How Ashwagandha Helps You Stress Less

Ashwagandha is an adaptogen herb that helps your body manage nervous tension and stress. It acts on all the three stages of the stress response. That’s a good thing because chronic stress isn’t good for long-term health. You can find Ashwagandha root in supplements like Osoaa Ashwagandha. Read all the main points about this soothing ingredient below. Ashwagandha root is an Ayurvedic herb that’s stepping into the mainstream, thanks to its many mind and body benefits. Most importantly, It helps control stress and anxiety by reducing the level of stress hormone. It also helps increase calmness, focus, and improves mental well-being. If you've got stress in your life, whether it’s noticeable or barely-there, Ashwagandha can assist you in a plethora of ways. If you think about it, Ashwagandha is a bit like bitcoin or internet if you may; it has a whole range of benefits in almost every area, you just need to decode how to use it effectively and beneficially in order for it to do you good. It’s like an elixir which has healing properties and we must use it appropriately.

Ashwagandha goes by many diverse names, including withania somnifera, Indian ginseng and winter cherry. It’s a part of the nightshade family and is a small shrub that grows in India, the middle East and parts of Africa. Ashwagandha is a part of a traditional medicine called Ayurveda, that focuses on balancing the body, mind and spirit. Supplements tend to comprise Ashwagandha root extract or Ashwagandha powder, which can be combined with other herbs. Ashwagandha is additionally an adaptogen herb. Adaptogens help you adapt in the moment of stress. To be an adaptogen, the ingredient must meet these qualifications:

• Even after long term use, people must tolerate it well.

• It must act on the response of body’s stress

• There must be a variety of other benefits too

Ashwagandha passes the three-point adaptogen test with flying colours.

There are three stages once a stressor triggers the stress response.

Your body enters into the alarm stage when you’re being chased by a dog, when you apply your brakes to avoid an accident or when you have a conflict at work. You can actually feel your fight-or-flight response due to the spike in your adrenaline, epinephrine and cortisol levels. When all of this is taking place, your body suppresses your organs, usually through the vagal pathways. It’s formulating energy resources to mobilize to counteract the stressor. Your heart beats faster and your pupils get dilated, all to help you defend or escape from the perceived enemy. When the stressor is short-lived, you'll recover quickly when it’s over. When you have consistent, low-level stress, you spend time in exhaustion mode.

During the state of resistance, the stressor is no longer there or at least, the threat is not any longer there. This is the time when your systems attempt to get back into balance. The body metabolizes and excretes stress hormones that it no longer needs. Though your body attempts to recover, it still remains on high alert. You may be forgetful or irritable.

Chances are you’ve felt exhaustion after intense workouts. The exhaustion stage of the stress response can happen at the system level. When you experience consistent, low-level stress, you’ll feel it in more ways than one. For instance, when you’re stressed, your gastrointestinal system slows down to a halt and you finish up with gastric distress a touch afterward. You would possibly feel entirely spent with low energy levels, otherwise you may even run down your system.

Adaptogens like Ashwagandha act on all three major phases of the stress response. They increase your threshold as far as what will trigger the stress response, which helps save the alarm phase for times you actually need it. After the alarm phase, adaptogens work to break down those stress hormones and get them out of the body. They also help together with your energy to bring your systems out of exhaustion to keep you functioning as you ought to. Here’s how that translates to Ashwagandha benefits:

Stress and the adrenal glands are indistinguishably connected. The adrenal glands produce cortisol, a stress hormone that's faster to release than other stress hormones like adrenaline. Constant release of cortisol chips away at your health, so it’s best to keep stress and cortisol in check. Persistent stress can contribute to adrenal insufficiency, which can cause abnormal adrenal gland size and wonky production of an adrenal hormone called aldosterone.

Additionally, Ashwagandha has been shown to support the adrenals in a few different ways:

·Helps the pituitary, hypothalamic and adrenal glands communicate effectively. Acts on the adrenals to support normal testosterone levels. Additionally, thyroid hormones which regulate digestion, muscle and heart function can be impacted by low adrenal function.

·Prevents stress-induced vitamin C depletion in the adrenals. The adrenals spend an enormous percentage of our total vitamin C. If the adrenals don’t have the vitamin C they have, they aren’t able to regulate cortisol production, which results in too much or too little. Cortisol dysregulation can start a cycle of stress response and improper cortisol production.

Ashwagandha capsule supports insulin sensitivity in muscle cells. This helps in the context of stress because when your blood sugar is stable, you can focus on everything else you have to do. You don’t need to constantly interrupt your day to eat, and you’re not distracted by midday sugar cravings.

Researchers have found that using Ashwagandha as a supplement improved sexual function in healthy women compared to placebo. This could be due to the various physiological benefits of Ashwagandha, or it could be because of its stress reduction properties. A serious cause of female sexual dysfunction lies in its relationship to psychological stress.

There’s no need to mention that occasional mood problems can significantly increase the stress response. Ashwagandha maybe of help here too.

Ashwagandha helped with weight management in adults under persistent stress. If you’re going on this study alone, it’s hard to say whether it’s the stress reduction mechanism that helps with weight loss or the effects of Ashwagandha on fat metabolism. We know that Ashwagandha supports a healthy stress response, so it follows that managing stress can help you manage your weight as well.