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