Ashwagandha is an herbal root that has been known for centuries in lower Asia, Africa and the countries bordering these regions. Because of its many benefits to the human body — many of which we will delve into shortly in this article — it has found its way into teas, salves and raw consumption. In fact, ashwagandha isn’t the only herb of its class that has many medicinal uses: it belongs to a clade of such roots known as adaptogens. Ashwagandha is an especially potent and effective adaptogen, which is why it has recently garnered prodigious public interest in the Western Hemisphere.
Why is Ashwagandha Set Apart Even Amongst Other Adaptogens?
Although there are several factors, the chief among them is probably ashwagandha’s impressive spate of physiological enhancements that it can confer on the human body. Throughout time, it has been employed to bolster one’s energy and stamina, as well as provide impressive resistance to stress by enhancing testosterone production and dampening cortisol production for a unique two-pronged approach. Multiple studies have shown, in particular, how beneficial this is for overweight men and men in general. However, this is an article on the benefits of ashwagandha for women, so we will focus on these.
Some of the other benefits that can be of especially potent use for women is how ashwagandha can improve immune response, and thus provide better protection against those seasonal bugs. The attribute of stress-reduction rates is also very high among users of ashwagandha extract. Without further ado, let’s enumerate some of the other ways in which ashwagandha can help women.
An Exclusively Feminine Benefit
As women have known since time immemorial, both menopause in your later years and PMS in your early introduction to womanhood can be accompanied by a good portion of stress. The progenitors of this increase in stress can be directly tied to a deficiency in the hormone progesterone. Unlike the male body, which thrives on high testosterone, the female body thrives when the balance between estrogen and progesterone is optimal. When this balance is out of whack, she can experience all the side-effects usually associated with a bad case of PMS/menopause:
- Rapid changes in mood: i.e, mood swings
- Headaches and migraines
- Hot flashes
- Cramps
- A distinct feeling of being bloated
- Excessive bleeding during menstruation
In particular, it is the suboptimal levels of progesterone that tend to cause the above issues — in conjunction, of course, with the other hormones that are active in regulating this essential life function for females. It can often result in the diminished speed of the blood circulating throughout your body which, as you well know, is responsible for depositing nutrients to organs, joints and other important sites. Ashwagandha interacts positively with the female endocrine system and ramps up progesterone production to help assuage these issues. In many countries, ashwagandha is even employed as a treatment for infertility.
Ashwagandha Assuages Ailments That Target Women
It might be more accurate to say that women are more prone to these ailments, rather than that they target women. Specifically, we’re talking about issues such as osteoporosis, infertility, breast cancer, hyperthyroidism and weight gain, migraines and even hyperprolactinemia. How does ashwagandha help with these? By dampening the production of prolactin, which is the hormone that induces the listed ailments.
More in-depth, excess estrogen production induces prolactin production via the pituitary gland: ashwagandha stifles this production by the pathway of suppressing the estrogen that activates or stimulates the prolactin runaway reaction. One of the cosmetic benefits that women might experience from this action is hair preservation since excess prolactin induces hair loss.
Does Ashwagandha Have An Effect on Aging?
The short answer is yes! It turns out that stress is a big factor in premature aging, from early and abundant gray hairs to many other results of chronically high cortisol levels. As your cortisol levels rise, your body is essentially in a state of rising panic and will try to counteract this response. If this rise in cortisol becomes chronic, then all manner of secondary effects can befall you:
- Rising cortisol levels indicate stress: too much of this consistently can lead to skin catabolysis, which leaves your epidermis looking and feeling frail.
- Too much cortisol production over a long time can also induce wrinkles early.
- Because cortisol attacks your body’s metabolism, you could find yourself gaining weight a lot more easily as stress ramps up unchecked.
- Another thing ashwagandha can successfully address by dampening your rising cortisol levels is chronic fatigue and a general sense of lethargy.
- Keep in mind that skin catabolism is related to declining mental health.
Some studies show that ashwagandha works very well to help the body manage stress — meaning it inevitably helps parry all of the above ailments that affect women disproportionately. Indeed, after just two months of taking an ashwagandha root extract supplement, declines in cortisol as large as 20 percent have been observed.
Having Problems With Sex?
This, of course, is a touchy subject (pun intended), but it becomes a lot less so when you realize only adults are searching for “ashwagandha benefits for women.” It turns out that this ancient herb has been shown to improve libido — which should be obvious since the herb reduces stress and interacts positively with testosterone. The latter hormone can be said to be the “driver” for sexual desire, which is why during menstruation, a woman flushes out much of the excess testosterone that was responsible for an increase in libido.
Perhaps even more importantly, ashwagandha has been known to increase fertility for thousands of years among Ayurvedic practitioners. Recently, medical studies have backed this up. The scientific evidence on libido and ashwagandha is unquestioned at this point. The root extract actually has benefits in all aspects that are associated with libido — it induces a woman’s natural lubrication and incites arousal. Basically, it moves her to passion.
Ashwagandha has a host of benefits for women: just make sure to seek more information from your primary care doctor regarding your specific situation before trying this over-the-counter supplement.