argaï so in this video we're talking about the specific effects of ashwagandha on men's
health in particular so let's dive right in hey guys my name is Zach Allison and welcome
to nutrition library our trusted resource for an evidence-based approach to supplementation
and wellness if you haven't already or you are new to channel do me a huge favor and hit that
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future content thank you so much alright guys so in this video in particular we're gonna be
talking about the four primary health benefits that are associated with actual agonda intake
for men specifically but Before we jump into that real quick I do want to let you guys know
that I just got done finishing up a massive 19 page free PDF with all of the compounds that
are known to increase testosterone and help to regulate hormone production and balance in men
and so guys if you were interested in that do me a huge favor go down to the description and click
on the link down there is a simple form that you guys would fill out and I'll have that emailed to
you ASAP but when it comes to ashwagandha in particular I am a huge fan of ashwagandha as
and medicinal herbs specifically for men for two primary reasons before we even get into
the primary health benefits and that is one that ashwagandha contains compounds in the herb that
essentially aren't found anywhere else except for ashwagandha and so when it comes to just a simple
philosophy of supplementation one of the main things that you want to look out for is trying
to find supplements and compounds that essentially aren't available anywhere else in the diet which
is why verbal supplementation import tickler I think is so popular right now and so effective
and that is because a lot of the compounds that are found in these medicinal herbs aren't found
anywhere else in the diet which actually makes them a great candidate for supplementation now
another reason I'm such a huge fan of ashwagandha is because it crosses off a lot of different
health goals when it comes to supplementing with ashwagandha and what I mean by that is that a lot
of the health goals in particular with men things like hormone balance and mental performance and
physical performance and just overall health in general ashwagandha has been shown to be effective
and highly effective in most of those categories which actually brings me to a schwag ondas for
primary health benefits which are one improved hormone regulation to improved mood 3 improved
mental performance as well as improved physical performance which is the fourth health benefit
all right so again the first health benefit that were me talking about today is ashwagandha z'
ability to improve hormone balance now there are a handful of studies that have shown a Schlag
andhe's ability to increase one by one.hoorah to luteinizing hormone 3 testosterone as well as
reduce cortisol now all of these hormones seem to kind of work interchangeably and together
but it seems like ashwagandha is kind of primary target of effect is in the thyroid gland and so it
appears that ashwagandha is active ingredients in the compounds that are in the herb once ingested
have the ability to actually directly stimulate the production of thyroid hormones in the thyroid
gland and it actually does this by bypassing the step of the hypothalamus stimulating the pituitary
to stimulate the thyroid gland and so typically there's this chain of events that happens in
the body once low thyroid levels are detected where there's a negative feedback actually a
positive feedback loop that then stimulates the hypothalamus to release a hormone that
then stimulates the pituitary to release another hormone that then stimulates the thyroid gland to
produce thyroid hormones however what it appears is going on here is that ashwagandha is bypassing
all of that and directly stimulating the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormones now one of the
positive regulatory effects of this is that once fire roid hormones are increased that that thyroid
hormone then stimulates the hypothalamus to release a hormone that then stimulates the
pituitary gland to release a hormone known as luteinizing hormone which is the primary
stimulatory hormone for the testes to produce testosterone and this is actually one of the
primary mechanisms by which ashwagandha has the ability to increase testosterone now ashwagandha
has also been shown to decrease cortisol and the exact mechanism by which it does this isn't fully
well understood at this moment however it does appear that ashwagandha has a fairly reliable
effect on reducing cortisol and once cortisol is reduced cortisol and testosterone have a negative
inverse relationship in the body meaning that when one is high the other is low and vice versa
and so if you have low testosterone for instance typically cortisol is also high and vice-versa so
if cortisol is really high it has a cortisol has a very suppress Ettore effect on the pituitary
gland specifically preventing the pituitary gland from releasing luteinizing hormone which
then subsequently decreases testosterone and so by ashwagandha Sybilla to reduce cortisol there is a
increased ability within the body to then produce luteinizing hormone and subsequently testosterone
now the second health benefit that we're going to talk about today is ashwagandha ability to improve
mood now there are a handful of studies that have shown a schwag andhe's ability to reduce
the symptoms of stress and fatigue reduce the symptoms of anxiety improve feelings of subjective
well-being decrease symptoms of depression as well as decrease symptoms of irritability now
one of the primary mechanisms by which ashwagandha is able to improve mood is by decreasing cortisol
now cortisol is your primary stress hormone and so by decreasing cortisol cortisol has a massive
chain of events and Cascades that it affects in the body and so by reducing cortisol there is a
positive regulatory effect on mood now another primary mechanism by which ashwagandha is able
to improve mood is that it also has been shown to affect the serotonin and gaba receptors now
serotonin and gaba are two of your primary relaxing neurotransmitters and deficiency in
both of those neurotransmitters have been linked to things like anxiety and depression and so by
Asha laganja's ability to affect the receptors specifically and improve the function of those
receptors it is theoretically able to affect mood through these mechanisms now one of the things
that I find so interesting about ashwagandha as opposed to other herbs is that it doesn't appear
that ashwagandha has the capacity to directly bind to neurotransmitter receptors what it appears is
happening is that it's actually modulating the receptors meaning that it's actually
just simply making them more effective for the neurotransmitter themselves to then directly bind
to those receptors and cause the cascade of events that those neurotransmitters cause and now because
of this it does appear that ashwagandha can remain effective for long periods of time which is why
the typical duration of taking ashwagandha is roughly three months and this also makes it one
of the safer dietary supplements to take because it's not directly affecting the neurotransmitter
receptors but actually just modulating them and making them more effective for your body to then
operate the way that it should be operating and so because of this again it makes ashwagandha
a fairly safe option for daily long-term use now after that three-month period I typically
do recommend taking a what I call micro cycling dosage schedule where you take it for a handful of
days and then cease taking it for another handful of days but I do have another video on that in
particular that I'll link at the top of this video now the third health benefit that we're gonna be
talking about today is ashwagandha z' ability to improve mental performance now there are a handful
of studies that have shown that ashwagandha has the ability and the capacity to improve motivation
improve social functioning improve attention and alertness improve executive function and
cognition as well as memory processing speed and decreases in reaction time and improvements in
spatial processing now ashwagandha appears to do this through two primary mechanisms and that is
one through improving cholinergic neurotransmitter signaling as well as adrenaline neurotransmitter
signaling now cholinergic neurotransmitter signaling within the central nervous system
is thought to be one of the primary mechanisms by which the brain consolidates memories and so by
improving the signaling of these receptors there is a theoretical ability of ashwagandha to improve
the consolidation of short-term memories in to long term memories now some of the improvements
in executive functioning and cognition and attention and alertness seem to be linked to
the improvements in adrenaline signaling and so adrenaline is your primary hormone that drives
the fight-or-flight neural network within your central nervous system and so by ashwagandha x'
ability to not necessarily increase adrenaline per se but to enhance the receptors so that when
adrenaline is released in an instance where you're possibly taking a test or doing something that is
slightly stressful or requires attention there is a theoretical improvement in those parameters
because of ashwagandha ability to improve adrenaline signaling now this is one of the
reasons why I consider ashwagandha to be such a potent wellness compound and that is because it
doesn't have a super super super narrow effect on the body meaning that it has several positive
modulatory effects on different hormones and neurotransmitters systems where they all seem
to be positive effects and so because of this it has relaxing properties it has stimulatory
properties which can lead to an overall balanced sense of wellness now the fourth health benefit
that's associated with ashwagandha intake in men in particular is an improvement in
physical performance now there are a handful of studies that have shown a schwag andhe's
ability to increase power output increase vo2 max increase an aerobic running capacity improve
aerobic exercise capacity improve motor control and increase lean mass and decrease fat mass now
it isn't 100% clear as to how ashwagandha does this in particular it could be because of the
improvements in thyroid function which can then subsequently lead to increased energy increased
power output increased energy utilization as well as ashwagandha x' ability to increase testosterone
now I wouldn't personally expect to see this level of increased performance simply because the slight
increase of testosterone that ashwagandha provides and so there is probably another mechanism that's
going on here possibly the antioxidant content of ashwagandha but it isn't super clear yet however
what is clear is that not only is ashwagandha able to improve physical performance and
decrease fat mass and increase lean mass gains and not only untrained men but also elite level
athletes which makes ashwagandha and extremely interesting and promising herb for increasing
performance now again because ashwagandha has such a potent ability to target and improve
the functioning of several different parameters of health especially in men ashwagandha is at
the top of my list of herbs that I recommend to men on a daily basis to combat specifically the
effects of stress in daily life now it is kind of my personal philosophy that men are kind of built
whether you want to look at this from a design or evolutionary perspective but they are built
to handle stress to take on stress and so in my opinion anything that we can take to help and
get an edge to take on more stress take on more responsibility is welcomed in my book but other
than that guys that's all I have for you today again if you want a complete comprehensive list
of compounds and supplements that have been shown to improve hormone function and men check out the
description link and I'll have that emailed to you but other than that if you have any questions in
regards to anything that was discussed in this video please feel free to leave a comment down
below I love answering your guys's comments but other than that I will see you guys next time