Ashwagandha is easily one of the most widely-used supplements in the world today.
It is commonly consumed as a single ingredient supplement, as part of herbal tea blends, and as part of comprehensive supplement stacks like nootropics, sleep aids, and increasingly, testosterone boosters.
Ashwagandha is now found in all of the most effective testosterone boosters on the market. While most of the cheaper, more basic testosterone boosters wont provide ashwagandha, the best testosterone supplements will now typically contain a large dose of highly potent, pure ashwgandha root extract.
But most of these so-called testosterone boosters contain ingredients that don’t actually boost testosterone. The vast majority of testosterone boosters on the market use ingredients that don’t do anything – they don’t improve strength, they don’t increase libido, and they certainly don’t boost testosterone!
So it’s always hard to know if a substance actually works or not. Just because a supplement manufacturer says something works doesn’t mean it works.
So what about ashwagandha?
Does ashwagandha boost testosterone?
How does it work?
Ashwagandha and testosterone
Ashwagandha has a long history of use as a libido enhancer and general vitality booster. It is used in Ayurverdic medicine to bring back some energy and sex drive to older men.
Modern clinical trials have found that there is good reason for this – Ashwagandha can actually increase testosterone levels.
For example, in this study, researchers found that ashwagandha supplementation increased free serum testosterone considerably. Amazingly, ashwagandha supplementation led to a 14.7% increase in testosterone in just 8 weeks.
Plenty of other studies have found similar increases in testosterone from ashwagandha supplementation.
By increasing free testosterone levels, ashwganadha brings about several positive changes, including:
– Improved mood
– Elevated sex drive
– Strength gains
– Body fat loss
– Faster recovery
– Better sleep quality
It’s little wonder that so many people are using ashwagandha to improve their training, their health, their sex lives, and their sleeping patterns.
But how does ashwagandha increase testosterone?
How does ashwagandha increase testosterone?
Ashwagandha increases testosterone in a very simple but indirect way.
Basically, ashwagandha suppresses a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone – it is released when you need to get into “fight or flight mode”. Cortisol heightens your focus, increases heart rate, increases blood pressure, stops all non-vital bodily functions and diverts all resources to survival. You need cortisol in certain situations, but many people have chronically high cortisol levels, and people with anxiety experience cortisol spikes when they shouldn’t.
Cortisol and testosterone do not mix. High cortisol levels invariably mean low testosterone levels, and vice versa.
By suppressing cortisol, ashwanagdha not only reduces stress and anxiety, but it allows your testosterone levels to rise to their natural, optimal levels.
So yes, ashwagandha boosts testosterone. It does so by suppressing cortisol; high levels of cortisol will suppress testosterone, so reducing cortisol allows your testosterone levels to rise.
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