Can You Take Lion's Mane With Ashwagandha? What the Research Says

Lion's mane and ashwagandha are two of the most popular names in everyday brain and stress routines. Lion's mane is the mushroom people reach for when they want to feel sharp and focused. Ashwagandha is the herb people reach for when stress and sleep are getting in the way. If both sound useful, you've probably asked yourself: can you take lion's mane with ashwagandha?

Short answer: yes, for most healthy adults there's no known reason to keep them apart. Here's what the research says about each one, where the evidence on combining them is limited, and an easy way to fit both into your day.

The short version

Why people pair lion's mane and ashwagandha

Think of it as a day-and-night team. One is aimed at a clear, focused head. The other is aimed at a calmer response to pressure and better rest. Because they do different jobs, many people take both rather than choosing one.

If you're still deciding between them, our side-by-side guide on lion's mane vs ashwagandha breaks down who each one suits best.

What lion's mane does

Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus) is an edible mushroom with a long history in East Asian cooking and traditional use. It contains two families of compounds researchers find interesting: hericenones, found mainly in the fruiting body, and erinacines, found mainly in the mycelium (Friedman, 2015). That's why our Lion's Mane Mushroom uses both the fruiting body and the mycelium, so you get compounds from both parts of the mushroom.

Human trials are still small, but they're encouraging:

• Focus in young adults: In a placebo-controlled study of healthy adults aged 18 to 45, a single dose of lion's mane was linked to faster performance on a demanding attention task about an hour later, and 28 days of daily use showed a trend toward lower reported stress (Docherty et al., 2023).
• Memory in adults over 50: In a 12-week placebo-controlled trial of a lion's mane supplement in Japanese adults, the lion's mane group scored better on a standard memory and thinking test than the placebo group (Saitsu et al., 2019).

What ashwagandha does

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an adaptogenic herb from the Ayurvedic tradition. Modern trials have mostly looked at stress and sleep.

• Stress: In a 60-day placebo-controlled trial, 64 adults under chronic stress took 300 mg of ashwagandha root extract twice a day. They had lower scores on every stress scale measured compared with placebo (Chandrasekhar et al., 2012).
• Stress at a lower amount: In a separate 60-day placebo-controlled trial, 60 stressed but healthy adults took 240 mg a day of a standardized extract, and it was linked to lower stress scores than placebo (Lopresti et al., 2019).
• Sleep: A review of five placebo-controlled trials with 400 adults linked ashwagandha extract to better overall sleep and more alertness on waking, with clearer effects at 600 mg a day or more taken for 8 weeks or longer (Cheah et al., 2021).

What about taking both?

Here's the honest part. We found no published trials that tested lion's mane and ashwagandha together, so we can't say whether the combination adds up to more than each one alone. Evidence on the pairing itself is limited.

What we can say:

• They have different research areas: lion's mane mostly for focus and memory, ashwagandha mostly for stress and sleep.
• In the trials above, each one was generally well tolerated on its own.
• We didn't find any reports of problems when the two are taken together.

So the sensible approach is to take each one for its own research and judge them by how your days and nights feel after a couple of months.

How to take lion's mane and ashwagandha together

Lion's mane: in the morning

Most people like lion's mane early in the day, alongside breakfast or their morning coffee, because they're taking it for focus. Our Lion's Mane Mushroom is two vegan capsules a day, and you can take it with food or on an empty stomach. For more on timing, see the best time to take lion's mane.

Ashwagandha: morning or evening

Ashwagandha works either way. Take it in the morning if you want a steadier day, or with dinner if you're using it as part of winding down. Our Ashwagandha is one capsule a day of organic ashwagandha root with a touch of organic black pepper. More in our guide to the best time to take ashwagandha.

A simple daily routine

1. Breakfast: two Lion's Mane capsules with your meal or coffee.
2. Dinner: one Ashwagandha capsule.
3. Bedtime: a regular lights-out time, so the sleep side of the routine has a fair chance.

Prefer to take everything at once in the morning? That's fine too. There's no research showing you need to separate them.

Give it time

Neither one is an instant switch. The lion's mane trials above ran for 4 to 12 weeks (Docherty et al., 2023; Saitsu et al., 2019), and the ashwagandha sleep research was clearest at 8 weeks or longer (Cheah et al., 2021). Plan on roughly two months of daily use before you judge the stack. See how long lion's mane takes to work and how long ashwagandha takes to work.

Tips to get the most from both

• Start one at a time. Begin with one, then add the other a week or two later so you know how each one feels.
• Keep a simple log. Rate your focus, stress and sleep from 1 to 10 each evening. After eight weeks, the pattern is much clearer than your memory of it.
• Stay consistent. Daily use matters more than the exact hour.
• Check for doubles. Make sure no other product you use already contains ashwagandha or lion's mane.

Is it safe?

In the trials above, both lion's mane and ashwagandha were generally well tolerated, with side effects similar to placebo. Rare cases of liver problems have been reported in people taking ashwagandha supplements (Björnsson et al., 2020), so stop and see your doctor if you notice unusual tiredness, itching or yellowing of the skin.

Skip ashwagandha if you're pregnant, and check with your doctor first if you're breastfeeding, have a thyroid or liver condition, are under 18, or take any regular medicine. Avoid lion's mane if you're allergic to mushrooms. Stick to the amounts on the label.

Frequently asked questions

Can I take lion's mane and ashwagandha at the same time?

Yes. You can swallow your capsules together with breakfast if that's easiest. Splitting them between morning and evening is simply a nice fit for what each one is used for.

Will ashwagandha cancel out the focus from lion's mane?

We found no research suggesting it does. If ashwagandha leaves you feeling too relaxed during the day, simply move it to the evening and keep lion's mane in the morning.

Is this a good stack for students?

Many students like this pairing for focus during study blocks and calmer exam weeks. Read lion's mane for students and ashwagandha for students.

Can I add creatine too?

Yes, plenty of people do. See can you take creatine with lion's mane and can you take creatine with ashwagandha.

The bottom line

Yes, you can take lion's mane with ashwagandha. There's no direct research on the combination, but each one has its own human studies, they're used for different things, and no interaction has been reported. Take lion's mane in the morning for focus, ashwagandha in the morning or evening for stress and sleep, and give both about eight weeks.

Ready to build your routine? Shop Lion's Mane Mushroom and Ashwagandha.

References

1. Friedman et al. Chemistry, Nutrition, and Health-Promoting Properties of Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) Mushroom Fruiting Bodies and Mycelia and Their Bioactive Compounds. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2015. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.5b02914 (PubMed 26244378)
2. Docherty et al. The Acute and Chronic Effects of Lion’s Mane Mushroom Supplementation on Cognitive Function, Stress and Mood in Young Adults: A Double-Blind, Parallel Groups, Pilot Study. Nutrients. 2023. doi:10.3390/nu15224842 (PubMed 38004235)
3. SAITSU et al. Improvement of cognitive functions by oral intake of Hericium erinaceus. Biomedical Research. 2019. doi:10.2220/biomedres.40.125 (PubMed 31413233)
4. Chandrasekhar et al. A Prospective, Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Safety and Efficacy of a High-Concentration Full-Spectrum Extract of Ashwagandha Root in Reducing Stress and Anxiety in Adults. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2012. doi:10.4103/0253-7176.106022 (PubMed 23439798)
5. Lopresti et al. An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract. Medicine. 2019. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000017186 (PubMed 31517876)
6. Cheah et al. Effect of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract on sleep: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2021. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0257843 (PubMed 34559859)
7. Björnsson et al. Ashwagandha‐induced liver injury: A case series from Iceland and the US Drug‐Induced Liver Injury Network. Liver International. 2020. doi:10.1111/liv.14393 (PubMed 31991029)

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.