CBD: An Answer to Anxiety?

There has been a lot of talk about CBD lately: is it safe? Is it good for us? When should we take it? Where do we find good-quality CBD products?

In this week’s blog and podcast, I spoke with Ret and Adriaan from NED to discuss how CBD is different to weed, how it can help reduce anxiety, CBD and children, how to take CBD safely, and more!

First things first, CBD oil is not the same as weed. Weed contains the active ingredient THC, which is what make people feel high when they ingest or smoke it. CBD, on the other hand, is one of the two major cannabinoids in the hemp plant, and only contains trace amounts of THC from the extraction process — it is the plant that gets you “well”, rather than high (it is non-psychotropic).

CBD is just one part of the hemp plant that has health benefits, which is why NED focuses on a full-spectrum hemp oil from sustainably-farmed, high quality hemp flowers that contain cannabidiol (CBD) and its accompanying phytocannabinoids. Focusing on the whole plant helps us better digest and use all the health benefits that the hemp plant offers by allowing the cannabinoids to bind to our extra-cellular receptors. These receptors are found throughout the body, and help absorb naturally-occurring endocannabinoids in the body, which are important when it comes to regulating pain, brain function and so on. As often happens in life, sometime these endocannabinoids don’t get produced, and we need to supplement with natural CBD products to put our bodily systems back into balance.

This balance helps with:

1. Pain management. One of the main reasons many people choose to use CBD products is for pain-management. Many people will use CBD to help reduce pain after an intense workout, or for aching joints, menstrual pain, inflammatory bowel disease, post-surgery and so on by restoring balance and helping reduce inflammation throughout the brain and body.
2. Mental health. If the endocannabinoid system is functioning well, it helps create homeostasis (or balance) throughout the brain and body at a base level. This helps, cumulatively, prevent inflammation in the brain, foggy thinking, emotional burnout, lack of cognitive fluency and so on. This is also the case with mental distress and anxiety; many people have found that CBD products help them calm down and think more clearly in stressful situations by harmonizing the mind and helping balance the many systems of the brain and body.