According to the American Psychological Association, Stress, anxiety, and depression gripped the United States of America severely.
A survey result revealed that money is one of the major causes of stress for 66% of people in the USA. Moreover, around 57% of respondents think that they are unable to meet current expenditures.
Also, around 43% of respondents say that an uncertain future is one of the reasons for increasing stress among the US population. Lastly, 75% of US adults say that violence and crimes have captured the lion’s share in their lives.
Hence, You can understand how stress, anxiety, and depression are making people suffer.
Under the circumstances, people are looking for possible treatment. CBD for stress has been floating in the market for quite a while. In this study, we try to understand it.
What Is Stress?
Stress is quite a common experience that affects people across various situations in life. There are studies that show that quite a significant percentage of the population is suffering from stress on a regular basis.
What Causes Stress?
There are many things that cause stress. One might feel stressed because of one big event in one’s life. You may feel stressed when you feel a lot of pressure from within.
You may also feel stress due to life-changing events in your life. One of the most common reasons for feeling stressed is the lack of control over a situation’s outcome.
Even problems like lack of work or opportunities, discrimination, hate, or abuse can be reasons for increasing stress.
What Is Depression?
Depression refers to a mood disorder. Persistent feelings of sadness and apathy in pleasurable activities govern it. However, many people tend to associate every mood fluctuation with depression.
Causes Of Depression
Most cases of depression emanate from various life events that bring us grief, sadness, or fear. Examples of such situations include grief, divorce, and the loss of one’s job. But as we’ve just mentioned, there must be an element of persistence.
For instance, doctors may not experience stress and anxiety if you experience grief only for a week.
Depression manifests in a wide variety of signs and symptoms.
Some of the typical symptoms to watch out for include;
- Foul moods
- Apathy, or reduced interest in the activities that were once enjoyed, such as sex, eating, and working out
- Unexplained weight loss or weight gain
- Anxiety is characterized by agitation and irritability
- Suicidal tendencies and recurrent thoughts of death
- Feelings of guilt or worthlessness
- Sleeping problems
- Difficulty thinking or concentrating
- Fatigue
- Speech anomalies
Treatment Of Stress and Depression
Stress and depression are mostly treated through psychotherapy and drug therapy.
Your doctor might even recommend a combination of antidepressants or psychotherapy sessions.
Over the past few years, medical experts have recommended cannabis for the treatment of depression. CBD for stress and anxiety are major elements in this discussion.
But before you buy cannabis from any marijuana dispensary and begin using it for depression, it’s prudent to know how you can benefit from it.
Here are some of the top benefits of using cannabis for depression.
Stimulates Neural Regeneration
One of the benefits of using cannabis for depression is that the compounds from the plant, such as cannabidiol (CBD), stimulate neural regeneration, particularly in the hippocampus.
The hippocampus is the brain that is most affected when you’re depressed.
According to studies, CBD can reduce both the death and atrophy of neurons in the hippocampus.
Essentially, the best CBD gummies for anxiety facilitate hippocampal neurogenesis.
The facilitation happens by interacting with various body chemicals and proteins responsible for neural regeneration.
For instance, cannabidiol shows improvement in anandamide signalling.
Anandamide is one of the body’s endogenous cannabinoids. Moreover, increased levels of this chemical in the hippocampus might stimulate neuron regeneration.
Other studies conducted on rats have identified positive effects of CBD on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
This protein is known for its ability to protect existing neurons while also encouraging the regeneration of new ones.
Relieves Mood Fluctuations
One primary neurotransmitter responsible for mood regulation is serotonin. Low levels of serotonin are linked to stress, anxiety, and depression. Thankfully, cannabis extracts like CBD help increase serotonin levels.
CBD doesn’t act on this neurotransmitter directly. Instead, it activates certain serotonin receptors, such as 5-HT1A. An increase in the amount of serotonin flowing through your brain is directly related to elevated moods.
In terms of mood elevation, CBD has proven to be just as useful as conventional selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Relieves Fatigue and Apathy
Feelings of lethargy not only make it challenging to undertake physical tasks. Such feelings also weigh on your willpower, which adversely affects your overall productivity.
Fortunately, fatigue and apathy are other significant symptoms of depression that you can relieve using cannabis. Psychoactive cannabis compounds like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) stimulate effects, even in low doses.
When you’re in a state of euphoria, you’ll naturally enjoy the things that make you happy. Most importantly, a THC-containing product ensures that you get the bursts of energy required to accomplish your daily tasks.
There are numerous benefits to accrue by using cannabis for depression. What makes cannabis even more attractive as an effective treatment against depression is that it doesn’t present any severe side effects.
How To Use CBD For Stress And Anxiety?
You know that stress and anxiety are two human issues that human beings in this world are grappling with.
Stress and anxiety can trouble an individual in many ways and also among different age groups. The main reasons for increasing stress include failure in relationships, failure in professional life, too much expectation from life, and others.
Different studies show the fact that CBD shows quite promise in alleviating the main symptoms of stress and anxiety. The dosages for CBD in stress relief may vary according to the study.
Yes, there are widely varied dosages between 6 mg and 400 mg, which shows improved clinical outcomes in various stages of stress.
Combating Acute Stress
CBD can improve certain measures of acute stress, like the participants’ heart rate variability. Yes, it is a psychological marker of stress. The participants who went into the inference believed that CBD could help in combating stress. The response to the treatment is overwhelming,
The discussion of CBD for stress would not be complete without a discussion of treatment options for anxiety.
Let’s give an account of a clinical study. In the year 2011, stakeholders conducted a small trial on participants with generalized anxiety disorder. The results of CBD were quite exciting. The study found that CBD did better than Placebo. In fact, there was a reduction of stress levels.
The test was also conducted way back in 2019 at lower dosages.
Some participants consumed around 75 milligrams of CBD a day. Research found that higher dosages may challenge the participants to live normal lives. By reducing the intensity of CBD, they inferred that the participants had better sleep quality, which contributed to improving stress and anxiety.
Can You Take Too Much CBD For Combating Stress?
A clinical study confirmed the fact that people can bear a maximum of 1500 milligrams of CBD a day. Still, stakeholders are carrying out research and analysis on a massive scale to establish the right dosages for CBD.
However, one requires more research and analysis for this development. Regarding this question, there is no hard and fast rule on CBD measurement, and we advise you to understand your capability and convenience in selecting the rig dosages.
To consume CBD for stress, the ideal minimum would be 5 milligrams per use). Then, you can add 5 milligrams every two days to stop yourself from further problems.
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