CBD gummies are ultra convenient, tasty, and travel friendly! But can they help with anxiety too?
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Just the other day my gym buddy popped a gummy bear in her mouth before we hit the treadmills. I teased her about her sweet tooth, but she responded, “They’re actually CBD gummies. They help with my bad knee, but I mainly take them because they help with my anxiety.” And she’s not the only one who’s using CBD gummies to help combat anxiety.
But exactly how do CBD (or cannabidiol) gummies provide relief for those suffering from anxiety? There are plenty of people who swear by getting a massage, having an evening glass of wine, or even just plain old anxiety medication. CBD gummies are different though. And after adding CBD gummies to your routine you may even find that you don’t even need those things anymore!
Can CBD Help with Anxiety?
First, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re using CBD oil, tinctures, or edibles…in general, CBD can help with anxiety.
CBD gummies are just particularly tasty, practical, and easy to incorporate into your routine! Don’t worry, we’ll dive more into the many benefits of gummies here in a bit. But first…
What can cause anxiety?
You might have noticed this already, but life can be pretty stressful. And it doesn’t necessarily matter if you’re a stay at home mom or if you’re a high powered business executive. It seems like everyday there are more and more expectations that we’re supposed to meet. And when we’re not 100% crushing our goals, it’s easy to feel like a failure.
Part of that is a leftover evolutionary trait from our ancestors called the “fight-or-flight” response. This trait kept our ancestors alive. Whenever they would come in contact with a threat that they couldn’t fight, their instincts forced them to flee. And if they were able to fight their way out of it, they did (and often ended up with a tasty meal as a reward).
This response can be identified in several ways. Oftentimes your heart rate will increase, your pupils will dilate, you might become pale or flushed, and sometimes you might even tremble because of the adrenaline release that your body thinks you need. Some anxiety attacks can feel JUST like that. In fact, several different anxiety disorders are marked by these same symptoms.
Luckily, we don’t face the same threats our ancestors did. That doesn’t mean that the fight-or-flight response has gone away though. Sometimes it sees threats in surprising places. It might be a terse email from your boss, particularly bad traffic, or even just not accomplishing everything on your to-do list. Something small might happen and then all the sudden it feels like the world is ending.
What’s worse is that the more often your body uses this instinct, the more your brain gets used to that particular flood of chemicals. Essentially, it means that every time it happens you’ll be more likely for it to happen again.
Some of us have more active fight-or-flight responses than others. That could be due to any number of things such as past trauma, lack of sleep, life-changes, or even just a particularly stressful week at home or work. Luckily, CBD can work WITH your body to help bring everything back into balance.
CBD and Your Endocannabinoid System
Your endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a special communication system your body has that’s designed to help maintain homeostasis, or balance. The ECS has receptors all over the human body, which is one of the reasons that CBD has been known to temporarily alleviate several different ailments.
Your ECS helps to regulate sleep, mood, appetite, memory, and your stress-responses (aka anxiety). Suffice to say that when your ECS is unbalanced, the rest of you can feel unbalanced too. You may notice more chronic pain, poor sleep, brain fog, anxiety, or even a lack of sex drive. Luckily though, CBD can help boost your ECS and bring balance back to your body.
While your body produces its own endocannabinoid compounds, the ECS can’t tell the difference between its own natural compounds and CBD. So CBD is able to bind with ECS receptors to boost its effectiveness. In one double-blind, placebo controlled study, people given cannabinoids high in CBD noticed less anxiety overall.
In several other clinical studies, the effects of CBD have been known to include improved sleep, less anxiety, less chronic pain, balanced hormones, improved skin quality and more. And it’s all due to the way that CBD is able to interact with your ECS! Because your ECS has receptors in so many different places (including your gut where the majority of the chemical serotonin is produced) CBD is able to assist with a large number of problems.
So now we know that CBD can temporarily reduce anxiety for some. But why choose gummies over CBD oil for anxiety?
What Makes CBD Gummies so Special?
First, they’re convenient and practical. Not all of us have the time or money to get a weekly massage to help us relax, and medication isn’t always the answer. Plus, it’s pretty frowned upon to sip a glass of Merlot during stressful board meetings (even if we’ve all thought about it). But tossing a quick CBD gummy into your mouth is far less conspicuous! So the next time you know you’re heading into a stressful situation (interviews, dinner with the in-laws, etc.), no one will look twice when you snatch a quick piece of candy.
While you’re more than able to have them throughout the day, the best way to add gummies to your routine is to take them in the morning. Because they’re edible, it will take the CBD a little longer to kick in. That’s because they have to pass through your digestive system before your bloodstream can absorb the CBD. It’s precisely because of that, however, that CBD gummies last longer.
There are several things that can affect exactly how long it will take for the CBD to kick in AND how long the effects will last. Three of the most important factors are:
- How long ago you ate.
- Your metabolism.
- Strength/Dose of the Gummy.
If you’ve eaten recently, your stomach is already working on digesting something else. So the gummies will have to wait their turn before being digested.
When it comes to metabolism, everyone is different. If you have a particularly slow metabolism, it might take longer for the effects to kick in. On the other hand, if you have a lighting fast metabolism, you might feel the effects much sooner.
And when it comes to strength and dosage, you’ll have to do your research. Each gummy contains a specific amount of CBD in it. But once you know what dosage works for you, you’ll never have to stress about whether you’re taking too much or too little.
Our gummies have 10mg of CBD per piece, which is a good starter amount. Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), you don’t have to worry about taking too much CBD. CBD doesn’t have any psychoactive effects, so you won’t start to feel loopy or “groovy” at all. More often than not, people don’t use enough CBD! So start low and go slow, but if you feel like you need to up your dose then eat another one.
It might take some trial and error, but once you figure out how your body responds to CBD, you’ll be able to plan ahead and figure out what works best for you!
If you know that it takes about an hour for your CBD gummies to kick in then you might want to take them right before you start your hour commute to work in the morning. And if you know they start to wear off at a particular time of day, eat another dose of CBD gummies an hour before then too!
Give CBD Gummies a Try Today!
While CBD oil is our first choice for its powerful pain-relief and anti-inflammatory properties, it can be tricky taking your oil in public. But no one bats an eye at someone eating a gummy! And once you’ve developed a good routine you’ll start to notice little improvements. But those little improvements quickly add up in a big way!
Maybe you just need to get better sleep to alleviate your anxiety. Or maybe your case is more severe and you’re looking for a way to handle anxiety caused by post traumatic stress disorder. Whatever the reason, CBD gummies are worth a shot!
If you’re ready to take control of your anxiety then check out our CBD products or contact us today with questions. We only use the highest quality, hemp derived CBD products to ensure that you’re getting the best products possible.