Is Ashwagandha Good for Sleep?

Ask ten of our customers why they keep a bottle on the nightstand and most will say the same thing: sleep. People who tell us they have tried everything come back for this one. So yes, in our experience ashwagandha is good for sleep, and this post is about how to get that from it.

"I began to stay asleep longer and longer as the nights went by, until I was sleeping a full 8 hours again, and waking up feeling refreshed."
Kerry, from Finding Rest Again

The plant's own name says it

Ashwagandha has a reputation as the "strong person herb", and that is fair. But its botanical name is Withania somnifera, and somnifera is Latin for sleep-bringing. Ayurveda has used the root for rest and recovery for a very long time, and the name is the clue. Researchers have since gone looking for why. One often-cited study identified a compound in the plant that appears to promote sleep in animal models (Kaushik et al., 2017, on PubMed). We are farmers, not a lab, so we will leave the mechanism to them. What we can speak to is what happens in people's bedrooms, because they tell us.

How we use it at night

One full dropper, which is 1 mL, under the tongue for a moment, then swallow. Take it a little before bed. That is the whole practice. If the taste is too much, put it in a small glass of water or a cup of warm tea.

If you are sensitive to herbs, start with a quarter or half dropper for the first few nights and work up. Small and steady beats big and rare.

Less is more. Really.

This is the one thing we want you to remember. A customer we will call Jane had wonderful sleep with the tincture for months, then wrote to say it had stopped working. When we asked how much she was taking, she had doubled her nightly dose. She went back to a single dropper and the sleep came back. We have heard some version of this story many times. Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, not a sedative, and past a certain point more can leave you alert instead of settled. If sleep gets worse, take less, not more.

What the first two weeks feel like

Most people notice easier falling asleep first, then fewer wake-ups, then mornings that feel clearer. Some report unusually vivid dreams in the first days. A few have told us recurring bad dreams eased off. We do not have a tidy explanation, only a guess: when the body finally lets go of a held tension, things move. It settles.

"Taking a small amount of ashwagandha before bed had a funny effect on my sleep. My stress dreams gave way to silly, fuzzy, feel-good dreams. I started to wake up laughing in the middle of the night."
Pat, from Sleeping Peacefully Again

A morning exercise we suggest, as extra credit: when you wake and before you reach for anything, stay still for a moment. Feel how heavy and relaxed the body is. Take three slow breaths and let whatever is left go. People come back and say, "I did not know I could relax that much." That is the whole point.

A few honest caveats

Ashwagandha is not for everyone. Check with your practitioner first if you are pregnant or nursing, managing a thyroid, autoimmune, liver, blood pressure or blood sugar condition, taking prescription medication, or sensitive to nightshades. Our full safety notes are on the FAQ page. If anything feels off, stop and ask.

Start here

The tincture in this post is the same one we grow, harvest fresh and press in small batches a few miles outside Portland. A 2 oz bottle is about two months of nightly servings. If you already know it belongs on your nightstand, the 4 oz saves you about 17% per serving.

Sleep well. Write to us and tell us how it goes; we read every note.

Reference: Kaushik MK et al. "Triethylene glycol, an active component of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) leaves, is responsible for sleep induction." PLoS ONE, 2017. Frawley D, Lad V. The Yoga of Herbs. Lotus Press.

Customer quotes are from stories shared with permission on this blog. Individual experiences vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.