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Ashwagandha And Fatigue

The link between ashwagandha and fatigue is something that’s becoming increasingly talked about, as fatigue is an issue nobody wants to deal with. The feelings of lethargy and lifelessness it produces can make performing even the most routine daily tasks feel like a struggle and engaging in more arduous activities virtually impossible.

As the most common solution to this problem is drinking caffeinated beverages like coffee and energy drinks, both of which are known to provide immediate relief from fatigue but worsen it down the line, it’s unsurprising that people are seeking a healthier and more effective alternative. The question is, is ashwagandha the answer they’re looking for? As luck with have it, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

The only problem is, as many people still don’t know exactly what ashwagandha is or how it goes about combatting fatigue, there is still a fair amount of hesitancy when it comes to trying it. That’s why we decided to produce the following article, to give you all of the information you need to know to take away those reservations and allow you to use ashwagandha to get rid of your fatigue once and for all.

Table of Contents

What Is Ashwagandha?

Ashwagandha is an adaptogen found in the roots of an Asian evergreen shrub known as the winter cherry, withania somnifera, or Indian ginseng. Long used in ayurvedic medicine and other forms of traditional medicine in Asia due to claims that it offers countless health benefits for the human body, recent studies confirming most of these claims have led to it becoming extremely popular in Western supplements.

Clinical trials have proven it can combat anxiety, depression, stress, inflammation, arthritis, diseases, and infections, boost your testosterone and energy production and levels, improve brain and heart health and functions, enhance exercise performance, mood, and your sleep latency, cycle and quality, regulate blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, and help prevent or treat various other mental and physical health issues (1).

We recently analyzed all these benefits in two other articles we published, which can be found here and here, in case anyone wants to study them in more detail.

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What Are The Negative Effects Of Fatigue?

People often mistake the word fatigue for simply the feeling of being tired, but, in reality, it is something far more serious that can produce a large number of negative effects on the human body if steps aren’t taken to identify the cause and rectify it.

These negative effects of fatigue include reduced physical performance and muscle strength, slower reflexes and reaction times, increased sensitivity to pain, difficulty concentrating, memory issues, impaired decision-making, brain fog, irritability, anxiety, stress, depression, a loss of motivation, sleep disruptions, poor sleep quality, restlessness, difficulty waking up, reduced interest in socializing, poor performance at work, a weakened immune system, a greater risk of developing chronic health conditions, and a generally impaired quality of life.

Ashwagandha And Fatigue: How Does Ashwagandha Combat Fatigue?

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Ashwagandha has been repeatedly shown to lower the production of cortisol, which is the body’s main stress hormone. Scientific evidence confirms high cortisol levels can produce elevated stress and anxiety levels, both of which lead to fatigue and burnout. By reducing a person’s cortisol levels, ashwagandha helps to mitigate this increase in stress and anxiety, preventing the physical and mental exhaustion and fatigue that it causes (2).

Ashwagandha and Anxiety

Supports Adrenal Health

The ashwagandha herb is also thought to support the endocrine system, especially the adrenal glands attached to the kidneys which are responsible for producing stress-related hormones, such as cortisol. The adaptogenic effect that ashwagandha produces can help to balance the adrenal system, improving your overall energy levels and reducing fatigue by further preventing stress and anxiety (3).

Boosts Sleep Quality

Ashwagandha is better known for producing improvements in sleep quality than it is for anything else, thanks to its ability to regulate the body’s stress response, balance stress hormone levels, reduce anxiety, promote relaxation, induce a feeling of calmness, and modulate certain neurotransmitters, like GABA. It benefits every aspect of a person’s sleep-wake cycle, including their sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep quality, and circadian rhythm.

The sleep improvements that ashwagandha supplementation leads to promote far more restorative sleep and better rest and recovery, helping combat fatigue during the day while also preventing or reducing the symptoms of insomnia, which itself can lead to fatigue and stress and create a vicious cycle (4).

Learn More About Optimizing Your Sleep Here

Improves Energy Levels

Some studies suggest that ashwagandha may enhance mitochondrial function, with the mitochondria being responsible for producing energy in the body. This is then supported by a combination of the other benefits that it offers, like reducing stress and improving your sleep cycle, muscle strength, and athletic performance, all of which help to improve your energy levels in their own right.

By improving cellular energy production and your overall energy levels, ashwagandha can help increase stamina and reduce feelings of both fatigue and tiredness (5).

Enhances Physical Endurance

Ashwagandha is sometimes used to enhance a person’s athletic performance and physical endurance. It is capable of this not only because it can give you more energy, but also because it is believed to reduce muscle fatigue and improve muscle strength during exercise, which it is said to achieve through multiple pathways. This gives it the ability to significantly combat fatigue in workouts and to an even greater extent in your everyday life (6).

Ashwagandha and Weight Loss

Regulates Blood Sugar Levels

Fluctuating blood sugar levels can lead to feelings of tiredness and fatigue, while also causing a host of other issues within the human body. Some studies suggest that ashwagandha supplementation may help a person maintain healthy blood sugar levels, which it achieves by reducing physical stress levels and improving insulin sensitivity. As a result, it is also capable of stabilizing energy levels and preventing the onset of fatigue (7).