CBD May Reduce Anxiety
CBD May Reduce Anxiety
Cannabidiol, or CBD as it is also known, is a very interesting phytochemical. It is one of the handfuls of known natural cannabinoids and accounts for more than 40% of the whole plant’s medicinal value. Its therapeutic properties are more diverse and extensive than most other plants. It has been found to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-mutagen, and pain-relieving properties. It has also been shown to treat seizures, glaucoma, and inflammatory bowel diseases.
How CBD helps the human body came about when researchers suggested that CBD might have a role to play in the disease process. To begin with, CBD is highly effective in the field of anti-inflammatory joint pain and inflammation. In the last decade or so, it has also been found to effectively reduce the signs of cataracts in humans. If true, CBD could potentially provide a cure for the many problems associated with cataracts. But, the true answer is far more complex than this.
To understand how CBD might work on the human body, it would be essential to look at CBD. For starters, the reason why CBD seems to have an impact on reducing the symptoms of anxiety, joint pain, and even certain forms of depression is that it activates two separate groups of brain cells, the delta-aminobutyric butyric acid or GABA (or glial cells) and the acetylcholine receptor subtypes. These two sets of neurons communicate through a pathway that includes the retinohypothalamic tract. Researchers suggest that the efficacy of CBD is directly related to the effectiveness of GABA as it relates to reducing anxiety. However, it should be noted that while CBD seems to target GABA in the brain, researchers suggest that it may have much more complex effects on the retinohypothalamic pathways that directly affect mood.
Because CBD has similar efficacy on both sets of neurons, researchers suggest that the simultaneous administration of CBD could be highly effective in treating anxiety, epilepsy, and other types of neurologic disorders. While CBD is most effective when administered orally, it has been found in the past decade or so that certain oral supplements such as Safflower CBD and Hemp CBD have had remarkable effects on patients suffering from various forms of epilepsy, as well as those suffering from anxiety and depression. The benefits of CBD supplements seem to extend beyond the anxiety and depression that many people associate with this drug; CBD has also been found to be effective in treating dysthymia, a clinical condition that describes the dual condition of excessive daytime dyslexia and extreme nighttime insomnia.
It should be noted that it is not entirely clear whether CBD is, in fact, a natural anticonvulsant that effectively treats epilepsy. While some research has demonstrated that CBD can reduce seizures in certain people with epilepsy, other researchers dispute this finding, pointing out that CBD does not eliminate seizures in epileptic patients but only eases them. This is the crux of the ongoing debate surrounding CBD and epilepsy: is CBD a safe and effective treatment for epilepsy, or is it merely a placebo with little to no side effects?
Some recent studies have been done using CBD in animals, showing that it may help animals with chronic pain, which is described as an “anti-depressant” effect. While CBD has not yet been effective in humans suffering from anxiety or depression, it does appear to reduce both the frequency and the intensity of the feelings. While CBD is not likely to become an everyday anti-anxiety drug, it can significantly reduce the amount of stress that one is exposed to daily for people who are constantly on the go. This would be a boon for those who have insomnia, chronic pain, anxiety, or depression.
While CBD may have some anti-anxiety effects, CBD also provides medical benefits beyond its anti-depression and anti-anxiety properties. For example, it may reduce the occurrence of seizure disorders in people with epilepsy. Because CBD is not psychoactive, it presents no danger in treating an already diagnosed seizure disorder. Even more remarkable, researchers are excited about CBD’s potential benefits for those who wish to treat serious diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. CBD reduces symptoms of these two diseases, but it can also prevent the disease entirely.
So what is the takeaway from all of this? It looks like CBD can produce its natural anti-anxiety, anti-depression, anti-spastic, and possibly even anti-acne properties. That makes CBD one of the most exciting new compounds on the medical scene. While we don’t know whether it will successfully treat specific psychological disorders, CBD is still a fantastic compound that deserves further study. It is being studied to see if CBD can help relieve depression, psychosis, and anxiety symptoms.
