Top 3 Ashwagandha Benefits

Got stress? You might be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have at least some daily stress from school, work, home, or relationship responsibilities, or a combination. Stress and anxiety can worsen sleep. Can ashwagandha help?

Fun fact: The name for this supplement comes from the Sanskrit words “ashwa” (for horse) and “gandha” (for smell). Why would you want to take a supplement that reportedly smells like a wet horse? Don’t worry. The supplements themselves contain ashwagandha extract and typically don’t have an odor; just the plant’s roots are a bit on the horsey (scent) side.

Ashwagandha falls under the supplement category called adaptogens, which are purported to help you adapt to stress, potentially even making you more resilient to it. (Take that, stress!) For this reason, ashwagandha may also help alleviate anxiety, improve sleep, and more.

In some cases, depending on plan rules and other factors (as noted below), you may be able to use your health savings account (HSA) or flexible spending arrangement (FSA) dollars to pay for an ashwagandha supplement.

In this article, we explore the potential benefits of ashwagandha—along with what the science says—ashwagandha side effects, how to take ashwagandha, and when to take it.

You might be wondering, What is ashwagandha good for? The potential benefits of ashwagandha include support for stress and anxiety relief, sleep, and exercise performance and recovery.

Ashwagandha comes from the Withania somnifera shrub, an evergreen native to subtropical Africa, Asia, and Europe. Its roots are cultivated for their adaptogenic properties.

The term “adaptogen” was coined in the middle of the previous century as a general word for plant compounds that can enhance the body. Now the term applies to supplements that potentially help us adapt to stress.

“The strongest data for ashwagandha is in stress and anxiety,” says Jay Luthar, MD, founder and medical director of Lutanen Health and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

He adds, “Some small randomized trials consistently show meaningful reductions in perceived stress, anxiety scores, and morning cortisol over four to eight weeks, with a smaller but real benefit for sleep that’s most pronounced in people with insomnia taking at least 600 milligrams daily for two months or longer.”

To understand how ashwagandha may help with stress and anxiety, we have to explore a bit about the phases you go through to manage stress. Collectively, these phases are called general adaptation syndrome (GAS).

• Alarm: When you encounter a physical or mental stressor, your brain and body kick off your “fight-or-flight” response. Your heart and breath rate ratchet up, you grow hot, and you experience an adrenaline rush to help you manage the stressor.
• Resistance: If the stressor continues, your brain and body attempt to adapt to it and manage it while remaining on high alert. Part of this adaptation involves an increase in cortisol, the stress hormone.
• Exhaustion: Ongoing stress drains your body of the resources it needs to continue handling the resistance phase. Eventually, fatigue, burnout, or even illness ensues.

Adaptogens, such as ashwagandha, may help you stay in the resistance phase longer without exhaustion creeping in.

In the alarm phase of a stressful event, you experience a flood of adrenaline. In the resistance phase, you experience a surge in cortisol. In some studies, including randomized, placebo-controlled trials, ashwagandha has been shown to lower cortisol levels. It also appears to elevate serotonin levels, a neurohormone that’s essential for mood and managing anxiety and depression.

Ashwagandha should not be considered a substitute for proper mental health care under the guidance of a medical professional, however. And it doesn’t supplant the need for generally reducing stress through other methods, such as whittling down your to-do list, engaging in self-care, and more. It’s simply a supplement that might work well in combination with your other strategies for managing stress and mental health.

If you’re considering taking ashwagandha, talk to your healthcare provider first to ensure that it’s safe for you. People taking an ashwagandha supplement for potential stress or anxiety relief typically take it in the morning, but follow your provider’s recommendations for how to use it.

Ashwagandha may help support sleep. A systematic review and meta-analysis of existing studies on ashwagandha found that the supplement improved sleep in adults.

Ashwagandha’s effects on cortisol may be responsible for its potential benefits on slumber. Your cortisol level naturally rises in the morning to give you a little get-up-and-go. Then it generally decreases throughout the day, with a few exceptions. However, you might experience dysregulated cortisol patterns if you’re experiencing chronic stress. This might mean that you have elevated cortisol later in the day when you’re trying to nod off for the night.

Chronic stress can occur when you face a big life event that leaves you trying to adapt to a big change, such as a breakup or divorce, a job loss, a move, the loss of a loved one, and more. Or it can occur from a bunch of mini stressors that pile up over time, such as an ever-growing to-do list, an onslaught of work or school deadlines, an argument you had with your significant other, the complexities of parenting or managing a household, and more.

If you have a dysregulated cortisol pattern that leaves you with an elevated level at bedtime, you might experience sleep difficulties. Ashwagandha, in combination with other stress-relief strategies, may help improve your sleep.

Again, be sure to get the go-ahead from your provider before taking. If you’re considering using it to support sleep, follow your provider’s recommendation for when to take it, but taking it about an hour before bed is one option. Or you might take it earlier in the evening to enjoy its subtle calming effects.

In the stress and anxiety section above, we covered the GAS process. It applies to exercise performance, as well.

If you’ve ever strength-trained or prepped for a running race, you know you have to place your body under increasing stress to help it adapt to heavier or more intense training loads while also balancing recovery. You do this through progressive overload.

With strength training, progressive overload looks like increasing reps or weight slowly over time. In running, it looks like increasing mileage or speed over time. In response, your body repairs and strengthens damaged tissues during recovery, allowing you to come back stronger for the next training session. If you overdo it, however, you reach the exhaustion phase and experience training setbacks.

Ashwagandha may offer some support for adaptation. Although more studies are needed, research shows it may support the following:

• VO2 max: VO2 max is your maximum oxygen intake during exercise. A higher number is associated with a higher level of fitness. Ashwagandha may boost VO2 max.
• Muscle strength: Ashwagandha appears to have some favorable effects on strength and power.
• Energy production: Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. They are responsible for generating energy from nutrients you’ve consumed or stored sources. Ashwagandha may improve mitochondrial efficiency.

Get clearance from your provider and follow their directions before taking it. However, if you are considering using ashwagandha to support your exercise efforts, it does not work like a pre-workout supplement. Instead, taking it in the morning is likely ideal.

You might be wondering if ashwagandha is a safe supplement. Research suggests that it’s well-tolerated for up to three months of use, while long-term safety is unknown.

The most common mild ashwagandha side effects:

• Drowsiness
• Loose stools or diarrhea
• Nausea

Ashwagandha may interact with some medications. This is one reason why consulting a medical professional before taking it is important. Additionally, some rare reports exist of serious side effects.

“There’s a small, well-documented signal of idiosyncratic liver injury,” Dr. Luthar says. “The NIH’s LiverTox database now lists ashwagandha as a probable cause of clinically apparent hepatotoxicity, so I steer clear of it in anyone with liver disease, in pregnancy, or with thyroid conditions, and monitor liver functions.”

Ashwagandha may also alter the immune system by stimulating it. Consult your provider before taking it if you have an autoimmune condition.

If you’re looking for ashwagandha supplements from Truemed partners, here are a few to consider.

Gaia Herbs Ashwagandha Root comes in three sizes, including 60, 120, or 180 capsules, with 350 milligrams of the supplement per serving. This vegan formulation contains only organic ashwagandha as an active ingredient, along with vegetable glycerin, water, and hypromellose for the capsule.

Banyan Botanicals Ashwagandha comes in two sizes, including 90 or 180 tablets, with 1,000 milligrams of the supplement per the recommended two-tablet serving. This vegan formulation contains only ashwagandha and gum acacia.

HANAH Adaptogen Powerhouse Bundle features two products. The first is HANAH One, a blend of 34 ingredients, including ashwagandha and turmeric, in a base of honey, ghee, and sesame oil. The second product is Ashwagandha+, a wild-harvested supplement that contains trace amounts of dairy.

Instead of capsules or tablets, these products are taken by the teaspoon. HANAH does not disclose how much ashwagandha is in HANNAH One. However, one teaspoon of Ashwagandha+ contains 1.8 grams of the supplement.

You might be able to pay for an ashwagandha supplement with your HSA or FSA dollars. Such a product might be an eligible expense if you’re using it to address a specific medical condition. If approved by an independent licensed clinician, such conditions might include anxiety or insomnia.

You might need a letter of medical necessity (LMN). An LMN is a formal document from a licensed healthcare provider that explains why a certain product, treatment, or service is necessary to treat, mitigate, or prevent a medical condition.

Certain health products and services may be eligible for qualified customers with an LMN issued by an independent practitioner when the item is used to address a specific medical condition.

Truemed* specializes in helping you maximize your FSA or HSA benefits:

• First, you can check whether a product or service is normally considered a qualifying medical expense or whether you might need an LMN.
• Complete a health intake survey that will be reviewed by an independent licensed clinician.
• Buy the item; either pay directly with your HSA/FSA card at checkout, or pay with a regular credit/debit card and seek HSA/FSA reimbursement afterward.
• The independent licensed practitioner will review your medical history, and if you qualify, will issue an LMN. Truemed itself does not make eligibility determinations.
• Truemed also offers support in the event you get a denial of reimbursement and need to provide substantiation documentation.

*Truemed is for qualified customers. HSA/FSA tax savings vary. Learn more at truemed.com/disclosures