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Cannabidiol or CBD, a compound present in the hemp plant claims to alleviate anxiety effectively. Experts claim that products containing CBD has helped many people with anxiety disorders lead a normal life. However, before discussing CBD and anxiety, it is important to have a clear understanding of each of these individually.
What is Anxiety?
When the normal human response to any dangerous situation becomes out of proportion, it becomes anxiety. And when this gets way beyond one’s control, it transforms into a disorder. There are four different types of anxiety found in humans and they are panic disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety disorder, and of course there is a general anxiety disorder. Panic disorder is a randomly occurring phenomenon and a patient suffering from it experience breathing trouble, dizziness, confusion, nausea, shaking, etc. The time frame for which it lasts ranges between a few minutes to a few hours.
In the case of specific phobias, a person develops intense fear regarding any particular object or event. Social anxiety disorder, as the name suggests is the extreme fear of interacting with other people in the gathering. General anxiety disorder refers to a chronic disorder wherein the patient experiences excessive anxiety towards events or objects without any exception. It is the most common form of anxiety that exists.
Related: Click here to learn more about how to get the most out of your CBD oil.
What are its Symptoms and Causes?
Although there are types of anxiety disorders based on their characteristic features; they have common grounds when it comes to symptoms. A few of the related symptoms are dread feeling, dizziness, dry mouth, breathlessness, reduced sleep, heart palpitation, tense muscles, somatic issues, rumination, panic, uneasiness and lastly, the inability of staying still and calm.
The common causes of anxiety are genetic factors, environmental factors, medical conditions, and brain functioning. If the list of relatives suffering from an anxiety disorder in your family is long, you are at the potential risk of getting this down the road. If your brain is exposed to traumatic events, it will potentially be at the risk of anxiety. A few examples of environmental conditions are stress at your office, school or home, stress because of low financials, sleep deprivation, high altitude travels, etc.
What is CBD?
Extracted from the cannabis plant, CBD or Cannabidiol is a phytocannabinoid. It is also one of the 113 compounds known to be potentially extracted from the said plant. Alongside its therapeutic uses, it is also used to treat medical conditions such as anxiety, movement disorders, pain, and cognition. There are many ways in which CBD can be consumed and it includes inhalation, spraying, edible tablets, oils, etc and the list goes on.
Can CBD help with Treating Anxiety?
CBD has the powers of regulating the endocannabinoid system in the human body. Not just that, it also aids in keeping all the internal systems of the human body at a balance. It positively affects the immune system and promotes sleep, and is well known for boosting a good mood and keeping calm. This brings us to the important question of whether or not CBD helps with anxiety and its related symptoms. The answer is simple, Yes! CBD is effective and helps to treat anxiety and its symptoms.
Very often anxiety can be equated with the hormonal or the chemical imbalances in the human body. This makes its treatment challenging. CBD is a 5-HT1A agonist and it functions as a serotonin receptor. Typically a medication that is prescribed for anxiety plays the role of an obstructer that prevents the serotonin from getting absorbed.
The more serotonin in the brain, the better the mood of the person will be. Therefore it reduces the level of anxiety in humans. CBD also works similarly to these medications but without any side effects.
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How can CBD Oil Alleviate Anxiety?
It is natural to be curious about how CBD will help at easing the anxiety situation here. It can be better explained when discussed in three aspects; hippocampus, serotonin, and anandamide.
What is a hippocampus? It is that part of the human brain which assists the brain in carrying out the majority of its functions in an orderly fashion. In patients who are diagnosed with anxiety, their hippocampus appears smaller. They are prescribed with CBD to regenerate the neurons present and thereby reduce the chance of showing depressive characteristics.
What is serotonin? These are the hormones or the chemicals which are held responsible to make a person happy. What CBD does is prevents these from getting absorbed and thereby helps in keeping a person happy for longer periods. This in-turn prevents anxiety and depression.
What is anandamide? There are two cannabinoids that a human brain produces and anandamide is one of them. It shares a chemical structure similar to THC’s. By using CBD this can be kept in control promoting emotional stability.
It is true that CBD is a magical drug and is increasing in demand like none other. However, you need to be cautious while purchasing it.
The post How Can CBD Help With Treating Anxiety? appeared first on LA Weekly.
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