Using CBD Oil for Anxiety

Using CBD for Anxiety: Tips for How to Get Started

CBD is short for cannabidiol – a derogatory word for cannabis. Cannabis is a plant that produces both marijuana and hemp. They make CBD from hemp, which is a non-addictive alternative to marijuana. We will be discussing how you can use CBD oil for anxiety relief. We make this guide  exclusively to address that:

Feeling stressed?

The feelings of being stress out hit too close to home, don’t they? We have all been stress at one point in our lives. Some of us are still stressing about something that is going on in our life. Maybe it is the feeling of being late for a particular deadline.
Alternatively, fulfilling the demands of family members can sometimes be very challenging too. Even among friends, just being able to match their expectations can be a very stressful task.

All of these events always feel like a continual test, that just never ends.
Many other people who are suffering from the same fate as you have stumbled across a specific product called CBD oil for anxiety. Of course, anxiety and stress aren’t the same things, but people are linking positively.

Is CBD useful?

People research CBD carefully, especially after it has been legal in 33 states of the United States. Other countries are also planning to make CBD & marijuana legal soon enough.

CBD is a beneficial substance, and here is some good evidence for that:

• It can help people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder.
• CBD can help control people’s panic attacks.
• People suffering from social anxiety disorder take advantage of CBD’s rejuvenating abilities.
• Soldiers and other people who have PTSD can benefit from using CBD for memory-related issues.

How anxiety becomes chronic

Every fourth American suffers from anxiety disorders at least once in their lifetime. This is not a small number. This means that out of around 400 million Americans in the world, 100 million suffer from anxiety disorders.

The feelings of being unprepared about something, and fearing for the imminent future enclose their minds. It is like being trapped in your mind. There is no way out, and all you can do is hope that somehow those feelings pass away.

Several factors make anxiety chronic. The first factor is genetics. Because anxiety has something to deal with the development of serotonin, the involvement of genetics is significant. Serotonin and norepinephrine are chemicals in the head that are responsible for feel-good emotions. The fluttery feeling that you get after completing a tough job is serotonin doing its job. Anxiety much depends on serotonin’s production.

Another factor is our immediate environment. Our environment dramatically impacts our mental state, but there are no apparent factors on what does and what doesn’t.

The most significant source of anxiety is stress. This is why we mentioned stress at the start of this guide.

Impact of stress & Anxiety on the human body

Stress can eat us up from the inside. Just like depression, stress and anxiety are like the three horsemen of internal strife.

The impact of stress and anxiety on the human body is massive and sometimes triggers the “fight and flight” reaction. Most of the time, this is just cortisol – a stress hormone – running rampant inside your body.

Here are some examples of what can happen to your body through continuous stress & anxiety attacks:

• Diseases related to the heart. Heart attacks are prevalent due to stress.
• People who overwork and overexert themselves often faint.
• Weight gain. Especially women who stress eat gain an unhealthy amount of weight.
• Being in continuous stress can cause severe problems.
• Digestive problems. Stomach issues & pains if in perpetual anxiety.
• One of the horsemen that always ride with either stress or anxiety.
• Muscular tension. Unable to perform at the gym and feeling tired all the time.

The good thing is that with CBD oil for anxiety, you can rub most of that stress and tension away.

Stress is in your head – and messes with it

You may have heard people say that stress is all in your head. Well, they are not wrong. Not only is stress destructive for your physical body, but it will also destroy your mind too. Stressing is a response that our ancestors used to use when initiating in battle. Since we don’t launch physical actions anymore, only mental ones, stress can wreak havoc inside your head.

Through some research related to stress and anxiety, we can see that the brain does go through chemical reactions. These chemical reactions occur when stress hormones are triggered. They can directly affect serotonin, dopamine, and endocannabinoids. Stress hormones can also damage receptors that make you sensitive to these rewarding chemicals.

Phytocannabinoids are helpful against anxiety

Apparently, Phytocannabinoids, a naturally occurring cannabinoid inside a cannabis plant, is useful against anxiety. Just throwing this out there, but most CBD oil for anxiety does contain a high quantity of Phytocannabinoids.

Many people who experiment with marijuana and hemp tend to feel euphoric. This feeling comes from the very naturally occurring cannabinoid we just discussed.

Because hemp contains only 0.3% of THC – the addicting part of the marijuana – it can’t damage the receptors much. People who intake marijuana regularly are more than likely to harm their brain receptors. This might throw them into an anxious loop if they don’t get marijuana usually, and this is called addiction.

Research indicates that hemp does not cause addiction, and most CBD oil for anxiety is hemp-based.

CBD does sooth the human mind

Here are some facts and testimonials that show that CBD does help against stress and anxiety. Before we begin, we would like to state that research on 32 anxious rodents showed promising results. Out of the given rodents tested, they cure successfully 31 of the rodents of anxiety attacks.

The following are some of the experiments that took place with CBD:

Anxiety concerning stress

Here are two demonstrations of anxiety concerning stress, one on rodents and another: an observation on humans.

Rodent experiment

Although we did mention a similar example before, this one concerns mice and boa constrictors. Mice were given a small dosage of CBD each and they allow them to roam the system of experiment. The study finds that mice with CBD would spend more time scanning their environment. They would also panic less and maintain their calm while finding a way out.

Human live observation

Public speaking is a very anxiety-inducing event. Surely, everyone who has appeared on stage has suffered from a significant anxiety attack before. Being a person of high importance, and center of attention is not for everyone. Public speaking is the human equivalence of the rodent experiment. Also, they find that people who would take CBD before speaking would perform better. This was the case for people who were already suffering from social anxiety disorders too.

Extinction learning

Extinction learning is also known as learning to let go of something when there is nothing to fear. For example, you were scared of needles as a kid. They would give you intense panic and anxiety attacks. Now they don’t. Extinction learning experiments help people suffering from PTSD deal with their triggers. They did all this through CBD, and most patients do see significant improvement.

Rodent shock experiment

Another experiment with rodents: Rodents usually freezes in fear when they receive an electric shock. This is true for most living beings.

But when they give rodents an adequate amount of CBD, while also using the extinction learning process, they did not. Rodents were less likely to freeze, and would instead choose to keep their cool. The keep-it-cool attitude would remain even after the CBD would wear off.

Human live observation

They did an experiment where they give people electric shocks. They use to give them a visual reminder before shock them, though. Participants who inhaled 32 mg of CBD during extinction training were less likely to stress about that shock. Their heart rates would not rise as high as people who didnt take CBD would. You can see this result even two days after the CBD had worn off.

CBD battles anxiety

CBD, especially CBD oil for anxiety, helps battle anxiety. Cannabidiol targets more than 65 parts of the human body. Here are some of the elements that the CBD does target:

Serotonin

This is the chemical reaction which people associate with happiness by popular belief. Serotonin has 14 receptors. CBD binds itself to 5-HT1A, a receptor most commonly believed to have a role in anxiety disorders.

This is why anti-anxiety drugs contain buspirone. The very compound also binds to this specific receptor.

Endocannabinoids

The human body naturally produces cannabinoids and uses them in the entire human body. Under high stress, the whole system can get dysregulated. CBD can help restore balance in the order by preventing over-stimulation. CBD can target CB1 receptors. Those boost the body’s production of endocannabinoids.

The rodent experiment they did before also shows that CBD helps relieve OCD. OCD is a condition of the mind where you are forced to perform a specific task, sometimes over and over.

CBD oil for anxiety, when applied, can help in processing and forgetting our fears. This is a vital step for extinction learning too.

Neural regeneration

Continuous or chronic stress can damage the brain, and even shrink it. The mind is very plastic and is most of the time available to regenerate.

CBD can help boost the process of creating new neurons. The brain is a neuron network. By helping create new neurons, CBD is helping in neural regeneration.

A study in the hippocampus did prove that CBD does help in reducing anxiety through neural regeneration.

Conclusion

There are so many different approaches out there to reduce stress. Some people suggest yoga, while other people suggest hitting the gym. We would take our two-cents to recommend CBD oil for anxiety. You can apply it to your body any time you want. But if you choose the help of a professional masseuse, the results will be phenomenal.

We wish you the best of luck on your journey to healing your mind and your physical body.

DISCLAIMER

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics requires this disclaimer. We collected this information from different sources for the benefit of our consumers. The Food and Drug Administration did not evaluate the statements made regarding these products. The effectiveness of these products is not confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not meant to cure, diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease. The information presented here is not intended as a substitute for knowledge from health-care practitioners. It is also not meant as an alternative to expertise from health-care practitioners. You should always consult with your doctor and ask about the risk of interactions or complications before using any products.