It’s typical to experience some form of anxiety from time to time throughout one’s life. Maybe, you’ve felt nervous butterflies in your stomach before giving a big speech in front of an audience, were uneasy right before taking a major exam, or your hands were clammy as you paced the floor while you were waiting for an important call. These are all common examples of anxiety. While there are no guarantees in life, one thing for sure is that life will continue to test us, and we must find ways to adapt, adjust and find effective strategies to cope with stress, tension and anxiety.
Research suggests that CBD could be an effective natural remedy to help ease tension and anxiety, in addition to offering a host of powerful, potential benefits to enhance overall health and wellness, helping with a variety of health issues including mental health. Here at River Organics, we are proud advocates of CBD and enjoy educating and sharing views on CBD to promote and spread awareness around this incredible holistic remedy. We wanted to take this time to explore CBD’s impact on helping to relieve anxiety and stress a little further.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is characterized by overwhelming feelings of apprehension, unpreparedness, dread and fear and can be accompanied by physical symptoms of heart palpitations and sweating. While it is normal to experience minor forms of anxiety in different situations, if it gets out of control, it can be very disruptive in people’s lives.
What Causes Anxiety?
Many different life events or changes can result in feelings of anxiety including issues that come up at home, in personal relationships, or financial stressors. Anxiety can also arise in relation to starting an activity in a new or foreign setting, such as moving or starting a new job. These different types of situations can either create feelings of anxiety or contribute to existing anxiety disorders.
How Can CBD Help Treat Stress and Anxiety?
While research is emerging to study the effects of CBD in helping to mitigate tension and anxiety, you may be surprised to know that the first use of CBD as a remedy for anxiety dates all the way back to 2000 BCE! In fact, helping treat stress and anxiety was one of the most common uses of the holistic plant throughout various cultures.
It’s important to not get CBD confused with THC. CBD, which stands for cannabidiol, is the second most common active ingredient produced by the cannabis sativa plant. CBD is derived directly from the hemp plant, the non-psychoactive cousin of the marijuana plant. CBD products that originate from hemp are required by law to contain less than 0.3% THC by weight, which is not a sufficient amount to create any psychoactive effects on its user. While THC is known for having psychoactive effects, and can possibly increase tension and anxiety in some users, according to various animal and human studies, CBD has been shown to have the ability to lessen anxiety.
A research study in 2012 revealed that CBD can help reduce anxiety, especially helping to relieve social anxiety in particular. And just recently, a study was conducted in 2021 in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences that indicated that CBD could be “considered a promising new agent in the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders.”
How Do You Take CBD to Treat Stress and Anxiety?
While it is advised to consult a licensed health professional in regards to using CBD to help treat tension and anxiety, we recommend, especially if you are new CBD, that you begin your intake gradually. It may take some experimentation to find a dose that is right for you that helps ease your feelings of stress and anxiety. Start with a smaller dose, monitor how you feel, and adjust as needed until your symptoms of anxiety begin to dissipate.
While there are many different ways CBD can be administered - orally through tinctures or digestibles, topically, in lotions, creams and massage oil, or through vaping or smoking - it is important to note that CBD taken sublingually (under-the-tongue) through a tincture tends to yield a more potent effect of CBD, as well as take effect more quickly. It also tends to last longer in the body than CBD in which you inhale.
At River Organics, our passion is to foster our customers' overall health and wellness, our community, and the planet as a whole. We are committed to producing all CBD products entirely organically, sustainably, responsibly, and ethically at our family-owned farm in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. All of our CBD products contain well under the legally required 0.3% of THC to ensure that you can enjoy their therapeutic benefits without any intoxicating effects.
