WHAT IS ASHWAGANDHA?
Ashwagandha has been revered for its varied health benefits for over 5,000 years in the Ayurvedic healing system of India. It is now gaining popularity in the western world as well since more studies have been conducted on its medicinal healing properties.
Ashwagandha is a small woody plant with small yellow flowers and red berries. It has a tuberous root, which, along with the leaves are the most beneficial parts of the plant. It comes from the nightshade family and is native to India. It is also called Indian Ginseng, Winter Cherry, or by its botanical name Withania somnifera.
Ashwagandha is most popular for its stress and anxiety-relieving properties and as such it is classified as an “adaptogen”, which means it adapts to fit certain health needs within the body. It finds what is wrong and tries to fix it. Ashwagandha regulates and reduces cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is the primary stress hormone that manages the body’s fight-or-flight response. Ashwagandha has been scientifically proven to be a safe and effective adaptogen.
Stress and Anxiety are also the root cause of inflammation in the body which directly manifests into disease in the body. Ashwagandha’s effectiveness to control stress makes it a powerful natural remedy for many other inflammation-related health issues as well.
Some of the proven health benefits backed by published clinical research studies of Ashwagandha include:
1. HELPS RELIEVE STRESS AND ANXIETY
Ashwagandha is perhaps best known for its stress-relieving properties. Several studies highlight this advantage, observing ashwagandha’s ability to decrease participants’ stress and anxiety levels significantly. In a 60-day, randomized, placebo-controlled study the stress-relieving and pharmacological activity of an ashwagandha extract was investigated in stressed, healthy adults. These findings suggest that ashwagandha's stress-relieving effects may occur via its moderating effect on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. (Ref 1)
2. IMPROVES QUALITY OF SLEEP
Sleep quality always has an impact on our overall health conditions. Lack of sleep can induce multiple disease conditions in an individual, which is well established by several scientific reports. Stress, anxiety, and sleep have an unavoidable relationship. Better sleep aids in reducing stress and anxiety whereas poor sleep quality may induce anxiety and stress. Therefore, assessment of sleep quality is mandatory in relation to stress management.
One such study indicated that ashwagandha can benefit sleep quality — researchers confirmed participants slept much better with doses of the herb compared to placebo doses over an 8-week period. (Ref 2)
3. INCREASES ENERGY LEVELS AND STRENGTH
While legend has it that those who take Ashwagandha will develop the strength of a horse, clinical studies have also been performed to confirm the health benefit of this superfood. In a study of forty normal healthy subjects, Ashwagandha was determined to be useful for generalized weakness and to improve speed and lower limb muscular strength, and neuro-muscular coordination. (Ref 3)
4. IMPROVES SEXUAL FUNCTION IN WOMEN BY ACTING AS A SEXUAL STIMULANT
Ashwagandha root extract has been advocated to improve diminished sexual desire in women and in all forms of sexual dysfunction, particularly where a depleted nervous system is playing a role.
A clinical study indicates that regular use of Ashwagandha improves sexual arousal, orgasm, and lubrication. It even relieves mental stress, which induces a good mood, enhancing blood flow and sexual potency. (Ref 4)
5. HELPS IMPROVE TESTOSTERONE AND FERTILITY LEVELS IN MEN
Studies support Ashwagandha root extract's aphrodisiac effect on sexual well‐being in adult men. The mechanism by which ashwagandha helps to improve male sexual health could be due to an increase in serum testosterone. Thus, the ashwagandha root extract may be utilized to aid in the enhancement of male sexual function.
Other studies have demonstrated that ashwagandha helps reduce oxidative stress, improve hormonal balance, and overall reproductive health improvement in males. (Ref 5)
6. ANTI-CARCINOGENIC; REDUCES INFLAMMATION IN THE BODY
Many experiments have shown that Ashwagandha is a potent medicine against cancer. It's been found to reduce the growth of new cancer cells and induce death in pre-existing cancer cells. Most of these findings have been in animal studies and it has yet to be tested on humans, but the data looks promising to treat several cancers.
A study published by the NIH successfully tested Ashwagandha for its antibacterial, antitumoral, immunomodulating anti-inflammatory properties. (Ref 6)
Ashwagandha was also found to be useful in the prevention of stress-induced ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract.
These findings indicate that the traditional use of Ashwagandha has a logical and scientific basis.
7. IMPROVED MEMORY AND FOCUS
Though Ashwagandha for brain health has been used for long in Ayurvedic practice, research in humans is lagging, though promising.
One study suggests that Ashwagandha extract can improve cognitive performance and may, therefore, be valuable in the treatment of diseases associated with cognitive impairment. (Ref 7a). Ashwagandha may be effective in enhancing both immediate and general memory in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment as well as improving memory, focus, attention, and information processing speed. (Ref 7b)
8. LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR AND FAT, IMPROVES HEART HEALTH
A small-scale clinical study of 30 subjects conducted over a 1-month period found significantly reduced levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the bloodstream with the regular use of Ashwagandha extract. It was found that levels of triglycerides were reduced by an average of 12% and levels of blood glucose by an average of 13%. The decrease in blood glucose levels was comparable to that of an oral medication for diabetes. Large-scale studies still need to be conducted to confirm these initial results. (Ref 8)
Ashwagandha is a powerful apoptogenic herb with many essential health benefits and is safe to take.
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REFERENCES
Ref 1:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Adrian L. Lopresti, Ph.D., Stephen J. Smith, MA, Hakeemudin Malvi, MBBS, MD, and Rahul Kodgule, MBBS
Published: September 2019
Ref 2:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Jaysing Salve, Sucheta Pate, Khokan Debnath, Deepak Langade
Published: December 2019
Ref 3:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Jaspal Singh Sandhu 1, Biren Shah, Shweta Shenoy, Suresh Chauhan, G S Lavekar, M M Padhi
Published: July 2010
Ref 4:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Swati Dongre, Deepak Langade, and Sauvik Bhattacharyya
Published: October 2015
Ref 5:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Sanjaya Chauhan, Manoj K. Srivastava, and Anklesh K. Pathak
Published: July 2022
Ref 6:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
An Overview of Ashwagandha: A Rasayana (Rejuvenator) of Ayurveda
Narendra Singh, Mohit Bhalla, Prashanti de Jager, and Marilena Gilca
Published: July 2011
Ref 7a:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Usharani Pingali, Raveendranadh Pilli, Nishat Fatima
Published: Jan 2014
Ref 7b:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
Dnyanraj Choudhary, Sauvik Bhattacharyya, Sekhar Bose
Published: November 2017
Ref 8:
NIH – National Library of Medicine
A A Raut 1, Nirmala N Rege, Firoz M Tadvi, Punita V Solanki, Kirti R Kene, Sudatta G Shirolkar, Rama A Vaidya, Ashok B Vaidya
Published: July 2012
Akshay P. Agnihotri, Smita D. Sontakke, Vijay R. Thawani, Anand Saoji, and Vaidya Shishir S. Goswami
Published: July 2013