Ashwagandha is the ancient herb for our modern time. It helps everything from stress, anxiety and insomnia to sex and fitness.
Ashwagandha & Mental Health
Ashwagandha seems to specialize in anxiety, stress and sleepless nights. A systematic review of five controlled studies found that ashwagandha significantly improves anxiety.1 All kinds of research shows that it eases stress too.2 It also helps if you’re struggling with stress and anxiety.3 Ashwagandha can also help with stress eating and weight gain.4
A 10-week double-blind study gave people struggling with both anxiety and insomnia 300 mg of ashwagandha root extract or a placebo twice a day. The people on ashwagandha fell asleep significantly faster and woke up significantly less often during the night. Quality of sleep improved significantly more on ashwagandha: 3.92 points versus 1.67 with placebo. Overall, sleep scores improved by 69 percent on ashwagandha versus 11 percent on placebo. More people on ashwagandha were alert when they woke up. As for anxiety, scores on the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale improved significantly on ashwagandha. The placebo group improved from a score of 23.42 to 21.52; the ashwagandha improved from 23.58 to 18.48.5
A second study duplicated the insomnia-anxiety results. Ashwagandha beat placebo on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. People fell asleep significantly faster and had significantly better quality of sleep. They had significantly greater total sleep time and woke up significantly less often once they had fallen asleep. Again, they had significantly better mental alertness. And again, those who took ashwagandha to help with insomnia also received help for anxiety: scores on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale improved significantly.6
Ashwagandha safely helps the elderly. People between 65 and 80 were given a placebo or 600 mg a day of ashwagandha root extract for 12 weeks in a double-blind study. The ashwagandha group had significantly greater improvement in sleep, quality of sleep and mental alertness. On the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire, scores improved significantly from 140.53 to 161.84. The ashwagandha group had significantly greater improvement on total, physical and psychological domains.7
Non-restorative sleep is just what it sounds like: even though you seem to be sleeping well, you wake up feeling unrefreshed. A double-blind study of people with bad non-restorative sleep gave placebo or 120 mg of ashwagandha extract for 6 weeks. Sleep quality improved by 72 percent on ashwagandha but by only 29 percent on placebo. People taking ashwagandha also had significant improvements in sleep efficiency, total sleep time, sleep latency and periods of wakefulness after falling asleep. Ashwagandha led to improved quality of life scores for the physical, psychological and environmental domains.8
A systematic review and meta-analysis of five studies has confirmed that ashwagandha significantly improves every aspect of sleep, including overall sleep, how fast you fall asleep, how often you wake up, the quality of your sleep and the total time you spend asleep. After your good night sleep, ashwagandha significantly improves mental alertness and anxiety.9
Putting everything together, a new study found that when stressed out people take 300 mg of ashwagandha root extract (standardized for 15 mg withanolides), it significantly helps not only their stress but their sleep; their cognition, including memory, learning and attention; and even their happiness!10
More Mental Health
This double-blind study gave 59 schizophrenics a placebo or 500 mg a day of ashwagandha extract for a week and then 1 g for another 11 weeks. The people in the study had recently experienced an exacerbation of their symptoms. The ashwagandha group had significantly greater improvement in symptom severity scores. They also improved significantly more in perceived stress. 27.3 percent of the placebo group had to up their dose of drug or add a second drug; only 6.1 percent of the ashwagandha group did.11
Since ashwagandha is effective for stress and anxiety, researchers tried adding 120 mg of ashwagandha root extract or placebo to SSRI antidepressants four times a day for six weeks in people with OCD. While scores on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale went down from 18 to 16 in the placebo group, they went from 26 to 14 in the herb group: a significantly better improvement.12
And when seniors with mild cognitive impairment take 600 mg of ashwagandha, their memory, executive function, attention and information processing speed improve significantly.13
Sex
Male or female, ashwagandha helps with sex.
Women with female sexual dysfunction from hypoactive (underactive) sexual desire disorder, female sexual arousal disorder, female orgasmic disorder or combined genital and subjective arousal disorder, were given a placebo or ashwagandha root extract standardized for at least 5 percent withanolides. The dose was 300 mg twice a day for eight weeks. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) improved significantly more in the ashwagandha group. In the placebo group, FSFI scores went from 13.57 to 20.06; in the ashwagandha group scores went up from 13.63 to 23.86. Ashwagandha improved arousal, lubrication, orgasm and satisfaction significantly better than placebo. Scores on the Female Sexual Distress Scale, which measures worry and distress about sex, also improved significantly more with ashwagandha.14
The same is true for men. A new double-blind study gave 300 mg of ashwagandha, standardized for 5 percent withanolides, or placebo twice a day for eight weeks. Scores on the Derogatis Interview for Sexual Functioning-Male improved significantly more with ashwagandha. There was significantly greater improvement in everything measured, including sexual fantasy, sexual arousal, sexual behavior, orgasm and sexual drive. Testosterone levels increased significantly.15
Ashwagandha also helps infertile men. A double-blind study gave 46 infertile men a placebo or 225 mg of ashwagandha root extract, standardized for at least 5 percent withanolide, daily for three months. Sperm concentration improved by 167 percent versus 29 percent on placebo; sperm motility improved by 57 percent versus 9 percent on placebo; semen volume improved by 53 percent versus 20 percent on placebo. Testosterone went up by 17 percent with ashwagandha but by only 4 percent with placebo; luteinizing hormone went up by 34 percent with ashwagandha but by only 8 percent with placebo.16
In a second study, 180 infertile men were given 5 g of ashwagandha a day for three months. Sperm concentration, motility and free radical damage improved significantly. Testosterone and luteinizing hormone went up; follicle stimulating hormone and prolactin went down: all positive hormonal changes for fertility.17
A third study of infertile men showed that 5 g of ashwagandha root powder improves sperm count and motility. It again positively affected hormones, increasing testosterone and luteinizing hormone and reducing follicle-stimulating hormone and prolactin. The ashwagandha also returned seminal levels of antioxidants to normal.18
Strength
Ashwagandha promotes muscle mass and significantly improves muscle strength and exercise tolerance while decreasing body fat and increasing lean body weight.19
When men were given placebo or 300 mg ashwagandha root extract twice a day in a double-blind study while they followed a resistance training program, upper body strength improved significantly more in the ashwagandha group: the placebo group increased the amount they bench pressed by 26.4 kg; the ashwagandha group increased theirs by 46 kg. The same results were obtained for lower body strength. The placebo group increased their leg extensions by 9.8 kg compared to a 14.5 kg increase in the ashwagandha group. The ashwagandha group built bigger muscles too: arm muscles were 5.3 cm larger in the placebo group but 8.6 cm larger in the ashwagandha group; chest muscles were 1.4 cm larger in the placebo group but 3.3 cm larger on ashwagandha. Ashwagandha also improved muscle recovery time better than placebo and significantly reduced muscle damage. It also produced significantly greater loss of body fat percentage. Testosterone levels increased significantly more in the ashwagandha group.20
In a second study, men were given a placebo or 500 mg of a standardized extract of ashwagandha leaf and root each morning for 12 weeks. They did a strength training program four days a week. Once again, the ashwagandha group had significantly greater strength improvement. Lower body strength increased by 18.2 percent on ashwagandha versus 9.7 percent on placebo; upper body strength increased by 13.7 percent versus 8.2 percent. The ashwagandha group had superior recovery. Soreness increased 45 percent on placebo but only 18 percent on ashwagandha.21VR
References:
1 J Altern Complement Med 2014;20:901-908.
2 Indian J Psychol Med 2012;34:255-62.
3 JANA 2008;11:50-56.
4 J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med 2017;22(1):96-106.
5 Cureus 2019; 11(9): e5797.
6 J Ethnopharmacol 2021;264,113276.
7 Cureus 2020 12(2):e7083.
8 Sleep Medicine 2020;72:28-36.
9 PLoS One. September 24, 2021;16(9):e0257843.
10 Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:8254344.
11 J Clin Psychiatry 2018;79(5):17m11826.
12 Complement Ther Med 2016;27:25-9.
13 J Diet Suppl 2017;14(6):599- 612.
14 Biomed Res In 2015;2015:284154.
15 Health Sci Rep. July 20, 2022;5(4):e741.
16 Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013;2013:571420.
17 J Ethnopharmacol 2013;149:208-214.
18 Fertil Steril 2010;94:3.
19 J Ayurveda Integr Med 2012;3:111-114.
20 J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2015;12:43.
21 Nutrients 2018;10(11):180.
Linda Woolven is a master herbalist, acupuncturist and solution-focused counsellor with a virtual practice in Toronto, ON, Canada. Woolven and Ted Snider are the authors of several books on natural health. You can see their books at www.thenaturalpathnewsletter.com. They are also the authors of the natural health newsletter The Natural Path. The Natural Path is a natural health newsletter specifically designed to help health food stores increase their sales by educating their customers. The Natural Path contains no advertising and never mentions a brand name. Retailers can provide The Natural Path Newsletter to their customers. For more information, contact Snider at [email protected] or (416) 782-8211.
