Is taking CBD for stress relief the answer?
If you are not a sports fan, I urge you to read on despite what I’m about to say…. Bournemouth (aka David) beat Man City (aka Goliath) 2-1 last Saturday afternoon.
The Cherries (that is Bournemouth’s nickname) are now up to 9th in the premier league. I experienced a stressful 10 minutes last Saturday afternoon watching the live feed on BBC, as the game was not being shown on TV (unless you have a ‘dodgy amazon fire stick’). It reminded me of the Ceefax days when my Dad was looking at the results for his team, Wolves.
The text would come up slowly on the screen and you would wait in anticipation. It was almost more stressful this way then watching it live.
Anyway, this is not the sort of stress I’m talking about, the stress we are going to discuss today is more to do with anxiety and the negative health effects it brings on.
I was at a family event on the weekend and my mother-in-law gave me a CBD drink, it was delicious.
I went into Waitrose today to find it this week, I found myself reading the packet as to why CBD was good for us and what the benefit was. I thought to myself ‘I have no idea how CBD works and the impact it has on the body’.
I have researched this topic in detail this week, hopefully I can shed some light in a simple way as to how it works in the body.
This is the label from the CBD drink, the main two on the market are ‘Trip’ and ‘Goodrays’.
It is pitched as a ‘relaxation’ product to help with stress, anxiety and sleep.
Let’s focus on how CBD works in the body and then I can cover the benefits it has on the body.
*Spoiler alert– I was never good at science at school so I’m hoping that my lack of nous in this area helps to simplify this, bear with me.
There is a system in all our bodies called the Endocannabinoid system (ECS).This is a signalling system that plays a role in homeostasis (this simply means balance). For example, if your glucose levels go up after a meal, the homeostasis systems in your body will release hormones to bring it down and store it. The homeostatic systems will help to regulate everything in the body (Blessing et al, 2015).
The ECS is primarily involved with mood, appetite, pain and stress.
The ECS is made up of three parts:
- Endocannabinoids- these are compounds that bind to cannabinoid receptors and regulate various functions within the body.
- Receptors- CB1 and CB2 receptors. CB1 are mainly located in the brain and nervous system and are involved with pain and mood. CB2 are in the rest of the body and help with inflammation.
- Enzymes- these break down the endocannabinoids. (Lu, H. C., & Mackie, K. 2016)
Hopefully that makes sense in terms of what the ECS is. Lets move on to how CBD works when you take it and how it influences the ECS.
THC is the part in the cannabis plant that makes you high when people smoke cannabis, this is NOT contained in CBD products.
- CBD stops the breakdown of an enzyme called Anandamide which is an endocannabinoid and so called the ‘bliss molecule’. More of this makes you feel happy, improves mood and has been involved in reducing pain.
- It can activate serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin stimulates mood and regulates anxiety.
- It impacts GABA receptors; these receptors can contribute to stress and relaxation. (Ibeas Bih, et al, 2015)
Ok, so enough of the science now, what does this mean for you?
We have stress in our lives and as Chiropractors we look at stress in three parts; physical, chemical and emotional stress.
CBD can potentially reduce pain and inflammation caused by physical stress and regulate mood and reduce anxiety bought on from emotional stress. It is important to remember that CBD or other products doesn’t change the stimulus that is causing the problem. They only help with the symptom and the impact this has on your body.
Which is why I’m hesitant to recommend CBD, for the same reasons I don’t like relying on long term pain medication. It solves a temporary problem by putting a plaster over the pain, but you are still left with the root cause of the problem unresolved. Therefore, as soon as the pain medication stops working or you stop taking it, the problem re-occurs.
The same with a physical stress, if you are sitting badly with your legs crossed for 8 hours per day, taking CBD wont stop that causing problems with your spine. We need you to stop crossing your legs. Therefore address the trigger not the bullet.
However, with CBD there are very few side effects reported unlike pain medications. So is it a problem to use it when going through a stressful period or as a tool to help aid relaxation?
I don’t see an issue with it, as long as it is not the only tool that is being used and we become solely reliant on it. Like a glass of wine on an evening, it is easy to escape life’s troubles after a long day at work, knowing that you have a glass of wine waiting for you in the evening.
And I’m not saying ‘DON’T do this’, but it is important not to become reliant on this. We need to address the trigger and try to change the input whilst managing the response.
The ancient stoics used to manage the response by controlling the controllables. They wrote that life happens to every single one of us in varying degrees, the only thing that remains consistent is your mind and your response to the outside factors.
‘You have power over your mind not outside events, realise this and you will find strength.’ Seneca
The way I interpret this is that stressful situations are inevitable in your day, you will be cut up by a driver on the way to work, you will have a colleague act selfishly towards you, you will get someone push past you in a queue today. You have absolutely no control over any of this, only your response to the situation.
Easier said than done, in that moment when someone pushes past you to get to the front of the Costa line, all you want to do is say ‘excuse me, this is Britain and there is an orderly queue behind’. Whilst you mutter 4 letter expletives under your breath hoping they may hear one of them.
But the point remains the same, we have control over how we react to certain situations, which is why there are so many differing opinions on how we respond.
I have been taking CBD this week by drinking the Goodray cans (they are delicious by the way). I can feel something happening after I drink it, but there are other compounds in there that could be causing the slight buzz that I feel. I think the way to go is a pure, high quality CBD oil with no other compounds in. I have ordered some and will begin the journey and report back to you.
I would love to hear if you have done a CBD course and how it impacted you?
UPDATE: On my no drinking challenge, I did have a glass of fizz on the weekend. It tasted great but I didn’t find myself craving anymore and I’m not sure if I felt something the next day. I think in my head I wanted to feel ‘hungover’ or ‘foggy’ to show myself that there is no point. Perhaps I need to up the ante and have a couple more glasses, I’m joking.
References
Blessing, E. M., Steenkamp, M. M., Manzanares, J., & Marmar, C. R. (2015). Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders. Neurotherapeutics, 12(4), 825–836. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-015-0387-1
Ibeas Bih, C., Chen, T., Nunn, A. V., Bazelot, M., Dallas, M., & Whalley, B. J. (2015). Molecular targets of cannabidiol in neurological disorders. Neurotherapeutics, 12(4), 699-730.
Lu, H. C., & Mackie, K. (2016). An introduction to the endogenous cannabinoid system. Biological Psychiatry, 79(7), 516-525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.07.028
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