Agree. I am a strong believer of treating things without medicines at all. Although I do take herbal supplements proven through centuries to be safe. One thing I can be sure is, there is no negative effect using ashwagandha.

> A wide range of things affect cytokines, nutrition and exercise are central, but also cognitive stress and sleep

If that is true, you get best sleep when using Ashwagandha and its effect on stress, like I said previously is well studied.

https://examine.com/supplements/ashwagandha/

it is there for centuries and affects in a multitude of ways for a body to bring it into balance in every front. In ayurveda, if a practitioner or doctor was unable to diagnose a disease properly, they simply give them Ashwagandha, as it will work or fail to but never works adversely. I still strongly recommend trying it with any other interventions you mentioned like exercise, etc. I never discouraged any other interventions. It helped me personally, so I am inclined to suggest it to others who are hopeless at the moment. Like I said, zero harm. I never suggested it as a one shot solution. People with depression need more caring than any other.