Home Remedies - Benefits and Risks of Ashwagandha

Benefits and Risks of Ashwagandha:

The amazingly complex herb, ashwagandha, happens to derive its name from the two sanskrit words, "ashwa" and "gandha".

It is an exquisite herb, which can significantly cater to your body in more than one way due to its numerous health benefits.

Here are some of the most common advantages and risks of consuming this herb.

The Benefits

1. Enhances your brain: Ashwagandha is an antioxidant and helps keeping free radicals at sea, and prevents them from damaging your brain cells.
2. Fights emotional imbalances: Sudden emotional imbalances and even more sudden mood swings are probably the biggest and the most imminent problems of the youth today. Ashwagandha cuts out the stress stimuli and has a soothing effect on you, thereby making sure your emotional imbalances do not come in the way of your well being. Ashwagadandha can naturally lower cortisol levels.
3. Cures wounds: Ashwagandha is also believed to cure your physical wounds, and a controlled amount of this herb, is believed to save you from one-sided paralysis of your body.
4. Is anti- cancerous: Ashwagandha, according to a few studies, acts as an anticancer agent because it helps in slowing down the growth of cancer cells and cancerous tumors.
5. Treats insomnia: Ashwagandha has its rejuvenating properties as well, which help in calming your nerves down, relieves you of your stress. It is considered to be an effective tool in treating patients with insomnia.
6. Helps in weight loss: Cortisol not only acts as a stress hormone in the body, it can also make you fat. Ashwagandha is known to naturally lower cortisol - the stress hormone.
7. Lowers Blood sugar levels: Ashwagandha also potentially decreases fasting blood sugar levels, which means that it may also help to improve glucose metabolism.

But, like every other herb, ashwagandha also has some risk factors associated with it.
The Risks

1. Pregnancy issues: According to a few studies, this herb can have an adverse effect on you if you are a pregnant woman, putting you at the risks of stillbirth. Though there hasn't been much research to back up this fact, it still remains one of the largest concerns during pregnancy.
2. Hyperthyroidism: Certain studies claim, that ashwagandha can majorly contribute to hyperthyroidism, although even this, hasn't been proven. So, if you happen to be patient of hyperthyroidism, you should consult a physician before consuming the herb.