Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera, Family: Solanaceae) is one of the most recognized and studied medicinal plant which holds high repute in traditional Ayurveda and Unani (Indian, Greek, and African) traditional system of medicine for thousands of years.（1）
The name Ashwagandha is from the Sanskrit language and is a combination of the word “ashva”, meaning horse, and “gandha”, meaning smell. The root has a strong aroma that is described as “horse-like."
In Ayurvedic, Indian, and Unani system of medicine, Ashwagandha is also commonly referred to as Asgandh, Winter cherry, or Indian ginseng. The species is widely distributed in the northwestern Indian states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and the Punjab plains extending to the mountainous regions of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu. (1)
Ashwagandha contains most of its nutritional content and an active ingredient in its roots, (and sometimes the leaves), which can be prepared, dried powder, crude extract as well as purified metabolites of the plant. It has shown promising therapeutic properties, and is widely used in Indian as an adaptogen, nerve tonic, anti-stress, anxiety, memory enhancer, and against cognitive deficits, insomnia, infectious diseases, infertility, rheumatoid arthritis and gout. (2-3)
Moreover, it is present in World Health Organization (WHO) monographs on the most important medicinal plants and an American Herbal Pharmacopoeia monograph (4) due to its huge demand in both domestic and international markets.
Ashwagandha has become increasingly popular in the west and is one of the most popular Adaptogens on the market today. There are many medical supply providers and hospital supplies manufacturers working on it. According to HerbalGram’s 2019 Herb Market Report, the sales of herbal supplements with Ashwagandha topped $10.84 million in the U.S. for 2019, an increase of 45% over the previous data. An additional $13.66 million in sales were reported from the Natural Channel (making the Ashwagandha the number 5 top-seller in this channel). (5)
Being a powerful adaptogen, Ashwagandha promotes balance in the body, which has been often used to combat and reduce stress and thereby enhance general wellbeing. Ashwagandha is also one of the adaptogenic herbs with significant effects on both psychological and physiological aspects of human functioning and general wellbeing, and the most promising is its effects on stress and stress management.
Stress is a normal and natural reaction to a potentially precarious situation. No matter how hard we try to avoid the stress, it is still a daily part of our lives. In general, stress can be either acute or chronic. Acute stress imparts transient physiological changes which are reversible conditions if proper treatment is provided on time and homeostasis is attained within a limited period. If chronic stress or long-time persisted stress due to environmental and social reasons can induce irreversible health issues with serious health damages such as hypertension, severe cardiovascular issues, depression, panic attacks, impaired memory and cognition, digestive problems, fatigue syndrome, autoimmune disorders, metabolic syndromes, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), endocrinological issues, and visceral obesity. (3,6-9)
Several human studies have been published in recent years, that stress is associated with altered hormonal secretions of cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. Ashwagandha as a potency adaptogen, which not only boost your immunity to illness and disease, but also impart a feeling of general well being and accomplishment. This Adaptogens exert their stress-protective effect by regulating homeostasis via several mechanisms of action associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and also by controlling key mediators of the stress response, such as heat shock proteins (Hsp70), stress-activated c-Jun N-terminal protein...
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