If you’ve been living on Mars or quietly under a rock, you might not have heard of CBD or CBD Oil but for the rest of us, it’s been virtually impossible to avoid talk of this increasingly popular, naturally occurring extract from the cannabis or hemp plant.
Now available from shops to supermarkets, online and delivered to your home, CBD products have hit the mainstream big-time and can be consumed in a whole variety of forms including vape oil, pain-relief cream, patches, sweets (CBD gummies) capsules, extracts and more.
Although there are a number of ways to consume cannabidiol or CBD, the use of CBD oil, in particular, has grown astronomically in recent years, emerging as the go-to product in the health and wellness market with scientific evidence continuing to reveal the remarkable therapeutic benefits of CBD.
As such, more and more studies are being conducted to investigate medical marijuana and the potential health benefits of cannabinoids like CBD and THC that are found in the hemp plant or cannabis plants.
Unlike many alternatives, CBD has shown remarkable ability to reduce or alleviate symptoms in a number of conditions, without the negative side effects associated with more conventional therapies. Indeed, in 2018 the World Health Organization declared CBD to be both safe and effective.
But what are the potential health benefits of CBD oil? Let’s take a closer look.
CBD Oil for Pain Relief
One of the most well-known health benefits of CBD lies in its remarkable ability to provide pain relief. Sufferers of chronic pain are typically prescribed opioid painkillers, however, while they may seem effective initially at reducing pain, over time they lose their effectiveness. This causes a tolerance in the body, which makes opioids far from ideal and has left many desperately searching for an alternative source of pain management beyond the use of addictive and ineffective medications.
Without causing addiction, CBD oil is a natural alternative that can effectively manage chronic pain. It has the ability to address physical discomfort in the body and can even prevent nervous system degeneration.
If you’re suffering from different forms of pain or tension, you may find some impressive pain relief from taking CBD oil.
CBD Oil’s Benefits for Skin
Often used internally (ingested), CBD oil can also be applied topically. This health benefit may come as a surprise, but since cannabidiol stimulates the endocannabinoid system, one can expect healthier skin. CBD oil can treat a variety of skin conditions including dry skin, eczema, and acne by encouraging abnormal cell death.
CBD oil contains vitamin E, among many other nutrients, so beauty fanatics will find it to be a true treasure trove. Not only does it improve and protect the skin, but it also helps regulate the skin’s oil production, which is what controls how skin cells proliferate.
CBD Oil can Help With Sleep
We can all attest that on occasion, we can suffer from poor quality of sleep. When that happens, a whole wave of effects are easily detectable. Irritability, inability to focus and drowsiness are just some of the common consequences of a short-term lack of sleep. However, the effects of long-term sleep deprivation are much more serious and potentially life-threatening.
Excessive stress and other external forces or circumstances disturbing your circadian rhythm may cause a person to turn to sleep-aid drugs for relief. However, they often cause the body to become dependent.
However, using CBD oil for sleep has shown to hold potentially significant benefits, with findings suggesting CBD to have powerful anxiolytic effects in both animal studies and human test subjects, while further studies have also found that CBD can actually help us to obtain a better quality of REM Sleep.
Because cannabidiol CBD doesn’t create any dependency, it’s thought to be an effective and all-natural remedy for loss of sleep. With this in mind, if you’re having trouble getting a full night’s rest, you may be able to find relief by taking a dose of CBD oil before bed.
Using CBD Oil for Inflammation
While inflammation is an important part of the body’s healing process, chronic inflammation can have significant effects on health and wellness. When the body is chronically inflamed, its inflammatory response can work against itself, damaging healthy cells, tissues, and organs, and causing significant long term damage. Chronic inflammation is linked with the development of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, Chron’s disease, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Research in the form of both animal studies and human studies has clinically proven CBD has anti-inflammatory properties and has shown that CBD oil is an effective treatment for reducing chronic inflammation that leads to disease.
CBD Oil and its Effects on Appetite
Unlike THC, the other major compound found in marijuana plants, CBD will not give you the “munchies”. While research is limited, anecdotal evidence suggests that CBD may help with weight loss by boosting metabolism while reducing appetite. On the other hand, Cannabidiol’s ability to help balance the endocannabinoid system may relieve conditions like pain and inflammation that was otherwise hindering someone’s ability to eat.
Why CBD Oil can Help With Addiction
Addiction is a toxic love affair that’s both magnetic and self-destructive. But rest assured, no matter what the addiction is, evidence suggests that CBD oil may help people cope with addiction. Since low dopamine levels are usually seen in people with addiction problems, it’s compelling to learn that Cannabidiol helps curb addictions and cravings by indirectly stimulating the dopamine production of neurons in the midbrain. Results will show a boost in motivation, healthy decision making, and an improved mood. As mentioned earlier, Cannabidiol doesn’t cause dependence or intolerance, so CBD oil is an excellent choice for those trying to recover.
Reducing Anxiety with CBD Oil
According to the World Health Organization, depression is the single largest contributor to disability worldwide, with anxiety disorders, ranked sixth. While anxiety and depression are typically treated with pharmaceutical drugs, it is clear that for many, such treatments prove not only ineffective but also come littered with intrusive side-effects including drowsiness, agitation, insomnia, sexual dysfunction and headaches, amongst others.
Furthermore, medications like benzodiazepines can prove to be highly addictive and may lead to both short, and long-term substance abuse
However, in recent years, CBD oil has shown promise as a treatment for mental health conditions like anxiety disorders including social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leading many of those who live with these conditions to become interested in this more natural approach.
In a Brazilian study, 57 men received either oral CBD or a placebo 90 minutes before they underwent a simulated public speaking test. The researchers revealed that a 300-mg dose of CBD was the most effective at significantly reducing anxiety during the test.
While such a study is fairly limited both in scope and magnitude, anecdotal evidence on the efficacy of CBD oil for anxiety is, however, significant, with many sufferers from anxiety reporting a significant reduction in their symptoms following both short-term and prolonged use of CBD oil.
Heart Health and CBD
Heart disease is a growing problem today, but treating it with CBD oil may be able to help. Inflammation and oxidative stress are often two factors that can significantly increase the likelihood of a person developing heart disease. To further explain, when your arteries become damaged, it can cause quite a buildup of plaque. Left untreated, this causes an increase in blood pressure and can lead to heart failure or a heart attack.
Research has indicated the effect of CBD in significantly reducing inflammation, helping to protect the arteries from getting damaged or being obstructed, and can also reduce stress-induced cardiovascular responses, as well as reduce blood pressure.
CBD may Have Neuroprotective Properties
It is now thought that CBD’s ability to act on the endocannabinoid system and other brain signalling systems may provide benefits for those with neurological disorders. Indeed, one of the most studied uses for CBD is in treating neurological disorders including different forms of epilepsy and multiple sclerosis with several studies revealing CBD´s enormous potential in this area.
Sativex, an oral spray consisting of both CBD and THC, has been proven to be a safe and effective way to reduce muscle spasticity for those suffering from multiple sclerosis while Epidiolex was the first cannabis-derived product to be FDA approved to treat Dravet Syndrome and Lennox Gastaut Syndrome.
The effectiveness of CBD in treating several other neurological diseases continues to be analysed in new and more in-depth studies. For example, research has revealed that CBD improves quality of life and sleep quality for people with Parkinson’s disease while it may also help prevent the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
CBD Oil and its Potential to Help With Cancer
Although research is in its early stages, animal studies have shown promising results for the use of CBD oil in cancer treatment. Research in rats suggests that CBD oil has an antitumor effect by slowing the growth and spread of different cancers, as well as helping alleviate symptoms and side effects of cancer treatment.
Its thought because Cannabidiol fights oxidative stress and inflammation (both linked to cancer) which changes how cells reproduce that this could reduce the ability of some types of cancer cells to reproduce in the body.
While these ideas are promising, further research and clinical trials need to be conducted before it can be conclusively said CBD oil can help fight off cancer cell growth. CBD oil has, however, shown positive results for reducing the side-effects of cancer treatments like nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy.
The Benefits of CBD – Summing it up
CBD oil shows promising health benefits for a growing range of conditions, including chronic pain, inflammation, lack of sleep, anxiety disorder, and addiction. And with the safety of CBD increasingly supported, this cannabis plant compound offers an unlikely addition to the traditional school of medicine.
Choosing the best CBD product for you can be confusing, thanks to the endless variety of CBD products available online. From CBD oil, pure CBD, CBD capsules, CBD E-liquids, CBD Pastes, and CBD gummies the list goes on. And for smokers, there are, of course, high CBD strains.
Finding a high-quality CBD oil will have a significant impact on your effectiveness in treating a specific medical condition. Once you have found the right CBD product for you, experiment with the dosage of CBD. Remember, it is best to start with less mg of CBD and slowly increase mg per day. Keep in mind that CBD may interact with other medication, so follow the medical advice of your health care practitioner.
