Not much is understood yet about cannabidiol (CBD), and this general lack of awareness has left many people in the dark, or worse; they’re operating off misinformed knowledge. If you’re familiar with the substance, you might’ve already experienced this polarized climate. Governments at all levels have opposing views and laws, the public cannot seem to differentiate it from other controlled substances, and not many truly understand how pervasive its alleviating effects can become.
To dissipate all this, and in the name of providing quality information, allow me to delineate the leading CBD benefits, and to clear up some of the fog clouding this new substance.
As we surely know, leading a healthy lifestyle—running a mile, lifting weights, hiking mountains—isn’t always easy, and many of these activities leave your body exhausted, tired, and strung-out if not properly treated. Those high-impact type exercises, think plyometrics like running or box jumps, can take their toll on the bones, joints, and muscle fibers. These injuries are unavoidable, and the stress placed on the body during any type of exercise will inherently cause some form of damage. Typically, these symptoms are inflammation, joint pain, and other chronic maladies that are difficult to eliminate, and tend to shadow you for years.
So, how can someone get quick relief for these problems without having to secure costly prescriptions or suffer from the multitude of side effects? This is where the idea of CBD for pain treatment enters the stage.
First off, let me list some symptoms that holistic CBD health benefits have been believed to combat.
- Inflammation
- Joint aches
- Muscle pain
- Stress
- Anxiety
Now, it’s important to understand that CBD is considered natural, herbal, and alternative medicine. It can come from two different, but very similar, sources—hemp-derived or cannabis-derived. The CBD effects do not change based on the source, but the levels of THC found within the oil will differ, and this is often the source of why so many state laws disagree with each other. As their names imply, one source is harvested from industrial hemp plants, while the other source comes straight from the marijuana plant. Regardless of the source, CBD oil will not provide a “high” due to the low, or otherwise absent, psychoactive ingredient found in cannabis. CBD does not show-up on drug tests either.
CBD delivery is most efficient, and fastest, through oral absorption, meaning CBD gums and lozenges would work best in giving you the quickest relief. Plus, for fitness gurus, this kind of medication is easy to transport and apply without issue. Cannabidiol, once it enters your body, will act upon your endocannabinoid system (ECS), which regulates functions like sleep, pain, and immune-system responses.
The human body, through the ECS, produces many cannabinoids naturally. Sometimes, the receptors attached to this system become unbalanced, corrupted, or otherwise compromised. Now, in order to bring back a holistic balance to these receptors, CBD molecules interact with them to re-establish order. When these receptors are happy and balanced again, the brain will release dopamine from the reward center, flooding your body with a healing effect.
But it doesn’t just stop there.
Perhaps even more convincing, are the heralded results from epilepsy and seizure patients. Cannabinoids, specifically THC and CBD, are known anticonvulsants, meaning their properties act upon certain ion channels in the body that regulate motor functions. During a seizure, some kind of information disconnect between the neurons in our brains occurs, and this inability to properly “talk” to each other, causes a massive and sudden burst of electrical activity in the brain. Essentially, seizures overload the neurons and therefore affect holistic cellular communication.
So, in a similar way to how CBD re-balanced the ECS receptors that trigger the brain’s reward center, CBD will also cause motor communication between the brain and body to “reset” itself. This results in a more fluid exchange of information between the neurons, thus reducing the chances of suffering a seizure.
It’s clear to see that some science does exist behind the foggy veil of hemp oil benefits. Now that governments at the state level, and to an extent the federal level, are beginning to see the value that CBD oil brings, many exciting developments are currently in the pipeline. Some CBD medications are finally getting FDA-approved, while more and more states are legalizing its use for both medical and recreational purposes. Recent court cases have also helped clear up some of the vague guidelines regarding CBD’s use and interstate transportation.
Slowly but surely, fitness enthusiasts, power lifters, physical laborers, epilepsy patients, and those experiencing the symptoms of natural aging are discovering the power behind CBD treatments. Admittedly, research into this substance is still cursory at best, and while its status is still veiled in confusion, the public trends are starting to become very obvious.
Whether you prefer gum, mints, tincture oils, edibles, or other delivery methods, it remains clear that CBD oil is helping people from all walks of life.