CBD, Not Just For Anxiety

“Can CBD really help with my anxiety?” It’s a question many have asked, especially after the past year.  Even before the pandemic, anxiety rates among kids and adults were at an all-time high, with a reported 1 in 5 suffering from an anxiety disorder. There is a definite link between ongoing stress and everyday mild anxiety and so it helps to have options in our toolkit to help us better cope with the effects of everyday anxiety and stress.

In general, feeling anxious can be an understandable response to the demands of daily life. And the physical effects of stress can show up in the body as well, including headaches, skin issues, muscle tension, and difficulty sleeping.

Mild, everyday anxiety is complex and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but an increasing number of early-phase studies of cannabidiol (CBD) bode extremely well for its use as a supplement for people dealing with everyday stress and anxiety.

So far, most of the research on CBD in humans has looked at its impact on anxiety but we are learning more about its other lesser known benefits, including its ability to help you achieve younger looking skin!

Artist Credit Daren Magee

First Up, How Does CBD Help with Anxiety?

We are all equipped with an endocannabinoid system (ECS) that plays a critical role in modulating how we respond to anxiety and fear, and in how we manage stress. The ECS acts like a master regulator, overseeing and directing many of the other physiological systems in our body like sleep and stress response in order to cultivate optimal balance.

Prolonged exposure to stress, however, can have a detrimental effect on the ECS. Over time, stress will impair the activity of CB1 receptors that are involved in how we process emotions. It will also increase levels of the enzyme fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), which breaks down the endocannabinoid anandamide, leaving us feeling more down in general. 

The more that is known about the ECS, the more far-reaching its importance seems to be. The ECS not only works via activation of its CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptor sites, but it may also interact, in potentially helpful ways with other neurotransmitter systems. For example, low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin are associated with both depression and anxiety. And research suggests that CBD  interacts with receptors that support normal serotonin levels. Furthermore, a study in mice shows that anandamide works closely with oxytocin, the natural substance known to reinforce our propensity for participation and social bonding, which are behaviors that are often unimaginable when we feel anxious.

What the Research Says

CBD has long been studied in animal research for its effects on anxiety, thankfully more targeted human studies of CBD and anxiety are coming out every day. 

A scientific review in 2015 concluded that CBD has considerable potential to help with every day or occasional anxiety. The amygdala (the barking dog) is an area of the brain known to be crucial in activating our fight or flight response. Sometimes we’re not able to fully process frightening experiences that happened in the past, and we may become more vulnerable to having anxious feelings in the future even in the absence of any obvious trigger. One study demonstrated that increasing anandamide levels in the amygdala of mice helped them to forget frightening events. Not surprisingly, CBD had the exact same effect in humans in a study of 48 volunteers.

CBD’s potential to help with anxiety extends beyond the endocannabinoid system itself. Animal studies indicate that CBD interacts in various ways with the serotonin neurotransmitter system and has been shown to block the negative effects of fearful memories through that mechanism as well. In one study, CBD also supported normal heart rate and reduced stress levels of rats put under stressful conditions. This led researchers to suggest that there’s substantial evidence to consider using CBD as adjunct support for anxiety and everyday stress in humans.

Findings from brain imaging studies corroborate that CBD supports areas of the brain that are associated with emotional and cognitive processes and memory. Brain images of healthy subjects who were given CBD suggest that the sense of relaxation they reported correlated with activity in the limbic and paralimbic areas of the brain.Subjects receiving placebo did not show the same effects on brain imaging and did not report significant changes in occasional anxiety. 

One of the most popular studies published was a randomized controlled study conducted in 2011 that recreated a situation likely to induce anxiety in most people, namely public speaking. Participants were divided into a CBD or a placebo group. Their situational anxiety levels were measured using subjective self-reported and objective physiological measures (e.g., heart rate and blood pressure). The group pretreated with CBD showed significantly less anxiety, cognitive impairment, and discomfort in performing public speaking compared to the placebo group.

But What Else Can CBD Do?

Studies of CBD tend to focus on the internal benefits of this miraculous molecule, but there are myriad of other benefits too, including how healthy and bright your skin appears. 

At Bella Med Spa, located in both Buckhead and Alpharetta, a Green Goddess CBD oil facial is offered. This balancing and healing facial uses medical-grade CBD oil that’s derived from the hemp plant as its cornerstone. The skin is deep-cleaned with a medical skin spatula, exfoliated through Diamond Microdermabrasion, then hydrated with a high-potency cannabidiol (CBD) and sweet almond oil mask.

CBD is safe and effective for all skin types and especially helpful to people who struggle with inflammatory skin conditions, skin sensitivities, headaches, dryness and acne. It also treats inflamed, red and peeling skin, dehydrated skin from sunburn or windburn, and fine lines. 

Bella is metro Atlanta’s first medspa to create and give a CBD facial treatment and the results have been impressive. Though results vary by patient, the treatment has been shown to leave the skin glowing, improve compromised skin, and help skin conditions including acne, eczema, and psoriasis. 

Alethea Joy, Owner of Bella MedSpa

After Thoughts

Multiple studies support the benefits of CBD in the optimal function of the ECS in several ways including how we sleep, how happy we are and how well we bond with others. 

For all of these reasons, trying Motherhood Unstressed full-spectrum hemp extracts for anxiety can be an excellent approach to self-care, especially when it’s part of a comprehensive plan that includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, and individualized practices that help you release stress.

And if you want to take your skincare routine to the next level, consider contacting Bella MedSpa for a CBD facial for the ultimate in soothing skincare relief.