The growing popularity of CBD Oil has made many curious about its impact on health. How can it be used, and what wonders can it do for us? Amongst a lot of benefits of CBD oil, the most researched one is dealing with Anxiety. Many people have started using it to get relief from anxiety. Read more about the results of various research conducted to see the potential benefits of CBD oil for anxiety and whether it could be a treatment option for you.
What is CBD Oil?
Cannabidiol (CBD) is an oil that is obtained directly from the cannabis plant known as Hemp. Despite being obtained from the plant known to make you high, CBD alone does not. The main component that makes you high is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but CBD has very few traces of it. So it is completely safe to use CBD for therapeutic purposes.
CBD The Anxiety Manager
Although CBD oil has not been legally approved in many countries, yet a lot of studies and scientific findings show a positive relationship between CBD oil and Anxiety. The statistics reveal that almost half of the adults in the US consume it to cure anxiety (Forbes Health survey, 2022).
Moreover, scientists since 2019 have been using the Simulated Public Speaking Test (SPST) as one of the ways to study the impact of CBD on the people having Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Their findings indicated a significant reduction in anxiety and discomfort compared to the placebo.
CBD Oil As Antidepressant
Few studies also suggest that CBD helps with anxiety by manipulating the serotonin levels in our brain. Serotonin is a body chemical and one of its functions is monitoring our mood and sleep. CBD increases the production of this chemical thus acting as an antidepressant helping to cope with anxiety and insomnia. In 2020, an experiment on several people having multiple health problems was conducted to examine the benefits of CBD oil at different doses. The result showed that CBD helped people cope up with anxiety, despair and improved their ability to perform the daily routine tasks.
Dosage of CBD Oil for Anxiety
Unlike the medicines that have a specific dose to cure a problem, the consumption, dosage and effect of CBD varies from person to person. Although there are recommended levels of taking it depending on its form, yet you have to determine the ideal CBD dosage for your anxiety. According to experts, you should begin slowly and build up depending on how your body responds.
Many studies have been carried out to understand the efficacy of CBD doses. One such study was done in 2019 using SPST where three doses were put into consideration (150 milligrams, 300 milligrams and 600 milligrams). The results showed that 300 milligrams of CBD was more effective in reducing the anxiety during the speech as compared to the placebo and other given doses of CBD.
As CBD is expensive to produce, researchers hypothesized that smaller doses of CBD are fine and helpful to sustain its usage in daily lives. To prove that, researchers have been experimenting using variable dosage of CBD and their findings prove that using low dosage works better. In one of the experiments, the level of anxiety not only decreased among the participants within the first month but also remained low as compared to the ones who were given higher doses of CBD. In a nutshell, more CBD isn’t necessarily more effective and the right CBD dosage depends greatly on the symptoms and physiology of the individual.
Ways to Use CBD for Anxiety
People have been consuming CBD in different forms to control their anxiety. Few of these forms include oils, vapes, jellies and capsules, sprays. Many companies are coming up with interesting ideas to use CBD like my adding it in soaps, creams Spa bombs, body gels and body showers. People across the globe are frequently using it in multiple ways, experimenting to find the best method and dosage that works for them.
To find the method that reduces anxiety the most effectively, you might need to try a few different options. For instance, smoking and vaping are more successful than edibles like gummies when it comes to getting CBD into your bloodstream.
Final Verdict
Even though CBD has not been approved as a drug to reduce anxiety by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially, a lot of research and studies shows a positive relationship between CBD and anxiety. Moreover, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) there is no proof of CBD causing any health related issues so far. So it's up to you to try or decide whether it's an effective treatment for your anxiety or not.