When Does Andrew Huberman Take Ashwagandha?

Andrew Huberman starts ashwagandha late in the day once stress has lasted more than two or three days. Short-term stress buffers the immune system: pulses of cortisol activate the spleen to release killer cells, so a person is more robust at fighting off infection. Sleep disruption, or feeling wired and tired for more than two or three days, is where long-term stress starts, and buffering cortisol can really help.

He uses ashwagandha from time to time in a particularly long bout of stress, and there is good evidence it can buffer cortisol. He cycles it and is not going to take it every night or every day. He would probably stop after a week or so and go back to a normal regimen that does not include ashwagandha, though he always has some on hand. Buffering cortisol a little for a week or two is fine with him. He would not suggest suppressing cortisol long-term unless there is a real clinical need.

The practice that has really helped him reduce stress and fall asleep is yoga nidra, which literally means yoga sleep. Twenty or thirty minutes, and it does not have to be every day, of lying down for a body scan and long exhale breathing lets the mind enter a shallow sleep done while awake. Work in his laboratory and David Spiegel's laboratory shows that state helps a person get better at turning off thoughts and falling asleep in the evening.