Ashwagandha → Sleep duration and regularity
Higher Ashwagandha increases Sleep duration and regularity.
Deshpande 2021 found that 120 mg a day of a standardized ashwagandha extract for six weeks raised self-reported restorative sleep by 72 percent versus 29 percent on placebo among 150 adults with non-restorative sleep, and actigraphy moved efficiency, total sleep, latency, and wake after sleep onset. Langade 2021 found a similar direction in 80 people, stronger in the insomnia arm.
Randomized trial · Contested · N=150
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Read the caveats.
Mechanism
Authors treat a withanolide extract as something that shortens sleep latency and lengthens time asleep. They do not isolate one receptor. Deshpande, Irani, Balkrishnan and Benny (2021) assigned 150 healthy adults with high non-restorative-sleep scores to 120 mg a day of Shoden ashwagandha or placebo for six weeks. 144 finished. Self-reported sleep quality rose 72 percent on the extract and 29 percent on placebo (P<0.001). Wrist actigraphy favored the extract on sleep efficiency (P<0.01), total sleep time (P<0.001), sleep latency (P<0.01), and wake after sleep onset (P<0.05). The abstract does not publish the minute counts. Langade, Thakare, Kanchi and Kelgane (2021) assigned 80 people, 40 healthy and 40 with insomnia, to ashwagandha root extract or placebo for eight weeks. Sleep-onset latency, efficiency, total sleep time, and wake after sleep onset moved in both strata and more in the insomnia arm. Repeat-measure ANOVA in insomnia: sleep-onset latency P=0.013. Two-way ANOVA: latency and efficiency P<0.0001. The abstract does not publish the dose in milligrams.
Caveats
Researchers assigned people to a branded extract or placebo, so this is a trial stamp. Both files are short. Extra papers do not settle the claim. Deshpande's 72 versus 29 percent is a self-report rise, not a 72 percent longer night. Actigraphy moved, but the published abstract does not name the minute changes. The extract is a manufacturer's Shoden product. Langade mixes healthy sleepers and insomnia. The insomnia slice is forty people. The published abstract does not name the dose. This is a journal entry, not medical advice and not a reason to take a root for insomnia.
Effect
qualitative. Deshpande 2021: 120 mg Shoden 6 wk, N=150/144. Self-report sleep quality +72% vs +29%, P<0.001. Actigraphy SE/TST/SOL/WASO moved. Langade 2021: N=80 healthy+insomnia, 8 wk. SOL and efficiency moved more in insomnia.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Ashwagandha → Sleep duration and regularity.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-ashwagandha-sleep (atlas updated 2026-09-02).
Papers
- A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study to evaluate the effects of ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract on sleep quality in healthy adults.
A Deshpande, N Irani, R Balkrishnan, IR Benny · 2021 · Sleep medicine
- Clinical evaluation of the pharmacological impact of ashwagandha root extract on sleep in healthy volunteers and insomnia patients: A double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study.
D Langade, V Thakare, S Kanchi, S Kelgane · 2021 · Journal of ethnopharmacology