... and it does this by improving mitochondrial biogenesis, making more mitochondria, and improving the ability of mitochondria to repair themselves and clean up their act without damaging themselves. Studies show that Ashwagandha given to animals increases animal life span by over 20% compared to animals that are not given Ashwagandha.

Are you going to notice an immediate difference if you begin taking it? Are you going to notice calmness or are you going to notice your stress levels reduced? You're not going to find it from the first dose in general. It has a cumulative effect.

How do you use Ashwagandha to normalize cortisol levels? Ashwagandha is an herb that's been used for 6000 years and so has stood the test of time with minimal side effects. It is hands down one of the best adaptogens or herbs that help you cope with stress as well as depression and has been shown to increase stamina, especially with endurance when you're exercising.

There's been a study with favorable results in the hormone cortisol which is probably the reason why it's helping shrink fibroids. Cortisol is typically an anti-inflammatory hormone so if we're reducing this anti-inflammatory hormone by taking Ashwagandha, why would you have more benefit? You would think a person with high cortisol would not have inflammation, but the confusion lies in the difference between acute stress and chronic stress. When you're chronically stressed you have an elevated amount of cortisol, very similar to when you have high levels of insulin, so you develop cortisol resistance, just like you would with insulin resistance... so cortisol resistance is a situation where you have high levels of cortisol, but the cortisol is not penetrated into the cell... so we don't really get the benefits of cortisol... we get the opposite sometimes. What Ashwagandha is doing is making cortisol more sensitive so the feedback loop can connect and the body doesn't have to produce so much. It can it can be lowered.

This is why Ashwagandha is also good for the immune system and has cognitive benefits to improve situations like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. There's also some benefits that it can help lower blood sugars because any time you're in stress mode the body will start burning more sugar. Even though your diet may be sugar-free you're actually living on sugar when you're going through chronic stress.

It's important to realize that the dose is variable, depending on lifestyle. If you're doing strengthening type exercises or endurance type exercises I would recommend taking about 300 milligrams twice a day - in the morning and before bed. You might want to take it for a period of time and then come off of it for a while and see how you feel... because it's for stress and it's very powerful and maybe you might not need it once you really change your lifestyle.

You want to use Ashwagandha as a tool - take it as needed. It's not meant to be taken for the rest of your life. If you don't exercise and you're a bit sedentary, you probably only need 100 milligrams once a day.

from YouTube @Drberg on July 20, 2023

You might have heard that Ashwagandha is one of the most powerful supplement that everybody should take on the regular basis. And yes, that is correct, but most people are using Ashwagandha in the wrong ways. So either they are getting side effects from it or they don't see any health benefits from using it. So I'm going to share with you three common mistakes that people make while taking Ashwagandha and the exact clinical protocol that has been shown in research studies to work.

Ashwagandha has several health benefits from improving your anxiety, improving your sleep, helping lower inflammation, getting more energy, anti-aging, and also improving your longevity. Plus, it improves person's immunity as well as help them lose weight. Research suggests that a majority of the chronic health problems that we are dealing with are caused by our body being stuck in survival mode. What this means is that the root of all of these chronic diseases is chronic underlying inflammation because of being physically stressed out all the time. I'm talking about cellular stress as well - the stress your body goes through because of the exposure to several toxins.

When your body is chronically stressed out it raises your cortisol level. Because of this, your body goes into a chronic inflammation mode which starts affecting your mitochondria, your adrenals, your heart, and your brain, which ultimately causes the body to start storing more fat... so you ultimately gain more weight. It also starts affecting your energy levels and starts affecting your brain activity, so you become brain foggy. And it starts affecting your hormones, so it affects your sleep as well as your gut.

That is why even though you are eating that perfect diet and working out on the daily basis you still feel that it is not working for you. You feel broken. You still don't feel that your health is perfect. The underlying reason for that is that cellular stress which you have not yet worked on. This is where Ashwagandha comes into the picture to help at the cellular level in reducing the stress on your cells.

So how does Ashwagandha do that? Ashwagandha is an adaptogen... it helps your cells in adapting to any kind of cellular stress, whether it is because of toxins or physiological stress or chemical stress or even psychological stress. So Ashwagandha is not a hormone. It is not a stimulant. It is not even a vitamin or a mineral. So it doesn't push your body to do anything. It supports your body at a cellular levels to perform at its highest potential.

That's where Ashwagandha is very different from any other supplement that you might be taking. That's the reason it has been becoming so popular and is a part of any wellness routine. But most people are using Ashwagandha in the wrong ways. Either they are getting side effects from it or it is not working for them.

The first mistake that people take is taking the wrong kind of Ashwagandha. If you go on Amazon right now and type in Ashwagandha, at least 100 different supplements will come up. A lot of these supplements are useless because they do not have the right quality and the quantity of Ashwagandha in them. The primary active ingredients in Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) are withanolides, a group of steroidal lactones responsible for the herb's adaptogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. Other significant bioactive compounds include alkaloids (such as withasomine and cuscohygrine), saponins (sitoindosides), and withaferin A, which is noted for its cytotoxic and potential anti-cancer effects.

So you need to find a supplement which has a minimum of 5 to 10% of withanolides and there are two forms of Ashwagandha one being KSM66 and the other being sensoral. They are the most studied and standard form of Ashwagandha extract world over. So look at your Ashwagandha supplement and make sure it does mention that does it come from KSM66 or sensoral or they have more than 5% of withanolides.

The second mistake is that a lot of people are taking Ashwagandha on an empty stomach. Ashwagandha is absorbed very well when taken with food.

The third most common mistake is the dosage and the timing of Ashwagandha. Either you can take it in the morning or before bed; it has different effects on your body depending on the time you take it. When you take Ashwagandha in the morning it helps your body in improving energy and decreasing fatigue. When you take it in the night it improves your sleep and anxiety levels.

If you are going through a lot of fatigue or tiredness or if you're stressed out a lot then taking Ashwagandha in the morning is the right way to doing it. But if you're taking Ashwagandha for improving your sleep or you have too much anxiety going on then taking Ashwagandha at night time is a better choice.

What I do with my patients is I split the dosage between morning and night so they get both benefits of Ashwagandha. Research shows the dosage levels have to be between 300 mg to 600 mg because that's the dosage that works for people in majority of cases. But here's the catch... do not start with highest dosage. You have to start slow and then build it up.

Let me share the protocol that I follow with my patients. First of all, I choose the right Ashwagandha – KSM66 or sensoral with more than 5 to 10% of withanolides. I start slow with 300 mg of Ashwagandha first in the morning and 300 mgs of Ashwagandha at bedtime. One week after they have been on this 300 mg at nighttime, then I add another 300 mg of Ashwagandha during the morning hours because that continues to help support their cortisol rhythm as well as their adrenal gland. So people will see an improvement in their energy levels.

Here is what you can expect each week in your first 30 days of Ashwagandha. In the first one to two weeks you might not see a huge difference. The only improvement that you might see is that your sleep is improving slightly and you might also feel that your stress levels are slightly lower. But remember Ashwagandha is working at a very subtle level, so it takes time to make those changes in your body. So the first one to two weeks is building that dose in your body.

By weeks three and four, you will feel your sleep quality has improved dramatically. You will notice that your deep sleep is getting longer and longer. Plus you will notice that your stress and anxiety levels are also dramatically decreasing. You will also notice that your energy levels during the day are stabilizing and you'll feel more physical energy as well as mental energy.

After week four, you are going to see that you have consistent energy throughout the day. Your sleep quality will be at the optimal levels plus you will feel that your mood is more stabilized. You will feel happy in general as your stress, depression, low mood as well as anxiety levels will also all fall off as inflammation in your body decreases. You may also feel that your body is performing at an optimal level and that your body is getting lighter as you lose some of that visceral fat.

For best results take Ashwagandha on a regular basis for four to six weeks. Then take a break for four or five days to a week before restarting the cycle.

from YouTube at AnshulGuptaMD on January 21, 2026