How CBD Can Help You Relieve Stress

All Stressed Out? CBD Oil Tinctures Can Help

You’ve been feeling anxious and irritable. You worry a lot – often about things you can’t control. You’re having trouble concentrating. You don’t get things done as fast or as well as you used to. All this must have something to do with this negative mood you can’t shake. You tell yourself it’s temporary, but the truth is, you can’t remember the last time you felt relaxed. Well balanced. At ease. What’s worse, you’ve begun having bad headaches. You’re feeling pain in muscles that you haven’t used in any unusual way. You’re feeling awful both emotionally and physically. Why are so many different things happening to you at once? It’s just not fair!

Actually, all of your problems may be traceable to one cause: stress. Fortunately, there are ways to manage stress, including with the use of CBD oil tinctures. We’ll explore the research on CBD as a stress reliever, but first, let’s take a look at what stress actually is and what it does (both good and bad).

Stress Triggers the “Fight or Flight” Response

Stress is your body’s response to a change, trauma, difficult situation or troubling experience. When you’re a passenger in a plane being shaken by severe turbulence, stress will materialize as a fellow and unwelcome passenger. Watching a relative harm himself because of a drug addiction and feeling helpless to stop him will also bring on stress. That unpleasant jolt you get while buying something online when you realize you may have just given your credit card number to an identity thief? That’s stress, too.

Even a positive event can produce stress, if it requires you to change in some significant way. For example: you got a promotion at work, along with a big raise. You are thrilled with the recognition, the boost to your career and the bigger paycheck! However, thinking about the additional responsibilities is keeping you up at night. Will you be able to handle your new role? Will the people you’re now supervising respect you? What if you fail?

When Stress is Helpful

Some amount of stress is normal and even helpful. It is an age-old mechanism that helps people respond to danger or an emergency with what is known as the “fight or flight” response. Stress can help you escape when your home is about to be overtaken by a wildfire, or keep you on the alert in a dangerous neighborhood. When you are forced to react to something unexpected – and perhaps threatening – your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol. This puts all the functions you don’t need just then on the back burner, so your body can focus on the emergency at hand. After all, your digestive or reproductive systems are not going to help you when you’re swerving to avoid a car crash. Your brain is what’s important at that moment, so stress gives your body a glucose boost that helps your brain react quickly and figure out how to protect you from harm.

**When Stress Becomes Distress**

But – you’re saying to yourself – I’m not in danger. I lead a pretty normal life. I work in an office (or a home office). My biggest occupational hazards are paper cuts and eye strain from looking at a computer screen too much. My hobbies are quilting and yoga, not skydiving and mountain climbing. Why do I feel stressed so much of the time?

Physical danger is not the only thing that can cause stress. Family pressures are high up on the list of major stressors. Are you caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s? Perhaps you’re taking care of both aging parents and your own children – a common “sandwich generation” dilemma. Does your mother-in-law criticize you? Is your teen getting into trouble at school? Are you in the process of getting a divorce?

Stress can also be due to:

A long-term illness (either your own or a loved one’s)
Financial insecurity (your company is struggling – will you lose your job?)
Sexual harassment on the job (but you can’t quit, because you need the job)
Current events (the headlines are so grim)
An existing mental health problem (i.e., depression)

How Chronic Stress Is Harmful to Your Body

If the stress you feel is temporary, the physical and emotional discomfort it causes will be short-term. However, when you get no relief from stress for a long period of time, you may suffer from something called distress. This is when serious physical, emotional, behavioral and social changes can occur.

Chronic stress can be a contributing factor to health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

According to the Mayo Clinic, here are some other health and behavioral problems linked to stress:

Headaches
Frequent insomnia
Decreased productivity at work
Overeating or undereating
Anger management difficulties
Muscle or chest pain
Fatigue
Drug or alcohol misuse
Change in your sex drive
Social withdrawal

Women Are at Greater Risk

Although both genders can experience stress, women are particularly prone to it. This may because many women take care of others first (children, spouses, elderly parents) and put their own needs last. Single mothers have tremendous responsibilities. Single women who don’t have children may be caregivers for their parents. Married women tend to have a greater share of the housework and caring- for-children duties, even when both they and their husbands work full-time outside of the home.

It’s no surprise that women are more likely to suffer from stress-caused digestive problems and headaches. Additionally, women have higher rates of depression and anxiety, both of which are exacerbated by stress.

On the flip side, men often feel pressured to have successful careers and earn a lot of money. This, coupled with a reluctance to express their feelings (which some men still think shows weakness), makes matters worse. In other words, by failing to admit that they’re stressed, men increase their stress levels!

How Can You Get Relief From Stress?

There are many relaxation techniques available in the form of classes, videos, CDs and books. These include guided meditation, restorative yoga and deep breathing exercises. While these help some people, others find that they are insufficient. The reasons for that include:

Their de-stressing effects don’t last very long
They take up too much time
Stress can make it impossible for someone to calm their mind and participate fully

It’s easier – and faster – to take a pill to help you with your stress, and there are plenty of pharmaceuticals that your doctor can write a prescription for. These include certraline, Prozac, Paxil and venlafaxine. Before you go that route, however, make sure you read the warnings about side effects that many of these medications can cause, such as:

thoughts of suicide
impaired judgment and motor skills (making it dangerous to drive, for example)
negative effects on pregnant women and babies that are nursing
mood or behavior changes
blurred vision, bone pain, changes in appetite
allergic reactions
dangerous interactions with other medications

Even herbal remedies for stress can have serious downsides. The CDC warns that kava has been linked to serious liver damage. Passion flower’s side effects include dizziness and confusion. Chamomile can increase the risk of bleeding if it’s taken by people who are on blood-thinning drugs. Lavender users have reported constipation and headaches.

If thinking about all of those potential side effects stresses you out, you’re not alone. That’s why more and more people are turning alternative health aids, like products containing CBD.

How CBD Oil Tinctures Relieve Stress

CBD’s full name is cannabidiol. It is a naturally-occurring compound found in the cannabis plant – one that is beneficial to human health. Your body has what is known as an endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS helps regulate all of the processes that keep your body running smoothly, like sleep, digestion, appetite, memory and mood.

CBD is thought to bind with receptors in the ECS system, enabling it to relieve stress (as well as insomnia, pain and nausea). Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how CBD interacts with the ECS. They are further along with their knowledge of the positive things that happen when CBD interacts with the ECS.

Although scientists say more research is needed to fully unlock the potential of CBD, a review of relevant studies published by the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health found that existing evidence “strongly supports CBD as a treatment” for stress, anxiety and other issues. The analysis notes that “evidence from human studies supports an anxiolytic role of CBD.” Anxiolytics help calm symptoms of stress by shielding the nervous system from certain chemicals.

CBD Oil Benefits for Women

CBD can be helpful to everyone, but many women in Burleson, TX are finding that CBD is effective for issues that affect them in particular. It helps women feel relaxed so they can fully enjoy sex. It alleviates the discomfort that occurs during premenstrual syndrome cycles, like mood swings, bloating, cramps and tender breasts. CBD also lessens sleep disturbances (caused by hot flashes) experienced by women who are going through perimenopause or menopause,

CBD Is Safe

The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that CBD is non-addictive, which is a major concern for prescription drug users. It does not affect important bodily functions like digestion, heart rate or blood pressure. Even taking high doses of CBD (up to 1,500 mg/day) over the long run is “well tolerated in humans,” according to one study. There are some mild potential side effects from taking CBD, such as a dry mouth and a decrease in appetite. It could interact with other drugs, like seizure medications. As with all supplements, you should talk to your doctor about taking CBD.

You Won’t Get High

There is a great deal of confusion surrounding CBD and THC, otherwise known as tetrahydrocannabinol. That has led some people to steer clear of products containing CBD. In addition to not wanting to get “high,” they fear failing a drug test at work, which could get them suspended or even fired. Let’s take a closer look at CBD versus THC.

Both of them:

Are cannabinoids (naturally occurring compounds)
Are found in the cannabis plant

That’s where the commonalities end. CBD and marijuana – which contains a large amount of THC – are derived from two different strains of the cannabis plant. That makes a big difference. CBD is derived from hemp, which comes from the sativa strain of cannabis. Marijuana is from the indica strain.

Why does this matter? THC is the compound which gives users of marijuana a feeling of euphoria. (It also affects their ability to operate a vehicle safely and can remain in detectable amounts in the body for days or even weeks.) Hemp has lots of healthful cannabinoids, like CBD, and very little THC. Cannabis indica, in contrast, has a high concentration of THC and very little CBD.

To sum it up: CBD won’t get you high, and using a broad spectrum (zero THC) CBD product (like what we offer at Golden Legacy Wellness in Burleson, TX) it’s very unlikely that you will fail a drug test.

Make Sure You Deal with a Reputable Company

The growing popularity of CBD products in Burleson, TX has prompted many new companies to enter the space in recent years. Unfortunately, not all of them are offering consumers high-quality products. Some CBD oils contain contaminants like mold from improper harvesting techniques, or heavy metals absorbed by hemp that was grown in a polluted field. Another concern involves the amount of CBD you’re getting. A 2017 study by Penn Medicine found that an alarming 70% of CBD products chosen by researchers at random had labels that inaccurately stated the amount of CBD in the product. In most cases, the CBD amount was much lower than manufacturers said it was.

The bottom line: there are many reputable companies producing fine CBD oil tinctures, oils, lotions, sprays and gummies. They make sure their CBD is derived from hemp crops grown in pollution-free fields and test their products to confirm that they contain the desired levels of CBD. Make sure you deal with one of those companies.

Adopt Stress-Busting Habits

In addition to taking CBD oil tinctures, you can support your stress management efforts with healthy habits. Eat a balanced diet. Avoid excess caffeine and alcohol. Get plenty of sleep and exercise. Take time to do the hobbies you enjoy. Avoid activities that will cause you stress, like intense video games, arguments over politics or movies that may upset you.

And those relaxation techniques that weren’t effective stress relievers on their own? They may help as supplemental activities. With your mind calmed by CBD, you’ll be able to get the full benefits of meditation, yoga or deep breathing.