Do you suffer from Anxiety, stress-induced insomnia, depression or high cholesterol?
If so, you might find Ashwagandha to be very helpful.
Ashwagandha is a very important and popular herb used in Indian Ayurveda medicine. Many scientific studies have been carried out to determine its adaptogenic and anti-stress activities. Studies have also found it has been useful in children with memory deficit and for elderly people with loss of memory. It was also found useful in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Ashwagandha is one of the most important herbs used in Rasayana (a herbal or metallic preparation that promotes a youthful state of physical and mental health) and is commonly given to children, middle aged people and the elderly to increase longevity. Most commonly, Ashwagandha is mixed with water, ghee or honey to enhance the brain and nervous system to improve memory.
Stress, Anxiety and Depression:
Ashwagandha is a powerful adaptogen, it enhances the body’s resilience to stress and is typically used as an anxiolytic (a substance that abates anxiety).
A study on people with Chronic Stress was conducted for 60 days where they were given 300 mg of Ashwagandha extract per day. The results showed their serum cortisol reduced by up to 27.9%. Another study on people with generalised anxiety disorder (mixed anxiety and depression) noted significant improvements in both their anxiety and depression symptoms.
Benefits for Athletes:
Studies were conducted on a group of untrained men for a strength training program and given either a placebo or 300 mg of Ashwagandha root extract twice daily for 8 weeks. The group that had taken Ashwagandha improved their 1RM of bench press by almost 20kg over the placebo group and leg extension by almost 5kg. Their muscle size, serum testosterone and muscle recovery as measured by plasma creatine kinase was also improved.
C-reactive protein
The reduction seen in C-reactive protein over 60 days has been noted to reach 31.6% with standard oral doses of Ashwagandha supplementation.
Total Cholesterol
A controlled study on humans found that a person’s cholesterol was lowered by around 10% after ingesting Ashwagandha (water extract of the roots). This occurred in all persons regardless of if they had high cholesterol or not.
Supplementing with Ashwagandha may be an easy and effective way to boost your health and vitality. It can reduce stress, anxiety, help fight depression, reduce cholesterol and assist with your gym goals.
Click here to view Create Your Own Supplements Ashwagandha supplements.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439798
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439798
https://examine.com/supplements/ashwagandha/