5 Surprising Ways CBD Improves Your Mental Health
Let’s talk about CBD and mental health.
Mental health is a subject that affects nearly everyone. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 16% of US adults aged 18 or older have a form of mental illness. It can be difficult to know what the best course of action is when you or someone you love struggles with mental illness.
But it shouldn’t be so. There are many natural ways to improve mental health such as exercise, diet, and sleep. However, several studies, as well as testimonials from users, have shown that CBD may also help improve mental health.
More research is still being done in this regard, however, below are some ways CBD may improve mental health.
1. IMPROVES SLEEP QUALITY
Good sleep plays a critical role in our mental well-being. But unfortunately, it’s the people who need it most that can’t get it. Data from the National Library of Medicine show that about 75% of depressed people have trouble sleeping.
Poor sleep further compounds depression, as it alters brain processes negatively and takes a toll on cognitive abilities.
Thankfully, this is one area where CBD has shown to be hyper-effective. CBD improves sleep quality through its interaction with the nervous system and the brain.
Research shows that CBD calms the nervous system, and it also affects the brain’s serotonin system, which can alter your mood.
Beyond helping deal with insomnia, it also helps with other sleeping disorders like Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep disorder and hypersomnia or excessive sleep, which is another condition frequently associated with mental health disorders.
The best part is, CBD does this without making you feel “high”, even when consumed in large doses.
2. REDUCES ANXIETY
Anxiety is one of the most common mental illnesses in the US. Research by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America puts the number of adults affected every year at 40 million. That’s roughly 18.1% of adults in the US.
Anxiety is treatable, however, nearly 40% of anxiety sufferers are not receiving professional treatment.
CBD has proven to be useful as an anxiety therapy too as it interacts with the cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R), the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, and other receptors in the brain that regulate fear and anxiety-induced behaviors.
Results from a study on the effect of CBD on 397 adults with a variety of medical ailments showed that CBD improved their ability to perform daily functions and reduced their pain levels and anxiety symptoms.
70% of participants in the study said they were satisfied with the treatment, and reported levels of satisfaction ranging from good to excellent.
Other anecdotal testimonies of how CBD reduces anxiety exist, including customer stories.
3. IMPROVES FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION
It’s super easy to lose concentration and focus with everything going on in the world right now. The many distractions on top of the body’s naturally unstable dopamine levels make it easy to lose focus while carrying out important tasks and ending up with a backlog of work to catch up on.
The thought of a close deadline or of a lot of carried-over tasks is enough to cause mild anxiety and increase stress levels.
CBD is great here too. Research shows that CBD improves focus and alertness by balancing the flow of dopamine and cortisol in the body. Consuming CBD products helps boost the body’s cannabinoid supply, support the endocannabinoid system, and reduce symptoms that cause emotional, mental, and physical issues.
4. HELPS WITH PAIN RELIEF
Pain is as much physical as it is mental. Pain takes you off balance, causes you to lose concentration, causes anxiety, and makes falling asleep harder than it ought to be.
We know CBD has been proven to help with the above-named conditions, but does it help with pain too? You bet.
Studies indicate that CBD may help relieve chronic pain and reduce inflammation in certain circumstances. Research is still being done on the effect of CBD on different kinds of pain, but preliminary research shows that CBD helps relieve neuropathic pain, arthritis pain, multiple sclerosis, and other forms of chronic pain.
5. MANAGING DRUG WITHDRAWAL
About 43% of American adults admit to trying marijuana. Most of these people never get into drugs enough to be addicts. But the fraction that eventually gets addicted still represents millions of people.
Most addicts struggle without success to break away from their addiction. And this is because drug withdrawal is a very difficult and traumatic process.
Drug addiction affects the entire body, not just the mind or one specific organ. Many addicts experience severe symptoms when they try to stop using drugs because their bodies have grown accustomed to them.
However, research shows that CBD may help in reducing cue-induced craving and anxiety in heroin-abstinent individuals. This suggests that CBD might be helpful for people trying to quit heroin.
How to Begin Transforming Your Life With CBD Your mental health is critical to your well-being, and as a result, should be treated with utmost concern. CBD improves your mental health in a lot of ways, the science and personal testimonies shared above are proof.
If you’d like to try CBD but don’t know which product to start with, feel free to start with external products like CBD pain relief creams or chewables like CBD gummies. You can then move on to products like the CBD roll-on, softgels, and tinctures.
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