What Are The Benefits Of CBD?

The Bottom Line

Benefits of CBD include help with anxiety, depression, inflammation, pain, and neuroprotection.

Summary

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis. It won’t get you high but will help with all sorts of conditions.  CBD interacts with receptors all over the body and influences the expression of over 1,000 genes (Bakas et al. 2017).  Most noteworthy benefits of CBD include helping with anxiety and depression, decreasing inflammation, while protecting against inflammation-related diseases including autoimmune diseases and cancer, decreasing pain sensation, and protecting against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s.

So how exactly does it work? The endocannabinoid system helps maintain balance in the body.  With receptors all over the body, its effects can be profound.  The system includes two endocannabinoids produced by the body, anandamide and 2-AG, enzymes, and several receptors, including the CB1 receptor and CB2 receptor.  CBD interacts with this system in a variety of ways, fighting disease and inflammation while promoting balance and wellness.

5 Health Benefits of CBD

Depression

Chronic stress reduces levels of endocannabinoids in the brain leading to depression-like behavior (Samir Haj-Dahmane and Roh-Yu Shen 2014). CBD can help increase levels of these endocannabinoids.

Anxiety

The ways CBD can help alleviate anxiety are numerous, and research is still ongoing to determine all the pathways CBD effects. CBD can activate serotonin receptors, helping to balance serotonin levels, your body’s natural mood stabilizer (De Mello Schier et al. 2014). CBD also increases anandamide, one of the body’s natural endocannabinoids. Known as the bliss molecule. Furthermore, low levels of anandamide are associated with anxiety and depression.

Inflammation

CBD fights inflammation in two ways.  It interacts with the immune system, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. Along with decreasing the expression of NF-kB, a transcription factor that turns on genes that cause inflammation (Booz 2011). Chronic inflammation is a leading contributor to many diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, hypertension, cancer, and metabolic syndrome. The less chronic inflammation you have, the longer and healthier you can live.

Pain

Neuropathic pain, a chronic type of pain often associated with tissue damage, sends incorrect pain signals through damaged neurons.  In addition to decreasing inflammation, which adds to both the pain and nerve damage sending the pain signals, CBD binds to TRPV1 receptors, which mediate pain perception and inflammation (Meng et al. 2017).

Neuroprotective

CBD activates PPAR-gamma receptors.  Among the many benefits of activating PPAR-gamma include the activation of neurogenesis and the breakdown of beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (Esposito et al. 2011).

How To Implement

The benefits of CBD happen when ingested or applied topically. How you take it, and what dose you take will depend on treatment goals and individual biology.  To date, there are no strict dosing instructions. The best way to find the correct dose for you is by starting with a lower dose and slowly titrating up until you feel good and experience symptom relief.

How and when you take CBD will depend on the condition you are treating. Use CBD acutely to treat anxiety or before a stressful event. A single dose of CBD before a stressful event can help prevent the increase in blood pressure and heart rate associated with stress (Resstel et al. 2009).

Use CBD daily to fight inflammation, manage depression, decrease chronic pain, and help with neuroprotection.  When ingesting CBD daily, start with 10mg per day. If you do not feel relief after seven days, increase the dose to 15mg per day.  Continue slowly adding until you find the amount that works for you.

Applied topically, CBD works well for pain and inflammation associated with arthritis and muscle soreness (Hammell et al. 2016).

Aside from dosing, the most important thing to consider when taking CBD is the source of the product. It is essential to buy from a reliable brand with quality standards, so you know how much CBD you are getting and how pure it is.

This article does not replace or represent medical advice.  I am not a medical doctor.  Always check with a doctor before adjusting any treatment plan.