Ashwagandha: The Root of All Even-Mindedness?

It’s Research Review Monday at 10almonds, and we’re here to give you the low-down on the most high-quality, recent, relevant research we can find on one spotlight topic per week. This week, it’s Ashwagandha’s many wonderful brain-boosting benefits. In today’s edition:

• 8 Habits for (Almost) Limitless Energy

• Ashwaghanda

  • …on stress and anxiety

  • …on quality of sleep

  • …on memory, attention, and cognition

  • …on depression

  • …on a wide range of physical health aspects

• Cross That Bridge (a how-to guide for achieving your goals and living a purposeful life)

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

8 Habits for (Almost) Limitless Energy

“Almost”, because the laws of thermodynamics do still apply! But these are very good tricks against low energy and tiredness:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Timestamps for the skimmers* among us:

• 00:21 #1: Do this when you wake up

• 01:46 #2: How to utilize caffeine

• 3:56 #3: Remove this from your work space

• 05:40 #4: Don't eat this for breakfast

• 07:03 #5: Keep it moving

• 07:40 #6: Shut it down

• 09:03 #7: Use the power of temptation

• 10:43 #8: How to get a great night of sleep

• 12:44 Bonus: Do this when all else fails

*While our hand-picked daily videos are a very popular part of our newsletter, we know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, and many prefer the efficiency of text. We can’t transcribe everything, but we can give you bullet points and timestamps!

😎 MAIN FEATURE

Ashwagandha: The Root Of All Even-Mindedness?

In the past few years, Ashwagandha root has been enjoying popular use in consumer products ranging from specialist nootropic supplement stacks, to supermarket teas and hot chocolates.

This herb is considered to have a calming effect, but the science goes a lot deeper than that. Let’s take a look!

Last summer, a systematic review was conducted, that asked the question:

Does Ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress?

While they broadly found the answer was “yes”, they expressed low confidence, and even went so far as to say there was contradictory evidence. We (10almonds) were not able to find any contradictory evidence, and their own full article had been made inaccessible to the public, so we couldn’t double-check theirs.

We promptly did our own research review, and we found many studies this year supporting Ashwaghanda’s use for the management of anxiety and stress, amongst other benefits.

First, know: Ashwagandha’s scientific name is “Withania somnifera”, so if you see that (or a derivative of it) mentioned in a paper or extract, it’s the same thing.

Onto the benefits…

A study from the same summer investigated “the efficacy of Withania somnifera supplementation on adults' cognition and mood”, and declared that:

“in conclusion, Ashwagandha supplementation may improve the physiological, cognitive, and psychological effects of stress.”

We notice the legalistic “may improve”, but the data itself seems more compelling than that, because the study showed that it in fact “did improve” those things. Specifically, Ashwagandha out-performed placebo in most things they measured, and most (statistically) significantly, reduced cortisol output measurably. Cortisol, for any unfamiliar, is “the stress hormone”.

Another study that looked into its anti-stress properties is this one:

Ashwagandha Modulates Stress, Sleep Dynamics, and Mental Clarity 

This study showed that Ashwagandha significantly outperformed placebo in many ways, including:

• sleep quality

• cognitive function

• energy, and

• perceptions of stress management.

Ashwagandha is popular among students, because it alleviates stress while also promising benefits to memory, attention, and thinking. So, this study on students caught our eye:

The Perceived Impact of Ashwagandha on Stress, Sleep Quality, Energy, and Mental Clarity for College Students: Qualitative Analysis of a Double-Blind Randomized Control Trial

Their findings demonstrated that Ashwagandha increased college students' perceived well-being through supporting sustained energy, heightened mental clarity, and enhanced sleep quality.

That was about perceived well-being and based on self-reports, though

So: what about hard science?

A later study (in September) found supplementation with 400 mg of Ashwagandha improved executive function, helped sustain attention, and increased short-term/working memory.

Read the study: Effects of Acute Ashwagandha Ingestion on Cognitive Function

Well, there have been studies investigating its worth against depression, like this one:

Can Traditional Treatment Such as Ashwagandha Be Beneficial in Treating Depression?

Their broad answer: Ashwagandha works against depression, but they don’t know how it works.

They did add: “Studies also show that ashwagandha may bolster the immune system, increase stamina, fight inflammation and infection, combat tumors*, reduce stress, revive the libido, protect the liver and soothe jangled nerves.

That’s quite a lot, including a lot of physical benefits we’ve not explored in this research review which was more about Ashwagandha’s use as a nootropic!

We’ve been focusing on the more mainstream, well-studied benefits, but for any interested in Ashwagandha’s anti-cancer potential, here’s an example:

Evaluating anticancer properties of [Ashwagandha Extract]-a potent phytochemical

In summary:

There is a huge weight of evidence (of which we’ve barely skimmed the surface here in this newsletter, but there’s only so much we can include, so we try to whittle it down to the highest quality most recent most relevant research) to indicate that Ashwagandha is effective…

• Against stress

• Against anxiety

• Against depression

• For sleep quality

• For memory (working, short-term, and long-term)

• For mental clarity

• For attention

• For stamina

• For energy levels

• For libido

• For immune response

• Against inflammation

• Against cancer

• And more*

*(seriously, this is not hyperbole… We didn’t even look at its liver-protective functions, for instance)

Bottom line:

You’d probably like some Ashwagandha now, right? We know we would.

We don’t sell it (or anything else, for that matter), but happily the Internet does:

 Try Out Ashwagandha For Yourself Here!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Cross That Bridge - by Samuel J. Lucas

Books of this genre usually have several chapters of fluff before getting to the point. You know the sort:

1. Let me tell you about some cherry-picked celebrity stories that overlook survivorship bias

2. Let me tell you my life story, the bad parts

3. My life story continued, the good parts now

4. What this book can do for you, an imaginative pep talk that keeps circling back to me

…then there will be two or three chapters of the actual advertised content, and then a closing chapter that’s another pep talk.

This book, in contrast, throws that out of the window. Instead, Lucas provides a ground-up structure... within which, he makes a point of giving value in each section:

• exercises

• summaries

• actionable advice

For those who like outlines, lists, and overviews (as we do!), this is perfect. There are also plenty of exercises to do, so for those who like exercises, this book will be great too!

Caveat: occasionally, the book's actionable advices are direct but unclear, for example:

• Use the potential and power of tea, to solve problems

Context: there was no context. This was a bullet-pointed item, with no explanation. It was not a callback to anything earlier; this is the first (and only) reference to tea.

However! The book as a whole is a treasure trove of genuine tips, tools, and voice-of-experience wisdom. Occasional comments may leave you scratching your head, but if you take value from the rest, then the book was already more than worth its while.

Get Your Copy of Cross That Bridge on Amazon Today!

Wishing you a stress-free week of good health and productivity,

The 10almonds Team