For many people, CBD has been a path to better health and wellness, but it can be hard to find a specific CBD anxiety study that fits the scenario you’re considering CBD for. While many studies have concluded that there are potential CBD effects on anxiety, they aren’t all clear on what or how they helped sufferers manage their anxieties. While premium CBD may be the answer you’ve been looking for, individual research is needed to make an informed decision about its use. We’ve worked to compile some of the more prominent studies on CBD to give you a glimpse at the potential it may hold and to help you better evaluate it as an option along with traditional anxiety treatments.
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural response to stress, often characterized as worry or misgivings. This can manifest in feelings of dread, outbursts of anger, and physical symptoms, such as heart palpitations. One of the hard parts about finding a CBD anxiety study that perfectly fits your needs is that there is no single way that anxiety affects every individual.
Anxiety can also have a wide range of underlying causes. Along with generalized anxiety, feelings of anxiety can be related to stress, PTSD, depression, and is a side effect for a host of conditions and medications. This creates further confusion when trying to look for an exact match with existing research data, as there may not be a CBD anxiety study that has the same underlying condition or complications as the scenario you are seeking to use CBD to manage.
In short, anxiety can be a very personal and individualized condition that a person suffers with for reasons that are fairly unique to them. This is something anxiety sufferers know well, as both modern medicine and the public at large may struggle to understand what they are going through. The best option is sometimes, rather than reviewing a single CBD anxiety study, to review a range of studies to get an aggregate impression of the potential CBD effects on anxiety.
What Is CBD?
First, it’s important to know that CBD is not a hot new anxiety drug. It is neither a drug nor is it new. Humans have cultivated and used hemp for nearly 10,000 years for a range of societal benefits. It is an excellent source of fiber for clothing, paper, and building. It produces an oil suitable as both a healthier cooking fat and as fuel. It has also enjoyed a long history of helping humans live happier, healthier lives.
While not every CBD anxiety study is based on CBD from industrial hemp, it is widely regarded as a fantastic source for ultra-pure CBD oil without the psychoactive “high” of THC. The difference between CBD and THC is that industrial hemp, by definition, has a THC concentration no greater than 0.3% by dry weight, whereas marijuana, a close cousin, may have a concentration of over 30%. At Core CBD, we use naturally growing American hemp, free from contamination by chemical pesticides or insecticides, and choose the richest portion of the plants, the leaves, stalks, and flowers, to ship to our Colorado processing facility.
At our medical-grade facility, specialists use multi-million dollar machines to create a pure, potent oil that’s full of both CBD and its associated terpenes, which are also active compounds found in the hemp plants. Then we formulate our full-spectrum oil into some of the highest-quality CBD products on the market. Each one is tested by an independent lab to make sure you’re getting a product you can count on to help you take control of your wellness and explore the full effects of CBD on your anxiety.
Unlike a drug or medicine, in which you may envision that you take it and get an immediate effect, CBD is closer to a supplement that is best-taken every day. In fact, in almost every CBD anxiety study, the effect is judged not by a single dose, but by a consistent regimen of dosing. This long-term approach helps boost your body’s performance and helps manage chronic or intermittent symptoms of anxiety like sleeplessness and feelings of unrest.
How CBD Affects Your Body
To understand why a CBD anxiety study may have certain results and why you should use CBD, it helps to understand the effects of CBD on anxiety and the body’s response to it. CBD works by supporting the optimal functioning of your body’s endocannabinoid system. Made up of your body’s natural endocannabinoids, these compounds bind with receptor sites throughout the central nervous system, brain, and organs of the body to help regulate the function of almost every major body system. CBD promotes a stronger, more balanced endocannabinoid system, helping it better respond to your body’s needs.
While CBD does not itself bond with the same receptors as your endocannabinoid system, it can mimic some other naturally occurring compounds in your body. For example, some receptors that usually bond with serotonin, an important mood regulator in the brain, will bond with CBD and have the same response as with serotonin. In addition, CBD helps promote the creation of proteins that help protect the hippocampus of the brain, a part of the organ normally atrophied in clinical depression patients, a demographic that experiences an increased incidence of anxiety.
While a CBD anxiety study may not address terpenes, these active aromatic compounds have been subject to their own research that illustrates they may have the potential to help anxiety sufferers. Over 100 different terpenes may be found in single cannabis plants, and while not all act the same, careful consideration must be given to the entourage effect. When multiple active compounds are brought to bear, a synergistic effect may supply more than just the CBD effects on anxiety than were expected.
Major CBD Anxiety Studies
At this point, there will never be a “complete” list of research projects addressing CBD and anxiety. Interest is far too high, evolving too fast, and new projects are being started daily. Below are just a few studies to help you begin your independent research on CBD:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorders – While much of the research related to GAD focuses more on managing symptoms common with anxiety rather than the disorder itself when taken as a whole, the body of evidence is fairly overwhelming. It should be noted that dosages relative to anti-anxiolytic effects were fairly paradoxical with increased dosing not always leading to increased effectiveness. In addition, the National Institute On Drug Abuse has noted CBD’s positive effects at easing anxiety symptoms.
- Social Anxiety Disorder – Plenty of people are worried about public speaking, but SAD goes beyond that to an inability to function in some social settings. This can manifest in several ways, and leave a person’s social, personal, and professional life in disarray. Several studies have shown that CBD may hold the potential to help make SAD symptoms more manageable.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – While this is a hot-button issue among veterans, PTSD can occur to anyone. It can have a life-altering effect, and it is one of the most common reasons people search for a CBD anxiety study. For this ailment, there is a body of research addressing CBD’s efficacy, potential therapeutic benefits, and the effects that may be helping people cope with PTSD — even when the PTSD is in a younger patient.
The Bottom Line
While hemp has long been viewed as able to provide a calmer, more positive demeanor, thanks in large part to a hostile regulatory structure, we are only now seeing the emergence of high-quality and large-scale studies. With the re-legalization of industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, however, the demand for CBD and real information about the potential benefits of cannabis has only grown, and new studies — like those on CBD and anxiety — are being undertaken to establish the potential benefit of high-quality CBD and understand how people can better use it to support their overall health and wellness. Be sure to watch our blog as new science emerges, telling us more about cannabidiol, CBD terpenes, and how they’re being proven to provide benefits for a range of issues.
At Core CBD, we’re proud to offer premium CBD products at a price that provides you a great value. If you have any questions and need additional information about any of our products or how they can help address your needs, contact our CBD experts. We’re always happy to talk about the latest CBD anxiety study and what the newest research means for your wellness. Explore the effects of CBD on anxiety yourself with premium CBD from Core CBD today.
