Hi, and welcome back to our channel.
Today we're going to discuss ashwagandha and ashwagandha's benefits.
So understanding the benefits of this particular herb as well as exploring the science of ashwagandha and how can it actually help with digestive health,
As well as how do you add it in if something you choose to use.
[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]
But first, before we begin, my name is Marcie Vaske. I'm a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients and at Flusso Nutrients, we work really hard to educate and share information about different kinds of supplements, herbs to help you make a better choice for yourself.
And if you're questioning any certain supplement, please feel free to look back on some of our past videos.
And if you have a question in general about a supplement, please make comments below. We're happy to answer and listen in today as we talk about ashwagandha and its benefits.
So let's dig back into our topic. And first, let's start with
What is ashwagandha?
And Ashwagandha is a small evergreen shrub that has been used for centuries in holistic health. It's been used also in Ayurvedic medicine and to today we can use it more and more for different kinds of symptoms that we may be experiencing.
Now, ashwagandha is actually classified as an adaptogens, and adaptogens is a term used to describe natural ways to support our body, whether it's for stress or mental health, as well as emotional wellbeing.
Ashwagandha is actually a pretty highly sought after herb to support, calmness and also resilience.
Ashwagandha Review: The Benefits
So let's go through a few of those benefits of ashwagandha, and it really is pretty versatile.
And so number one, ashwagandha is highly known for the way that what it helps with is stress management. So one of the primary reasons that someone would use ashwagandha is if they're under a lot of chronic stress.
Ashwagandha has been shown to reduce our stress hormone, which is called cortisol. It helps to bring it into better balance. So if you're someone who's struggling with a lot of chronic stress, you're feeling really tense and angsty and it is just in it day in and day out, ashwagandha really can be supportive to bring down that feeling and give you more calmness.
Now, ashwagandha, because it reduces, has the ability to reduce our cortisol. That's going to make our body overall much happier when we have too much cortisol in the body.
The body feels like it's revved all the time, and that can create a lot of symptoms. So by using ashwagandha, you can really reduce that cortisol level, bringing things just back into better balance. Now, in addition to reducing our stress or our cortisol and ashwaganda can also be used to reduce our anxiety.
And anxiety is a pretty common topic nowadays because many people are struggling with it. So if you're feeling the thoughts of just kind of overthinking, worrying, muscle tension, ashwagandha has been shown to really help calm all of that down. And the way that Ashwagandha does that is it helps to regulate or modulate our neurotransmitters. So things such as serotonin and our dopamine, kind of our two main neurotransmitters.
So by incorporating ashwagandha into your daily routine, you oftentimes can feel just kind of more calm, just kind of that inner peace, less tense, and it really has been helpful for many clients that I've actually worked with. Makes 'em feel just a little takes the edge off. Now,
What is the science behind ashwagandha's benefits?
And what's really cool about ashwagandha is it actually has unique compounds that work therapeutically within the body. These specific compounds act as anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, and have those neuroprotective properties and giving ashwagandha a leg up on supporting our chronic stress feelings as well as anxiety.
Ashwagandha has also been shown to help balance or keep our HPA access in better rhythm, meaning that it helps the body's ability to support stressful situations and adapt more quickly. And also, how does ashwagandha help with digestive health, which doesn't really seem probably something you wouldn't think about when you think about ashwagandha.
You do think more about those calming benefits, but because ashwagandha has anti anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, it can really help soothe that GI tract.
So if you're someone who struggles with maybe irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, they can also really help support that in twofold way, in the way of it brings down your stress level, which we know that when you're stressed, sometimes there's more IBS flares and as well also to kind of calm our intestinal tract and soothe it and bring down inflammation.
So if you're thinking, wow, this sounds like a pretty good herb, I might want to try it.
How do you add ashwagandha into your daily routine?
And number one, there's different forms of ashwagandha. You can get it in a tablet, you can find it in capsule form. You can even find it in powdered form.
So whichever way is most useful for you or easier for you to be most consistent with is the one that you should choose. Now, the dosage for ashwagandha is going to be between 300 and 600 milligrams per day and ideally in three separate doses. So you don't want to take it all at one time. Many times I always tell people, begin slow.
Like with any supplement, really start slow. Make sure your body's adapting to it. There's no side effects. So you could start with 100 milligrams per day and after a few days you go to two to 300 and so on and so forth. Kind of ending up at that 600 milligram mark if that's what you need.
Another important thing about ashwagandha, and not only how much do you take, but when do you take it, it's best to be very consistent with ashwagandha.
So if you decide to do your dose in the morning, keep it consistent and do it every morning, you can also do it with meals, which can help in the absorption factor of ashwagandha. And so by taking your dose at a mealtime every day, you'll have the best outcome.
Now of course, ashwagandha is just one layer of therapeutic support when it comes to anxiety or a lot of stress or even digestive health. And so making sure that you're also incorporating other healthy lifestyle factors such as getting enough sleep, taking a little bit of time for yourself every day if you can, even if it's 10 or 15 minutes. And also making sure that you are eating a balanced diet.
What re the potential side effects of ashwagandha?
So there are potential side effects of ashwagandha, as with any supplement, and it's typically seen when people take too much at one time or too much right out of the gate.
So that's why always just starting slow to see let your body adapt. One symptom that you could experience is gastrointestinal issues.
So things like bloating or nausea or even diarrhea can happen. Also, you may feel more fatigued if you're taking too much or more than you need. Also, people might experience a bit of a headache or even a dry mouth.
So as you're including ashwagandha into your diet, like I said, start slow, be consistent, and be mindful of any symptoms you may be feeling. I have used Ashwagandha personally. I think it's a great supplement helping to support anxiety and even just my cortisol. I do oftentimes it to people who are struggling with some of these symptoms as high cortisol or just chronic stress and anxiety as well as some digestive health stuff.
I like the two for one kind of thing right there because many people that I see do struggle with digestive health as well. Ashwagandha has been shown to be very helpful.
Personally, it does feel good when I take it. I like it a lot. It's not something you need to continue to take always and forever. It's one of those things that why don't you take it for a short period of time, maybe three to six months, stop it for a month, see how you feel, maybe you're good to go. If not, you know, can always go back to Ashwagandha as a tool to help support any of those symptoms.
So as I conclude our video today, I hope that help give you more information about an herb that could be really helpful in your daily routine, daily lifestyle. If you have questions about it, please leave some comments below as well as if you have further questions you can always questioning like any kind of medications you might be on or other supplements.
Is it okay to take?
You can always talk to a supplement literate practitioner and make sure that you're just well educated. And that's what here at Flu. So nutrients we try to do for you.
I will link a product that does have ashwagandha in it. So if you are interested, this is a great one to try.
So thanks for watching today and we'll see you soon.
Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!
1) Ashwagandha Extract: create an account here https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients, then search the name "ashwagandha extract by Seeking Health"
2) Cortisol Pro: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com/cortisol-pro
3) ALL PROFESSIONAL QUALITY SUPPLEMENTS: https://flussonutrients.nutridyn.com & https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/flussonutrients