How to Take Ashwagandha Correctly | What You DONT Know About Ashwagandha

Transcript

ashwagandha also known as withinia simnifera is a small woody plant with yellow flowers native to india and north africa you may have heard of it as an adaptogen and it's believed to help your body manage stress better and is overall best known for its stress lowering effects in this video i'll go over what ashwagandha is how it works for stress and the science behind it how to take it what to watch out for so stay tuned till the end [Music] hi guys you seen arsenal media pharmacist here on youtube this week's video is on ashwagandha if you haven't already smash that like button below now as i greatly appreciate it and it also helps out the channel so much there's also a lot of useful information in here that i know you could benefit from as well also while you're at it hit that button too to stay up to date with new weekly videos and without further ado let's talk about ashwagandha the name ashwagandha is from the sanskrit language and is a combination of the word ashva which means horse and ganda which means smell the root has a strong aroma that is described as a horse-like smell and the scientific studies have suggested that ashwagandha might be beneficial for a number of conditions but keep in mind that not all studies that suggest something is beneficial maybe so there is a ton of limited research behind the supplement however with that said the condition in which most studies that stand out as significant are those that look at its use for stress reduction so bottom line does it work there is evidence to support the use of ashwagandha for stress and i'll go over the specifics in a bit and if you guys don't know i'm a big fan of adaptogens and i think the research headed with them is in the right direction and i'm excited to see where it all leads ashwagandha in particular has been used in ayurvertic medicine in india and is an adaptogenic herb for thousands of years if you don't know what adaptogens are they're basically herbal aids that support our bodies in reacting to and recovering from both short-term and long-term physical or mental stress scientists still need to collect much more data before recommending the herb to treat stress and anxiety so please take what you hear and read about this supplement with a grain of salt and don't stop taking medications that are already provided to you by your doctor it's important that you still take your normal scheduled routine of medicine but as far as the studies go let's get into what we know so far the two studies that have looked at ashwagandha for stress looked at using ashwagandha root extract 300 milligrams twice a day after food for 60 days and the results reduced perceived stress levels by 33 to 44 and decreased cortisol levels which is a stress hormone by 22 to 28 compared to baseline and adults with chronic stress the improvements were significant compared to the changes seen for patients treated with placebo ashwagandha root extract also seemed to prevent stress-related weight gain compared to placebo in another study and it probably did that by controlling cortisol as it's thought that high levels of cortisol lead to weight gain especially in the belly region keep in mind that ashwagandha has been safely used in clinical trials up to 12 weeks and it's believed to work by acting as a so-called anti-stressor that suppresses stress-induced increases in dopamine receptors in the corpus striatum of the brain it also appears to reduce stress-induced increases of plasma corticosterone blood urea nitrogen and blood lactic acid so with all that said how's it supposed to be taken there's no standard dosage based on modern clinical trials but the study that looked at its use for stress the patients took 300 milligrams twice a day after food other studies have used much higher doses and some products contain up to 1.95 grams so keep in mind to always follow the directions on the label for whichever supplement you take it'll come in the form of a capsule powder and liquid extract so please make sure to read all labels fully keep in mind that ashwagandha is not for everyone especially if you're pregnant breastfeeding have an autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes and hashimoto's thyroiditis it also interacts with some medications used for diabetes blood pressure thyroid and benzodiazepines in which i've left a link for them in the description below you see too much stress can negatively impact mood sleep cognitive function energy libido tension blood pressure blood sugar your immunity and lots more and one supplement won't prevent all that nor can one study that showed improvement so please talk to your doctor if your stress has taken over your daily routine as there's a number of different other options out there that can help as well when we can adapt to stress we could better perform and feel better even though there are many things out there that are stressing us out but it's not stress that's the problem when you're stressed out your adrenal gland releases the stress hormone cortisol which energizes you to tackle emergencies and get things done to protect you like running away from an angry bear or bird or even help you turn in your assignments on time but too much stress that is too often is usually bad for our bodies and is classified as chronic stress which we don't want whether or not ashwagandha helps you it is important to seek help when you need it and look for additional methods to tackle down chronic stress lastly one more thing before i forget ivertec herbs are not fda regulated this means that they are not held to the same standards as pharmaceutical companies and food producers many products that contain estrogen have led to harm so it is very important that before you try out any of these supplements to discuss it with your doctor first and if you have the okay that you make sure to get one that's tested and verified by a reliable third-party test for purity i left a popular one in the description below if you want to go ahead and check that out i hope this video was useful to you guys and i hope that you do share with someone you know who could benefit from it like the video if you did enjoy it and to sanborn with all my other weekly health and wellness videos thanks for sticking tune all the way to the end and as always i'll see you on the next one you