Ashwagandha also known as ‘Poison Gooseberry’ or ‘Winter Cherry’ has a horse like odour. It covers a bandwidth of benefits with an epicentre on stress, anxiety and depression related issues. It is an adaptogen therefore, compensating stress and provides numerous benefits for body and brain. So, bring your toes on verve and lift up your spirit with our panic diminishing ninja.
Historically, the roots of this herb are used to treat several ailments like insomnia, constipation, blood sugar level, cholesterol and hypothyroidism, hair growth, ageing, with miscellaneous others. The high concentration of withanolides have been shown to fight inflammation and tumour growth. It’s not just the roots, even the leaves, fruits and seeds are used for various treatments.
Let’s jump to the fringe benefits of this ubiquitous herb:
- Combats the effect of stress- Ashwagandha helps to adapt your body to sundry emotional and physical stress. It reduces cortisol levels in the body, which is directly linked in managing stress.
- Anti-cancer properties- Ashwagandha helps induce apoptosis- programmed death of cancer cells, it also aborts the growth of new cancer cells.
- Reduces inflammation- Researchers have shown that ashwagandha increases the activity of natural killer cells, which are immune cells that fight infection and helps you stay healthy. These are indirectly involved in decreasing the risk of heart disease.
- Memory and brain function- Hitch on your memory, students! Ashwagandha has tremendous memory boosting power. It also shields your brain from any injury or disease, especially against Bipolar Disorder- sips of ashwagandha extract when consumed for 8 weeks may calm down people suffering from the same.
- Stabiliser for hypothyroidism- In people with mild underactive thyroid, ashwagandha becomes a helping hand in lowering thyroid-stimulating hormone and increases thyroid hormone levels.
- Cholesterol and triglycerides- Bad LDL cholesterol is a major cause of heart attack on the world, but ashwagandha is a superior in reducing triglyceride and cholesterol levels from blood.
- Increase fertility in men- Guys often woe about their reproductive health! However, ashwagandha increases the male hormone- testosterone levels and upsurge reproductive capacity.
- Weight loss- Weight loss comes to a standstill, when the immune function is compromised, or even increase cortisol levels pushes insulin that forces the body to use blood sugar and store it as fat. Also, hypothyroidism is a leading cause of being overweight nevertheless, ashwagandha contributes in losing unwanted weight.