CBD has made a huge breakthrough in the alternative medicine field. Popular online companies like Penguin CBD and others are selling capsules, oils, gummies, creams, and more to help individuals find peace and healing through the substance. Are all the claims that surround it true?
There’s a popular rumor circulating in the CBD industry that the benefits of CBD oil can’t be proven. There’s also a pop culture rumor that states that CBD oil cures simply everything. Neither one of these statements are true.
CBD doesn’t offer a cure, but there are scientific benefits to prove that CBD can and will help many individuals. Here’s what you need to know.
CBD Potentially Helps Treats Epilepsy
There have been many studies on the effects of CBD and epilepsy, and the results have been strongly in favor of using CBD to treat epilepsy symptoms. The research is particularly in favor of treating specific types of severe epilepsy like Dravet and Gastaut syndrome. These typically occur in children and are characterized by the patients having up to 300 seizures per day!
In some studies, the CBD oil administered to children with epilepsy reduced the number of seizures in a child from hundreds daily to none or just a few. It has led to the legalization of CBD for medical purposes in many states.
The research here has also led to the first-ever CBD-based drug that the FDA has approved, Epidiolex. This is the first drug that the FDA has approved containing CBD, and it’s set a strong standard for the future of pharmaceuticals.
CBD May Help Reduces Pain
Pain and inflammation relief are common uses of CBD. It can be used for an injury, situational pain, or chronic pain. One study on animals showed that CBD creams could reduce pain and inflammation due to arthritis. It’s believed that the CBD seeps through the pores and targets the point of the most pain and inflammation.
Another study examined the effects of CBD on rats with arthritis. Researchers used a CBD topical gel to treat specific pain points. They noticed an overall reduction in pain and inflammation for the affected joints with no side effects in rats that received a high dose of CBD.
This and many other studies like it are leading researchers to conclude that CBD could be a highly effective ingredient for treating arthritis and other painful or inflammatory conditions.
CBD Helps Cancer Symptoms
Many cancer patients have also used CBD to treat symptoms associated withcancer or cancer treatments. The National Cancer Institute has looked into the benefits of using CBD to treat symptoms following chemotherapy including pain, lack of appetite, and vomiting. Researchers have linked CBD to reducing cancer-related pain more than opioids alone.
CBD might also have the ability to fight the cancer itself. Mice with cancer were given CBD in one study, and the results were shrunken tumors. This has led researchers to look into the way that CBD could have cancer cell destroying properties. It might also help to stimulate the regrowth of destroyed cells.
CBD Improves Sleep
Many patients who suffer from insomnia or other sleep-related issues have experienced success with using CBD to help them sleep. Those who use it regularly report that it helps them to feel drowsy, helps their muscles relax, slows a racing heart rate, and minimizes symptoms that might be keeping them awake.
A 2019 study showed that CBD could help to improve sleep in patients suffering from chronic or situational anxiety. The study looked at 72 subjects, more than half of which had anxiety. About 80 percent of patients said they had less anxiety and two thirds said that fact helped them sleep better.
Other studies have looked at the muscle-relaxing, pain-reducing, and other symptom-relieving properties of taking CBD, but there’s more. There’s also evidence that CBD might be able to help restore sleep cycles.
One specific 2014 study examined the way that CBD helps to reduce REM sleep disorder, which is a condition involving patients acting out their dreams. This means nightmares and poor sleep. It could also help PTSD patients reduce the amount of time spent in REM sleep, or dream sleep, helping them rest easier and better overcome their condition.
CBD Can Help Alleviate Anxiety and Depression
There’s a great deal of research to support the use of CBD in treating anxiety. The positive effects have been reported not only anecdotally, but also in scientific studies.
First of all, it’s important to understand how medications typically treat anxiety and depression. After years of research, scientists believe that the best way to combat the two mental illnesses is to take a very similar approach of using SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) to block negative hormone production like cortisol and increase serotonin signaling.
Researchers studying CBD and mental healthbelieve that it might have a similar effect as SSRIs on mental health problems, although it seems to be more effective on anxiety than it is on depression.
There’s also a scientific belief that CBD could interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system. Your body makes cannabinoids naturally, and when you take cannabinoids through CBD, it could help to balance out the hormones produced through this structure. A steady stream of cannabinoids through your daily doses of CBD could mean a more balanced hormone production, reducing feelings of anxiety and depression.
CBD’s Neuroprotective Properties
Alongside theseizure-protective benefits of CBD, researchers believe there are other neuroprotective properties to the substance.
There’s budding research into CBD as a potential treatment or preventative treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. So far, nothing has been proven, but several studies have shown improved symptoms, including behavioral symptoms like agitation and aggression.
There’s also research on the way CBD interacts with a person’s memory, a key component of Alzheimer’s and dementia issues. There’s significant support for this research, and projects are well-funded, so there will likely be more answers in the near future.
When you’re ready to try CBD for yourself, it’s good to understand the scientific factors potentially backing it up.Keep a close eye on the scientific breakthroughs to come on CBD, as the research is just getting started and the researchers like what they see.
