If you’ve looked into stress supplements over the past few years, chances are you’ve heard something about ashwagandha’s benefits. The ancient herb—a staple in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries—is now routinely name-dropped on health podcasts, integrated into supplement stacks, and pushed by influencers promising calmer nerves, better gains, and maybe even a bump in testosterone. For men—especially those worried about burnout or low T—the pitch is hard to ignore. But does it actually deliver?
What is ashwagandha?
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is one of the most revered herbs in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian health system. “Classical texts describe ashwagandha as an herb that supports strength, stamina, recovery, reproductive health, and longevity,” says Nidhi Pandya, certified advanced Ayurvedic practitioner and author of Your Body Already Knows. It’s classified as an adaptogen, a category of herbs thought to help the body better regulate stress and maintain equilibrium.
By now, it’s clear that keeping your stress in check has no shortage of benefits for overall health and well-being. “Stress is understood to affect multiple systems of the body: sleep, metabolism, immunity, fertility, and the body’s capacity to rebuild and repair itself,” says Pandya. This is where ashwagandha is thought to earn its keep.
Ashwagandha is becoming a mainstay in the wellness and biohacking spaces as modern living necessitates intervention. “We are currently living in an era intensely focused on longevity, yet many people are attempting to pursue it while living under chronic stress,” she says. “Persistent stress disrupts nearly every system associated with healthy aging, including hormone balance, immune function, cognition, muscle maintenance, and cardiovascular health.” She also credits its popularity to a cultural shift that not only looks to the latest innovations—be it red light therapy or peptides—but also ancient wisdom from the likes of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), “which have long emphasized the importance of balance, recovery, and resilience.” In other words, these practices (and their potions) are the yin to the biohacking bros’ yang.
Ashwagandha benefits
While ashwagandha has been relied upon in rasayanas, or traditional Ayurvedic formulations, for centuries, modern research is catching up and beginning to validate some of its traditional uses. According to Uma Naidoo, MD, a Harvard–trained nutritional psychiatrist and author of This is Your Brain on Food, the most consistent evidence supports ashwagandha’s role in reducing stress and anxiety by lowering levels of cortisol (most commonly known as the stress hormone). Some research also demonstrates small but significant benefits for sleep—including for those with insomnia—as well as improvements in mental alertness and anxiety upon waking.
Stress and sleep perks aside, some men are especially drawn to ashwagandha for its potential effects on muscle, libido, fertility, and hormone levels. In one randomized controlled trial in men new to strength training, those who supplemented with ashwagandha (versus placebo) while training for eight weeks saw greater increases in muscle size and testosterone, along with bigger reductions in body fat and exercise-induced muscle damage. Another found that ashwagandha boosted subjective sexual well-being, plus an increase in serum testosterone levels, in men with low libido. Some studies also suggest improvements in sperm count and motility in infertile men, along with increases in vigor, T, DHEA, and measures of sexual well-being.
However, Dr. Naidoo suggests reading this subset of research with a grain of salt. “While the findings are interesting, these studies are limited in size and population, so we need larger and longer-term trials before making definitive claims,” she says. Hormonal responses can vary widely, she adds, so what works well for one guy might not translate into a home run for you.