Of all the many reported ashwagandha benefits, peace of mind might be the best of all.
Because ironically, there’s nothing quite as unrelaxing as being on a constant hunt for a sense of calm. For most of my adult life I’ve been a willing guinea pig for everything and anything that might help ease my incessant mental chatter and gnawing anxiety, from small five-minute hacks, like breathwork (a big tick), to big investments, like a week-long silent retreat (spoiler alert: not being able to voice your worries actually makes the thought spiral worse), and the results have always been mixed.
So when adaptogens first made their way into the mainstream, I was ready for them to just be a passing trend with little to no impact on my life. Oh, how wrong I was. Adaptogens supplements have been used for centuries in traditional medicine systems like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine and what makes them so unique is their widely-believed ability to help the body “adapt” to various forms of stress, whether physical, emotional, or environmental.
Mary Ruth’s Organics Ashwagandha Root
Amazon
New Chapter Magnesium + Ashwagandha
Walmart
Himalaya Organic Ashwagandha
Amazon
Life Extension Optimized Ashwagandha
Amazon
What is ashwagandha?
Ashwagandha is one of the most well-known, heralded by the wellness elite for its believed ability to gently nudge the body towards a state of balance, enhancing its resilience against the punishing pace of modern life (I say as I rotate between my phone, laptop, iPad, and coffee).
Intrigued, I ordered some of the best Ashwagandha supplements.
What are the effects of taking ashwagandha?
The first few weeks were subtle. I diligently swallowed a capsule each morning with my lukewarm coffee (I’m a toddler mom), hopeful that a bolt of calm might strike me then and there. Spoiler alert: It didn’t. Instead, the change was a gradual softening, a growing sense that my shoulders had dropped a bit and my tongue wasn’t glued so tightly to the roof of my mouth.
Slowly but surely, I noticed that the mental buzzing I was used to experiencing—the cacophony of replaying conversation from the day while catastrophizing about the next, running through to-do lists, the sense of tension—began to ease.
The shift was so nuanced that it took me a few weeks to notice it, until one evening—after a particularly stressful day involving a blocked drain, a delayed train, and a meltdown from my 22-month-old about there not being enough rubber ducks in the bath—I found myself sitting on the sofa, drinking a cup of mint tea and staring at the wall. If it had been a scene in a film it would have been entirely boring, but for me—someone who just 14 days ago would have been frantically switching between doomscrolling, sending voice notes that never reached their conclusion and reading back through emails from the day and re-evaluating my response—just being was a big deal.
It wasn’t a forced stillness, like the ones I’d often found myself in during a yoga class, but a genuine settling, like the dust of the day was finally settling. It was a small victory, but it felt monumental. Over time, I started to swap out “staring at a wall” for reading, something I hadn’t been able to do in a long while—so loud was my mind, that I’d previously end up reading the same cluster of sentences over-and-over before giving up entirely. But now, I could focus a bit better, relax the internal chatter enough to really take in what I was reading and crucially, actually enjoy it.
Beyond the mental quietening, I also started to notice a profound difference in my physical state. My shoulders, which I’d carried around my neck as though they were a collar, began to relax. That constant underlying hum of physical tension that I’d almost accepted as normal started to dissipate. I realized more and more that I wasn’t clenching my jaw or holding my breath every other minute. There was a newfound ease in my movements, a feeling of my muscles being less tightly wound. It was as if ashwagandha was gently coaxing my body out of a perpetual state of fight-or-flight.
It’s important to note here that ashwagandha isn’t a magic eraser for stress. Life still happens. Deadlines still loom. Annoying emails still land in my inbox. But what has changed is my capacity to meet these challenges without feeling completely derailed. I’m more able to weather the storms without being permanently flooded.
Ashwagandha benefits
Curious to know whether my own experience was synonymous with the science, I asked Clarissa Lenherr, a Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and a certified member of The British Association of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, what her take was on it all.
“The primary benefit of ashwagandha is its potential to support the body’s stress response. Research suggests it may help improve resilience to stress and enhance quality of life. For example, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in adults found that high-concentration, full-spectrum ashwagandha root extract significantly improved stress resistance and well-being,” she explains. “Ashwagandha may also support better sleep. Although research is still limited, some small studies have found it could be helpful for people experiencing insomnia.”
Read moreI Tried Ashwagandha to See if It Really Made Me Sleepy. Here’s My Honest Experience.
No more counting sheep?
She adds, “From my clinical experience, I’ve found that ashwagandha can be genuinely helpful for some people, particularly when it comes to managing stress. Many of my clients who struggle with chronic stress or feel wired but tired find they feel calmer after consistently using a high-quality ashwagandha supplement.
“The science generally supports these observations, with several randomized controlled trials showing that ashwagandha can help reduce perceived stress, improve sleep, and sometimes even lower anxiety levels. However, it’s not a magic bullet, and results can vary from person to person. And of course, it should be used as part of a broader approach that includes good nutrition, movement, sleep hygiene practices, and stress management techniques.”
If you do want to try it for yourself, you can buy ashwagandha in capsule, tablet, or powder form. Clarissa recommends starting with a lower dose and gradually increasing if needed. “Always follow the instructions on the supplement label or your healthcare provider’s advice,” she advises. “Some people prefer to take it in the evening to support relaxation and sleep, while others take it in the morning for general stress support.”
Are there any ashwagandha side effects?
She also notes that some people may experience upset or drowsiness if taken in large doses. “Ashwagandha may also interact with certain medications, including sedatives, medications for high blood pressure, thyroid hormones, and immunosuppressants,” she says. So check in with your doctor before taking it in any form.
For me, as someone who spent years searching for that elusive sense of calm, often chasing fleeting trends and quick fixes, ashwagandha has offered a more grounded and sustainable sense of calm. It’s not about being perpetually Zen, but a gentle reminder that sometimes, the most profound shifts happen not with a bang, but with a quiet, consistent whisper of support.
Has ashwagandha helped me achieve inner peace? No. But—and it’s a big but—it has helped me achieve more moments of peace throughout the day, and that is no small feat.
A version of this story was previously published in Glamour UK.
The post Ashwagandha Benefits: I’ve Taken the Supplement for Years, and It’s Changed My Life appeared first on Glamour.
