Can KSM-66 Ashwagandha Improve Your Sleep & Stress Levels?

Read time: 4 minutes

Coming up: cutting back on caffeine, falling asleep faster, throwing money down the drain, what 15% of the population are doing right, and why not all Ashwagandha is good Ashwagandha.

🌱 The plant Ashwagandha has been used for 1000s of years in traditional Indian medicine.

… and you’ve likely already heard of it.

But what’s the difference between the various Ashwagandhas? Which is the best type? Can any of them improve my sleep? What are all the overall benefits of using it? And what’s KSM-66?

👋 We’re Elaine and Rob, the married-couple team behind Sentro Labs. Here’s why KSM-66 Ashwagandha has become one of our favourite supplements:

Endless Ashwagandha

We like looking after our health.

… so, we’ve tried many types of Ashwagandha:

Some worked
Some didn’t
Some worked sometimes

Eventually, after lots of trial and error (and lots of wasted money), we discovered KSM-66 Ashwagandha.

A branded and patented version of the stuff, it's a more-powerful, more-concentrated, more-pure form… and offers the “highest concentration of all major root only extracts available on the market today.”

In recent studies, KSM-66 Ashwagandha has been linked to positive changes in many of the things we care about:

Brain health: possible benefits include increased happiness, reduced fear and anxiety, lower cortisol, improved memory, heightened mood, reduced fatigue, increased attention, and an improvement in perceived quality of life.
Sports health: possible benefits include increased oxygen capacity, improved recovery, better strength and endurance, increase in muscle size, and improved performance.
Men's health: possible benefits include higher testosterone, increased sex drive, improved sperm concentration, decreased fatigue, and better mood and energy
Women's health: possible benefits include positive changes in hormone levels, reductions in hot flashes, and reductions in menopause symptoms. Studies also showed anecdotally-reported reductions on a “menopause rating scale”
These studies have also shown positive changes in many other categories, including sexual function, kids’ wellness, pet health, and anti-ageing.

😴 But for the rest of this article, we’ll be focusing on sleep and stress.

Sleep and stress (sorry for the bad news):

Only 15% of people sleep the recommended amount.
Of the people who do get ‘enough’ sleep—most aren’t getting the consistent high-quality sleep we should be getting. It took us YEARS to get our sleep right.
In the modern world, we eat too much and too late, we don’t have fixed sleeping patterns, many people work nightshifts, artificial light ruins our rest, and we don’t spend enough time outdoors. This all affects our sleep.
Sleep deprivation has been linked to: weakened immune systems, worse memory, decreased cognitive performance, increased anxiety and depression, and higher chances of both heart disease and some cancers.
High stress has been linked to memory loss, muscle breakdown, heart disease, high blood pressure, many illnesses and diseases, poor immune systems, rapid ageing, and even early death.
Modern-day stress is high, and a large UK study recently found: 74% of people feel overwhelmed or unable to cope, 61% reported feeling anxious, and stress causes people to eat worse food, and drink more alcohol.

🌱 Luckily, as we found out, KSM-66 Ashwagandha might help with both sleep and stress:

Can KSM-66 Ashwagandha improve sleep?

According to 7 recent studies, KSM-66 Ashwagandha might be able to:

Help you fall asleep quicker
Increase total sleep time
Improve sleep quality
Help you stay asleep

There are four potential mechanisms at play here. Some research suggests KSM-66 Ashwagandha can help to:

Lower cortisol (that’s the body’s stress hormone)
Restore balance to your body’s stress-response system
Regulate sleep-wake hormones (like our natural supply of melatonin!)
Boost GABA activity (a chemical promoting relaxation and deeper sleep cycles)

… and unlike ‘normal’ sleeping pills, KSM-66 Ashwagandha helps you get real natural rest (ie, it doesn’t just knock you out).

Can KSM-66 Ashwagandha improve stress?

One of the world’s most common stressors is:

Not getting enough high-quality sleep.

… so simply by helping your sleep, KSM-66 Ashwagandha might also help your stress (like it has for us).

But KSM-66 Ashwagandha has also:

Reduced stress and anxiety assessment scores*
Increased self-reported happiness scores*
Improved perceived quality of life*
Reduced in-body cortisol levels*

(*all in recent clinical studies).

The direct relationship between stress and KSM-66 Ashwagandha is still in its early stages… but the early research looks promising. And from an anecdotal perspective, we’ve definitely felt benefits.

Is all Ashwagandha the same as KSM-66 Ashwagandha?

🚨 In short, no:

Many types of Ashwagandha aren’t properly regulated
Some aren’t made from the right part of the plant
Many producers have bad quality control
Some forms are weaker than others

… so, at Sentro Labs, we only use KSM-66 Ashwagandha.

Other ways we’ve improved our sleep and stress

There’s more detail here, but these changes have worked for us:

Going for a quick walk in the morning
Trying to get around 7 hours sleep a night
Cutting back on caffeine (and stopping caffeine 8-12 hours before bed)
Trying to sleep and wake at the same time every day (including weekends)
Drinking less alcohol (and if we are going to drink, we try not to drink at night)
Eliminating ALL artificial light from our bedroom (and getting blackout curtains)

✅ Crucially, we also started taking the right supplements:

We spent years developing our sleep and stress complex EQUILIBRIUM. Designed specifically to reduce stress and improve sleep, it features L-Theanine, Lemon Balm, Magnesium Bisglycinate, Chamomile Extract, Hops Extract, and L-Ornithine HCL. And as you might have guessed, it also includes KSM-66 Ashwagandha.

Taking EQUILIBRIUM has made us both much more alert and energetic—and helped us (and loads of our customers!) sleep better and stress less.

Sleep, stress, and KSM-66 Ashwagandha: final thoughts

That’s everything you need to know about how KSM-66 Ashwagandha might help with sleep AND stress.

In short:

There are many types of Ashwagandha—and KSM-66 is the best of them
As an entire world, we’re all VERY stressed and sleep-deprived
KSM-66 Ashwagandha might help with both sleep and stress…
… and it’s one of the key ingredients in EQUILIBRIUM

For more, here’s why testosterone and sleep matter for men.

Thanks for reading,

Elaine and Rob 🙏

P.S., a quick disclaimer: KSM-66 Ashwagandha is the most clinically-studied form of Ashwagandha worldwide. Taking supplements containing Ashwagandha should not be used as a substitute for a healthy and varied diet and lifestyle.