How Ashwagandha Affects Your Mood & Mental State
One of the hottest topics in natural health at the moment concerns Ashwagandha and its effect on the mood.
This ancient root could have what it takes to restore your emotional balance, no matter if you want to cut down on today’s stress, boost your mood, or even your ability to think clearly.
I tell you all this because below is an article that shares what ashwagandha does for your emotions and how long it takes to work, whether you can genuinely become happier thanks to it, and how to use it safely as part of a reWilded life.
We’ll look at ashwagandha and how it relates to your mental state according to science and tradition.
What Is Ashwagandha and How Does It Work?
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, one of the strongest adaptogens there is.
Since the Ayurvedic days, this root has been used to offer vitality, stamina, and mental calm.
The way in which it works is that it’s actually working with your HPA (hypothalamic pituitary adrenal) axis, which controls your stress response.
The stress hits, resulting in your cortisol levels spiking.
It calms the storm before it can adversely impact your mood by bringing those levels back into balance with that Ashwagandha (1).
It also helps the thyroid and adrenal systems, which are important players in mood regulation and energy levels.
Ashwagandha and Its Impact on Mood
Ashwagandha is not a prescription antidepressant.
Instead, it supports you to move your emotional baseline out, incrementally, in favor of balance.
It has the potential to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in several studies.
Ashwagandha is effective because of one randomized double-blind study, which observed that the patients who took ashwagandha reported significantly reduced cortisol and overall improved mood compared to the placebo group (2).
A different study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, indicated that emotional endurance could be enhanced in a few weeks following supplementation (3).
Additionally, ashwagandha may help support GABA and serotonin, two brain chemicals that play a big role in emotional and physical well-being (4).
It is not a fabricated means of raising one transmitter a few milligrams, but rather a mechanism of helping your brain assiduously regulate its chemistry.
This is something that perfectly fits Wild Foods’ mission to reWild the body with ancestral nutrition and functional botanics.
Is Ashwagandha Really Able to Make You Happy?
Regular use of ashwagandha is said by people to make them calmer, more focused, and emotionally steady.
Is it truly possible to ‘make you happy ’ with it?
Ashwagandha doesn’t produce any kind of euphoric high.
It does not replace the constant noise of stress and overthinking that gets in the way of happiness.
Ashwagandha helps calm cortisol, lowers anxiety, and supports balanced hormones to bring your natural sense of joy to the surface. Happiness is a quiet kind, always about being, not about the point.
Research also shows that ashwagandha can enhance sleep quality, one of the most important factors of mood and cognitive functioning (5).
At night, when you do sleep, your brain processes these emotions more effectively and consequently improves your mood organically.
That is the kind of happiness that lasts.
Does Ashwagandha Numb Emotions (Emotional Blunting)?
This is one of the biggest complaints that people make when starting ashwagandha.
Does it numb your feelings? Long-term or high doses have been reported by some users to make them feel emotionally flat or unmotivated.
However, for most people, this is rare, and is often dose or personal-sensitivity related.
In the proper dosage, ashwagandha is more capable of softening emotional extremes rather than eliminating them.
What ashwagandha brings is a calm that isn’t what you’re used to if you run on adrenaline or stress hormones.
It’s not emotional numbness.
It’s emotional regulation.
If you are emotionally distant or apathetic while taking it, consider cutting the dose or interrupting it during the week.
Adaptogens are best when you rely on your body and let your emotional state be what it is.
How Long Does Ashwagandha Take to Affect Mood?
Ashwagandha isn’t instant.
Within a few hours, some people experience a calming effect.
But for real mood support, consistency matters.
The studies, on the whole, show improvement within 2 to 8 weeks.
All these include reduced anxiety, better focus, improved sleep, and emotional resilience.
A simple timeline of what to expect is as follows:
Week 1-2
During high-stress moments, you may find yourself feeling very subtly calm.
Week 3-4
The mood swings may seem less intense, and sleep may slightly improve.
Week 5-8
That will lead you to feel better balanced and present in your body and lower your emotional strain.
So, stick with it, and no matter how fast you want it to work, remember that ashwagandha works according to quality, dosage, and personal biochemistry.
Is Ashwagandha Safe for Daily Mental Support?
It is generally considered safe to use ashwagandha daily in the amounts specified.
However, it is a potent herb and should be respected.
Fatigue, irritability, apathy, and other side effects may be experienced by some people taking a higher-than-usual dose.
That’s because women and men can react differently because of hormones.
For instance, some women report feeling low moods if they take too much ashwagandha at certain points in the cycle.
If men are using ashwagandha for testosterone support, then they may discover that enhanced mood is related to increased energy and hormonal balance.
Always consult your health provider before starting any new supplement, especially if you take medication or suffer from mental health conditions.
How to Take Ashwagandha for Mental Wellness
The trick with ashwagandha is to find your personal rhythm in order to reap the mood benefits.
Best times to take it:
- In the morning, to ease into your day
- Promoting restful sleep is to be done in the evening.
- Be on the safe side and avoid high doses at both ends; you want to split it.
Recommended forms:
- Wild Cocotropic or organic root powder mixed with smoothies.
- Capsule form for ease and consistency
- Liquid extract for fast absorption
Pro tips for better mood support:
- It can be combined with magnesium or L-theanine.
- It goes well with a walk in nature to ground it.
- Not sporadically—not do it only when it feels convenient. Rather, use it consistently over a longer period of time.
Ashwagandha is one of the herbs that Wild Foods offers in high-quality herbal blends that honor the ancestral wisdom behind herbs.
These are from small-scale growers and tested for purity, of course.
Final Thoughts
Ashwagandha doesn’t hit the switch for its benefits to be felt overnight.
It gently rests your brain, hormones, and nervous system while you are resting, so that you may find your way back to the state of internal balance.
That can mean for some person less anxiety, better sleep, etc...
To an extent, it means clearer thinking and a greater well of joy.
At the root of it, mood is not constantly happy but has to do with emotional strength and flexibility.
Ashwagandha grounds you back to the present when life is loud.
And in a world that keeps out of sync, that’s a gift to accept.
I am ready to help you support our mood in the reWilded way?
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FAQs on How Ashwagandha Affects Your Mood & Mental State
Does ashwagandha affect mood?
It may also help to reduce cortisol input and stabilize the nervous system—yes, it does.
Will ashwagandha take away my emotions?
No, it doesn’t erase emotions. It helps balance emotional over- and understatements.
Why do we feel happy when we take it?
It helps in decreasing the stress levels and balancing the brain chemicals like serotonin, GABA, etc.
For how long does ashwagandha improve mood?
In fact, users usually notice changes 2–8 weeks after consistent use.
However, what are the mental side effects of ashwagandha?
If the dose is too high or not used correctly, some may see apathy, fatigue, and irritability.
Related Studies
1. Title: Effects of Ashwagandha (Withania Somnifera) on stress and anxiety: A meta-analysis
This meta-analysis of nine studies involving 558 patients found that ashwagandha significantly reduced cortisol levels and stress compared to placebo, supporting its role in cortisol regulation and stress management.
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550830724001691
2. Title: An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological effects of Ashwagandha: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study
In an 8-week randomized double-blind trial, ashwagandha supplementation significantly reduced anxiety scores and morning cortisol levels compared to placebo, demonstrating efficacy in alleviating anxiety symptoms.
Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6750292/
3. Title: Ashwagandha and stress
This study highlights ashwagandha’s potential to attenuate HPA axis activity, reducing cortisol and DHEA-S levels, which may contribute to improved emotional endurance and resilience under stress.
Link: https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/55514
4. Title: Ashwagandha extract improves sleep quality and cognitive function in adults with insomnia
Clinical research indicates that ashwagandha supplementation enhances sleep quality, which in turn supports mood stabilization and cognitive function.
Link: https://modernmasters.studio/seo-for-holistic-health/
5. Title: Ashwagandha and cortisol: a powerful adaptogen to regulate it
Ashwagandha modulates the endocrine and central nervous systems by interacting with GABA receptors and influencing serotonin levels, contributing to its anxiolytic and antidepressant effects.
Link: https://www.miye.care/en/ashwagandha-and-cortisol-a-powerful-adaptogen-to-regulate-it/
