7 Ashwagandha Benefits for Your Mind and Body

As interest in holistic remedies surges, more people are turning to the wisdom of traditional medicine.

And now the wellness spotlight is shining on ashwagandha, revealing its potential to transform your well-being. 

It’s more than just an herb; consider ashwagandha to be your plant ally when it comes to managing your mental health.

Let’s uncover the fascinating benefits of this ancient herb and explore how it could revolutionize your health journey.

What Is Ashwagandha? 

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an evergreen herb that grows naturally in Asia and Africa. You might also hear it referred to as “Indian ginseng” or “Indian winter cherry.”

Ashwagandha is considered to be an adaptogen, a plant substance that can help manage physical, emotional, or mental stress. 

In traditional Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha has been used for thousands of years, with anecdotal evidence to support its usage. Going beyond stress management, Ayurvedic practitioners have also used the herb to treat pain, inflammation, insomnia, and more. 

What can taking ashwagandha do for you? Now that you know what it is, let’s explore the benefits. 

7 Ashwagandha Benefits

As interest in traditional remedies has grown, ashwagandha has gained popularity in the Western world, too. 

The growing interest in ashwagandha has led to it being increasingly studied for its potential health benefits. 

But what, exactly, is ashwagandha good for? 

Let’s look at some of its biggest health benefits.

1. Manages Stress

The world can be a stressful place. Anything you can do to help you manage stress and control your body’s stress response will work to your overall benefit. 

And this is just where ashwagandha comes in.

The most common use of ashwagandha is for stress management. This includes reducing your current level as well as helping you cope better when you encounter a stressful event. 

Studies show that in just 8 weeks, people who took ashwagandha daily reported lower perceived stress. 

This same group also showed lower levels of cortisol, the hormone produced as part of your body’s stress response. 

Another study showed that people who took ashwagandha had lower cortisol levels in the morning and a reduced DHEA-S score, which measures depression, anxiety, and stress.

2. Improves Cognition

There’s also a strong connection between ashwagandha and brain health. 

According to studies, these are the main ashwagandha cognitive benefits.

• Improves executive function, which includes memory, self-control, and adaptability
• Increases attention 
• Decreases reaction time and processing speed

3. Reduces Anxiety

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is the most commonly diagnosed anxiety disorder, affecting over 6.8 million adults per year in the U.S. alone. It’s marked by persistent, excessive worrying about different activities and events. 

If you’ve been diagnosed with GAD, taking ashwagandha may help you control your worries. 

One recent study showed that participants who took ashwagandha extract for 60 days experienced significant reductions in their anxiety levels on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. 

4. Helps With Insomnia

Have you been having trouble sleeping? Ashwagandha may be able to help you with that, too. 

Although anyone can have trouble sleeping, insomnia is a more heightened sleep disorder. 

Here is when sleep issues enter the territory of insomnia. 

• Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping long enough
• Your sleep issues occur despite you having a healthy sleep environment and the opportunity to sleep
• Sleep issues affect your day-to-day activities
• Your sleep issues occur at least three times per week for at least one month 

Taking ashwagandha seems to help correct your sleep patterns, improving both the quantity and quality of sleep. 

This is partly due to the reduced stress and anxiety, which make it easier for you to relax your mind and drift off to sleep. 

5. Regulates Weight

While the benefits of ashwagandha seem to center on the emotional side, it can also help improve your physical health. 

There are two ways that ashwagandha can help you lose weight. 

• Stress is closely linked to weight gain. It produces hormonal changes that impact the way your body metabolizes foods and increases blood sugar and insulin levels. And, as you may know from “nervous eating,” stress can also affect your food choices and cravings. 
• Lack of sleep can also cause weight gain with a negative effect on both energy intake (food choices) and metabolic processes.

By reducing your stress level and improving your sleep, taking ashwagandha may help you lose weight. 

But it depends on outside factors, too. Ashwagandha is specifically tied to stress-related weight gain. If you’ve gained weight due to medication, illness, or lifestyle factors, ashwagandha may not help. 

6. Improves Male Reproductive Health

While most of its benefits are the same for all genders, there are some definite ashwagandha benefits for men. 

Research shows that ashwagandha can increase sperm concentration, semen volume, and sperm motility—how efficiently sperm moves to the egg—in men with a lower sperm count. It also improved sperm concentration and motility in men with a normal sperm count. 

Ashwagandha can also increase the level of testosterone levels, the main male sex hormone.

7. May Improve Mental Health

Some practitioners also recommend taking ashwagandha for mental health. 

Some studies show that ashwagandha might also be effective at reducing the symptoms of certain mental health disorders.

• Research suggests that ashwagandha can improve cognition in people with bipolar disorder. 
• Another study showed that ashwagandha reduced depression (and anxiety) in people with schizophrenia.

These and similar studies seem to show the close link between ashwagandha and mental health.

Ashwagandha Side Effects

Clearly, ashwagandha can be beneficial, but what are the risks?

Luckily, there seem to be few risks associated with taking ashwagandha. 

Although more studies are needed on the long-term use of ashwagandha, it seems to be safe when taken for up to 3 months. 

These are possible side effects of ashwagandha. 

• Upset stomach
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

Very rarely, ashwagandha may cause liver problems. 

How to Take Ashwagandha

You’ll find ashwagandha in many different forms. Currently, you can take it alone in gummies, capsules, or tinctures (liquid drops). Ashwagandha is also available in powder form, which you can mix into drinks. Some manufacturers even sell it as a tea. 

There is no standard when it comes to ashwagandha doses.

Studies show that around 500–600 mg per day is most effective, although some people have reported positive results with as little as 120 mg per day.

But if you want to see even more results, there are some things you can do to boost its effectiveness. 

Maximizing the Benefits of Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is effective on its own, bringing you the benefits we described above. However, with just a few simple lifestyle tweaks, you can make it even more potent. 

Meditate

If you’re taking ashwagandha for stress management, you can truly realize its benefits by incorporating other stress management techniques, including meditation. 

Just a few minutes each day spent meditating can help you relax, feel calmer, and lower your stress levels, supporting the mental benefits of ashwagandha.

Spend Time Outdoors

Spending time outdoors can help in many different areas of your life, increasing the overall benefits of ashwagandha. 

• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Reset your circadian rhythm and sleep better at night

And, if you use your time outdoors for physical activities such as walking or biking, it can help control weight gain, too. 

Keep Your Mind Active

Trying new things forces your mind to keep learning and keeps your thinking clear, sharp, and focused. 

Here are some fun ways to “use your brain” more throughout the day.

• Do puzzles: jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, sudoku, or whatever you enjoy
• Read 
• Let your creative side out by writing, singing, dancing, painting, or playing an instrument
• Learn a new language
• Pick up a new hobby

Anything you can do to fire up your brain will help with your overall cognitive skills.

Take the Right Supplement

Nootropics, also known as “smart drugs” or brain supplements, are designed to improve cognitive skills, especially thinking, learning, and memory.

Sound familiar? That’s because nootropics do much of the same work as ashwagandha. 

And while each of them can show results on its own, taking a brain-enhancing supplement that contains ashwagandha can help you achieve powerful cognitive results. 

We recommend Focus & Memory by Just Thrive. Its unique combination of ingredients has been carefully selected to include the most effective, scientifically proven brain aids. 

In addition to ashwagandha, Focus & Memory also provides: 

• Citicoline, which improves memory, recall, and focus
• Caffeine to increase alertness and helps you concentrate, in a moderate dose that avoids overstimulation 
• Lion’s mane, which promotes neuroplasticity and increases learning, memory, focus, and cognition
• CognatiQ®, a patented formula that helps brain cells flourish and form connections, which ultimately helps with learning, memory, attention, focus, and task completion
• Vitamin B-12 to ensure your brain stays quick and agile
• Vitamin D, which clears brain fog and keeps your mind sharp and clear

The recommended dose of Focus & Memory contains the optimum amount of ashwagandha your body needs to achieve significant results. 

So you’ll get your ashwagandha plus the other nootropics in one easy-to-chew gummy.

Final Thoughts

After centuries of proven results in Ayurvedic medicine, ashwagandha is quickly growing in popularity in Western medicine. 

And now the rest of the world is finding out what traditional medicine practitioners already know: the benefits, especially the mental health benefits, of ashwagandha are undeniable. 

This easy-to-take remedy can impact numerous facets of your health and well-being, but it really shines when it comes to mental health. From managing stress to improving your cognitive capacity, you’ll feel better, calmer, and sharper with ashwagandha. 

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