{ "presentation": "complete-card", "format_version": 3, "overview": "Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an herb sold as a supplement for stress and sleep. People often take an extract regularly hoping to feel less tense or sleep more soundly. Short studies suggest possible benefits, although results vary between preparations.", "overview_sources": "NIH Office of Dietary Supplements · 2025", "overview_source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-ods" ], "sections": [ { "role": "explanation", "title": "What the daily habit involves", "items": [ { "label": "Ashwagandha is often called an adaptogen.", "text": "The term describes a proposed ability to help the body cope with stress. Some trials found reductions in cortisol, one of the body's stress hormones.", "source": "NIH Office of Dietary Supplements · 2025", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-ods" ] }, { "label": "Extract names and strengths matter.", "text": "KSM-66 uses root; Sensoril uses root and leaf. Withanolides are a group of plant chemicals used to describe extract strength. Matching milligrams or percentages does not make two preparations equivalent.", "source": "NIH Office of Dietary Supplements · 2025", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-ods" ] }, { "label": "Studies follow daily use over weeks.", "text": "Stress trials ran 6–8 weeks with 240–1,250 mg of extract daily. These are study amounts across different preparations, not a recommended serving range.", "source": "NIH Office of Dietary Supplements · 2025", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-ods" ] }, { "label": "The serving size and whole ingredient list matter.", "text": "Supplement Facts lists ingredients and amounts per serving; one serving may contain several capsules. Blends also contain other ingredients. U.S. supplements reach the market without FDA approval for safety or effectiveness.", "source": "FDA · undated", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-fda" ] } ] }, { "role": "benefits", "title": "Potential benefits", "items": [ { "label": "Feeling less stressed.", "text": "Some preparations may help reduce everyday stress. Evidence for treating an anxiety disorder is less clear.", "source": "NCCIH · 2023", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-nccih" ] }, { "label": "Falling asleep more easily in some studies.", "text": "A review found small improvements in sleep quality and the time it takes to fall asleep. Benefits were more apparent with insomnia, at 600 mg daily and with courses lasting at least eight weeks.", "source": "NIH Office of Dietary Supplements · 2025", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-ods" ] } ] }, { "role": "cautions", "title": "Good to know", "items": [ { "label": "Long-term safety remains uncertain.", "text": "Most safety information covers up to about three months. Drowsiness, stomach upset, diarrhea and vomiting can occur.", "source": "NCCIH · 2023", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-nccih" ] }, { "label": "Some health situations call for avoiding it.", "text": "NCCIH advises against use during pregnancy or breastfeeding, with thyroid or autoimmune disorders, before surgery, or with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.", "source": "NCCIH · 2023", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-nccih" ] }, { "label": "Medicines can interact.", "text": "Relevant medicines include sedatives, thyroid hormone, seizure medicines, and treatments for diabetes, blood pressure or immune suppression. A pharmacist or clinician can check the actual combination.", "source": "NCCIH · 2023", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-nccih" ] }, { "label": "Severe stomach reactions have been reported.", "text": "New Zealand's Medsafe reports vomiting and diarrhea severe enough for hospital care and advises stopping an ashwagandha-containing product when an adverse reaction occurs.", "source": "Medsafe · 2026", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-medsafe" ] }, { "label": "Rare liver injury can be serious.", "text": "Australia's TGA advises avoiding it with current or past liver disease. Yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, unusual tiredness or abdominal pain are reasons to stop the product and seek medical advice promptly.", "source": "TGA · 2024", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-tga" ] } ] }, { "role": "community", "title": "From community discussion", "intro": "These are individual experiences with different products and routines.", "items": [ { "label": "One product becomes part of the evening routine.", "text": "Accounts describe keeping to one labeled product at a regular time, sometimes one capsule alongside evening magnesium, and avoiding several new botanicals at once.", "source": "Community", "provenance": "preserved-community-record" }, { "label": "Four to eight weeks before keeping or dropping the bottle.", "text": "Logs describe assessing a bottle or two over 4–8 weeks for feeling wound up at night or tense during the week. Results include calmer evenings, no change and grogginess.", "source": "Community", "provenance": "preserved-community-record" }, { "label": "Better sleep without extra daytime calm.", "text": "One r/Supplements poster describes fewer awakenings and feeling refreshed, with vivid dreams during the first two nights. They report little daytime change and say they do not take the supplement consistently.", "source": "Community · Reddit/r/Supplements", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-reddit-sleep" ] }, { "label": "The next morning can feel groggy.", "text": "Several contributors describe a dazed or sleepy next morning despite taking the supplement at night. The original poster repeatedly felt numb and wanted to lie in bed.", "source": "Community · Reddit/r/Supplements", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-reddit-groggy" ] }, { "label": "Reduced enjoyment after early relief.", "text": "One reply to the positive sleep account describes benefit for 2–3 weeks followed by emotional flatness around weeks 6–8. Another person reports stopping after numbness returned during a second attempt.", "source": "Community · Reddit/r/Supplements", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-reddit-sleep" ] }, { "label": "Bedtime timing gets conflicting reports.", "text": "On AnabolicMinds, one member reports better sleep with KSM-66 within 30 minutes of bedtime but restlessness when taking it earlier. Others describe initial good nights followed by disrupted sleep, and some stopped.", "source": "Community · AnabolicMinds", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-forum-timing" ] }, { "label": "Extract comparisons include no benefit.", "text": "In r/Nootropics, one Sensoril user reports difficulty waking. A KSM-66 user taking 600 mg daily, split between morning and evening, reports no noticeable sleep effect.", "source": "Community · Reddit/r/Nootropics", "source_ids": [ "self25b2-ashwagandha-habit-reddit-extracts" ] } ], "groups": [ { "title": "Evening routines and trial length", "item_indices": [ 0, 1, 5 ] }, { "title": "Sleep, calmness and unwanted changes", "item_indices": [ 2, 3, 4 ] }, { "title": "Comparing extracts and finding no benefit", "item_indices": [ 6 ] } ] } ], "related": [ "magnesium-night", "creatine-habit", "sleep-hours", "mushroom-coffee" ], "foot": "Discussion only. Not medical advice." }