Does ashwagandha help with blood pressure? What the research does and doesn't show

The evidence doesn't support ashwagandha as a way to lower or manage blood pressure. A safety trial in healthy adults found no measurable change in blood pressure on an extract; a separate trial in people already diagnosed with high blood pressure reported only a favorable trend, not a confirmed statistical effect.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support ashwagandha, extract or root powder, as a way to lower blood pressure, and it doesn't support stopping or adjusting blood pressure medication in favor of a supplement. Nothing below shows a confirmed, statistically significant blood-pressure effect in either direction.

What the trials found

A 2021 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled safety trial gave 600 mg/day of ashwagandha root extract to 80 healthy adults for 8 weeks, tracking vital signs including systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the start and end of the study. There was no statistically significant change in blood pressure, or in any other vital sign, in either the treatment or placebo group. The trial wasn't designed to test a blood-pressure benefit — it was a safety study — but it's the clearest data available on whether a moderate extract dose moves blood pressure in a healthy population, and the answer there was no detectable change.

A 2026 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial gave the same 600 mg/day extract dose to 60 adults who already had diagnosed hypertension along with stress and anxiety, over 60 days. Anxiety, stress and cortisol scores all improved significantly versus placebo. Blood pressure and LDL cholesterol were reported only as showing "favorable trends" — language that stops short of a confirmed, statistically significant result. A trend reported in a paper's summary isn't the same thing as a proven effect.

Neither trial used whole root powder, and neither found a clearly established blood-pressure benefit — one found no change at all, and the other found a trend the authors themselves didn't call significant.

Questions people ask

Does ashwagandha lower blood pressure?

The largest trial available found no significant change in a healthy population, and only an unconfirmed trend in a population with existing hypertension. That's not evidence it lowers blood pressure in a way you could count on.

Does ashwagandha raise blood pressure?

Neither trial found here reported an increase in blood pressure either — the healthy-adult safety trial found no change in either direction, over 8 weeks at 600 mg/day of extract.

Can I take ashwagandha with blood pressure medication?

No trial tests ashwagandha alongside blood pressure medication specifically, so the interaction — if any — isn't established either way. Ask a doctor before combining the two.

Is ashwagandha good for high blood pressure?

The one trial in people with diagnosed hypertension reported only an unconfirmed favorable trend, not a proven benefit, alongside a real and separate improvement in anxiety and stress scores. It isn't a substitute for blood pressure treatment.

When to talk to a doctor

Ashwagandha is not a treatment for high blood pressure, which needs a doctor's ongoing monitoring and, often, medication. If you take blood pressure medication or have diagnosed hypertension, ask a doctor before adding ashwagandha in any form, since no dedicated interaction trial exists.

Related reading: ashwagandha benefits: what the research does and doesn't show, ashwagandha and medications: what to check, and ashwagandha and cortisol.