How Ashwagandha Can Make You Stronger

October 6, 2022

Opinion by Jake Crossman

In ancient India and parts of Asia, there is a book of medicine called the ayurvedic texts. This was a way of practicing medicine that was completely natural and holistic that provided relief for those who followed the medicinal practices, these ancient texts looked at things like how ashwagandha can make you stronger, and other plants were able to help heal the body.

Withania Somnifera the scientific name for Ashwagandha is one of the key herbs that is used in the ayurvedic form of medicine. The herb seemed to be lost to the essence of time for hundreds of years but has recently resurfaced in the holistic health space and is gaining popularity in the health space.

One of the biggest side effects of using ashwagandha on a daily basis is increased muscle growth and strength. Let’s take a look at exactly what ashwagandha is and how it can make you healthier and stronger.

How Ashwagandha Can Make You Stronger: What Is Ashwagandha?

Ashwagandha is in a category of plant called an adaptogen – this is a plant that can be used for medicinal purposes. The ashwagandha plant is also referred to as the Indian Winter Cherry or Indian Ginseng. The herb dates back to the year 6000 B.C. when it was first cited in Ayurveda as one of the main medicines that can be used to treat a variety of ailments.

Ashwagandha is used in the practice of creating medicine that stems from the Ayurveda called Rasayana. The idea of Rasayana is to create medicine that will help promote youthful energy, increase strength, and boost overall health.

“Among the ayurvedic Rasayana herbs, Ashwagandha holds the most prominent place. It is known as “Sattvic Kapha Rasayana” Herb. Most of the Rasayana herbs are adaptogen/anti-stress agents (NCBI).”

The herb is traditionally taken by eating the plant itself or being crushed into a fine powder or paste and then put into a capsule, or rubbed directly onto the affected areas.

How Ashwagandha Can Make You Stronger: How It Works

Ashwagandha has been cited to help with a huge amount of health-related issues, the biggest ones being anti-stress, increased strength, and increased fertility.

“(Ashwagandha) appears a promising safe and effective traditional medicine for the management of schizophrenia, chronic stress, insomnia, anxiety, memory/cognitive enhancement, obsessive-compulsive disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, type-2 diabetes, and male infertility, and bears fertility promotion activity in females adaptogenic, growth promoter activity in children and as adjuvant for reduction of fatigue and improvement in quality of life among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (PubMed).”

As you can see from the above quote in over 60 different live trials ashwagandha was proven to help with all of those different areas in your life. When reading this and seeing that only one plant is responsible for all of this you begin to ask yourself why big pharmaceutical companies are pumping out one medicine at a time for all of these rather than one overall solution.

Anti-Stress & Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are horrible things to have to live with on a daily basis. A lot of current pharmaceuticals can only help so much before the user becomes reliant on them and since they alter mood these medicines can become addictive very quickly. If your stress and anxiety are not taken care of correctly or promptly it can lead to a whole host of other issues that are far worse.

“chronic stress or long-time persisted stress can induce irreversible health issues with serious health damages such as metabolic syndromes, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), severe cardiovascular issues, hypertension, endocrinological issues, and visceral obesity [4-5] (NCBI).”

In 2019 there was a double-blind study done with a group of 60 people who took ashwagandha every day for over the course of eight weeks. There was a placebo group and a control group but neither knew if they were taking the placebo or the actual ashwagandha supplement.

They were instructed to take 300mg of ashwagandha every day and the premise of the study focused on seeing how well ashwagandha could reduce stress and anxiety in the average person.

The results were quite shocking; not only did the ashwagandha significantly reduce stress and anxiety in the control group it also increased the quality of sleep of those participants as well. The study showed a significant decrease in serum cortisol otherwise known as the stress-causing hormone.

These kinds of studies are crucial to understanding how these ancient medicine practices can be applied today to uproot traditional pharmaceutical alternatives.

Fertility

Ashwagandha, traditionally, was given to those suffering from fertility issues. The root of the plant when consumed can increase sperm count in males as well as increase strength of the sperm. This is because ashwagandha increases the circulation of blood in our bodies, and testosterone levels and reduces cortisol.

All of those factors play a large role in maintaining and producing healthy sperm. There have been hundreds of clinical trials done that show empirical evidence that ashwagandha can be used as a fertility treatment.

Increased Strength

As stated earlier the word ashwagandha is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “smell of a horse” because of the ability it has to increase strength and muscle growth like that of a horse.

But how does this actually work with our body’s chemistry? There have been several studies done on how ashwagandha can increase strength by looking at a participant’s Vo2 max before and after taking the supplement. Vo2 max is a way to measure the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can use during exercise.

Out of 615 participants, almost every single one who was taking ashwagandha throughout the experiment came out with higher Vo2 max numbers than when they started (NCBI). The results of this study shocked a lot of the scientists involved because they could not believe the tenacity of the ashwagandha supplement.

“Ashwagandha supplementation was more efficacious than placebo for improving variables related to strength/power, cardiorespiratory fitness, and fatigue/recovery in healthy men and female. In fact, the probability of at least a small effect size on physical performance favoring subjects supplemented with Ashwagandha is very high (>95%) (NCBI).”

The effects of ashwagandha on strength are clearly present and the fact that it is an all-natural strength supplement that also increases mental clarity, and fertility, and reduces stress makes it one of the most beneficial holistic supplements you can use.

Taking ashwagandha in place of some more harmful substances like PEDs or pre-workout will not only benefit your body physically but will increase overall health and wellness, so you will end up looking better and feeling better than you ever have before.

How Ashwagandha Can Make You Stronger: Final Thoughts

The power and capability of the ashwagandha root is endless. As more and more research comes out about this ancient root the more it will become mainstream and start to replace pharmaceuticals.

Already ashwagandha is being used in certain therapeutic treatments and concurrently with other medications. Ashwagandha can be used as a holistic medicine alternative to almost any current prescription drug that deals with stress, mental clarity, and fertility.

The future of holistic medicine is looking extremely bright as more and more adaptogens and plant-based medicines are becoming popular.