Ashwagandha: what the evidence actually shows

surging ashwagandha — attention is ahead of the evidence

Reviewed by Substrate editorial, Independent research collective · 2026-02-10

⚠ Safety in context

moderatewith SSRI: Ashwagandha with an SSRI may carry additive sedative/serotonergic risk; evidence is limited.
moderatewith St. John's Wort: Two serotonergic/sedating botanicals together may have additive effects.

Evidence by outcome

strengthgrade Bmoderate certainty— Ashwagandha supplementation was more efficacious than placebo for improving strength/power variables in healthy individuals.

energy / fatiguegrade Bmoderate certainty— Ashwagandha supplementation was more efficacious than placebo for improving fatigue/recovery variables in healthy individuals.

sleepgrade Clow certainty— small, early-stage effect on sleep

stressgrade Clow certainty— small reduction in perceived stress in short trials

sleepgrade Clow certainty— may improve subjective sleep quality, particularly with stress-related insomnia

cognitiongrade Clow certainty— preliminary improvements in memory/executive function; small trials

People say · Evidence shows

“Ashwagandha balances cortisol”

aheadlargemechanistic speculation

Grade history

2026-02-10untested → CAdditional small RCTs moved stress from untested to a weak, gradeable effect. details →

Re-review cadence: every 12 months (Grade A/B) · next scheduled by 2027-02-10 · methodology v1.

By outcome — the money pages

Compare

sources: PMID:33670194 · PMID:20000112 · PMID:42220661

Cite this page

Reuse under CC-BY 4.0 with attribution to evidencebased.info.

Plain-text citation

Substrate. Ashwagandha: what the evidence actually shows. https://evidencebased.info/interventions/ashwagandha. Updated 2026-02-10.

BibTeX

@misc{substrate_rventionsashwagandha,
  author = {Substrate editorial},
  title  = {Ashwagandha: what the evidence actually shows},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://evidencebased.info/interventions/ashwagandha},
  note   = {evidencebased.info}
}