Adaptogens are the latest health craze, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this is some passing fad. The fact of the matter is that many benefits come from adaptogens. They are suddenly becoming popular with good reason. People are finally learning about their health benefits. Today, we are going to look at one incredibly powerful adaptogen – ashwagandha. In our article, we will answer these essential questions:
- What is an adaptogen?
- What is ashwagandha?
- In what ways may you benefit from ashwagandha?
- Where can you find the best ashwagandha supplement?
Read on to get the answers to these questions. You may just find that ashwagandha is the perfect supplement for your lifestyle and health needs.
What Is an Adaptogen?
As a basic explanation, adaptogens are a type of plant. They are edible and fight stress within the body – all kinds of stress. As we discuss the benefits of adaptogens, you will see terms like oxidative stress and stress hormones. The critical thing to understand is that while stress is necessary and beneficial, long-term issues with stress harm the body physically and emotionally. Adaptogens are nature's answer to the damages of too much stress.
What Is Ashwagandha?
Ashwagandha is a plant that grows in India and some parts of the Middle East and the African continent. The roots and berries of this evergreen shrub are useful for food and medicine. It is an adaptogen, so it can combat stress in the body. We will discuss this more when we consider the benefits of ashwagandha. Let’s take a closer look at all of the advantages you may enjoy if you find the best ashwagandha supplement.
What Are the Benefits of Ashwagandha?
We are going to look at just six of the many benefits of using ashwagandha as a supplement. Of course, stress relief is going to be the primary benefit. While adaptogens are a new topic of research, there are already many existing studies regarding ashwagandha. We will reference several so that you can see the scientific evidence behind the claims.
Benefit 1: Chronic Stress Relief
Ashwagandha can help with chronic stress, oxidative stress, and adrenal fatigue, reducing cortisol levels. These conditions all relate to one another. Long-term physical or emotional stress can cause overproduction of cortisol in the adrenal glands. Research reveals that ashwagandha can reduce these cortisol levels when taken for 60 days. As a result, ashwagandha also helps with a number of long-term stress symptoms such as adrenal fatigue, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep problems.
Benefit 2: A Natural Anti-Cancer
In animals, research shows that ashwagandha slows the appearance of new cancer cells and fights existing ones. The testing includes several types of cancer, such as lung, brain, breast, colon, and ovarian. When paired with anti-cancer medication, the effects of the studies are even more dramatic. How does ashwagandha fight cancer? The antioxidants surround cancer cells, starving them of nutrients, and ultimately killing them.
Benefit 3: Better Thyroid Health
Stress hormones are not the only ones that adaptogens can balance. Ashwagandha can improve thyroid hormone levels as well. Research on mice reveals that it only takes 20 days for ashwagandha to affect thyroid hormone levels significantly. In fact, it is so powerful that if you are currently on thyroid medication, you should speak with your doctor before taking ashwagandha. Combined with medication, your hormone levels may change too much.
Benefit 4: Give Your Brain a Boost
Ashwagandha helps relieve stress, so it makes sense that your brain will function better. You may even see benefits when it comes to anxiety or depression. But the cortisol effects are not the only reason ashwagandha is good for brain function. It also helps to regulate serotonin and other crucial neurotransmitters. Again, speak with your doctor before starting on an ashwagandha supplement because research shows ashwagandha to be on par with several pharmaceutical drugs (minus the adverse side effects, of course). Remember, you don’t want to start or stop a prescription medication that affects your brain without speaking with a doctor.
Benefit 5: Reduces Inflammation
Chronic inflammation takes a terrible toll on the body, including increasing pain levels. Ashwagandha reduces inflammation without the side effects of many over the counter or prescription anti-inflammatory meds. Pair it with an anti-inflammatory diet, and you may see significant results such as those in this study.
Benefit 6: Blood Sugar Regulation
Early studies are favorable regarding the effect of ashwagandha on blood sugar levels. For example, ashwagandha may help keep blood sugar levels down and could even help the body to produce more insulin on its own. It can also help with triglycerides and cholesterol levels. Again, if you are already taking medication for any of these issues, you should make sure there is no interaction before starting a new supplement.
Where Can You Find the Best Ashwagandha Supplement?
To get the full benefit of your ashwagandha supplement, you need to be sure that you find one that is high-quality and bioavailable. Warrior Strong Wellness is proud to offer our Pure Organic Ashwagandha Max. With 1200 milligrams per serving along with 10 milligrams of BioPerine to support absorption, it is the perfect supplement for stress relief and all of the other benefits in our article. Get yours in the shop today!
About The Author
Warrior Strong Wellness
Warrior Strong Wellness provides innovative and high quality transformational supplements and raises awareness and funds to fight childhood cancer by giving a portion of our proceeds to childhood cancer research. In our weekly blogs, we share wisdom about wellness and living a Warrior Strong lifestyle.