The Dr. Oz Show, Willie Nelson, Mandy Moore. Whether it’s doctors, celebrities, neighbors or friends, people are talking about CBD. You can now find it in dog treats, tea drops, bath bombs and chocolate candies. A mainstream panacea? A spinoff trend from legalized marijuana? A new natural miracle? Perhaps. We can’t deny it - it’s in vogue these days. But why?
We live in an anxious world. News alerts, phone addiction, 24-hour news, social media notifications. It’s no wonder why our collective consciousness is searching for something to provide some relief. Not only that, we have reached a point where natural solutions and more holistic approaches are paving the way to better health and quality of life.
As Chris Burggraeve, a former Coca-Cola and ad executive called it “CBD is the new avocado toast”. Not only that, CBD is beginning to enter the land of buzz marketing, with phrases “single origin,” “small batch” and “plant based.” Considering its similarities to the emerging and fast-expanding wellness market as well as green beauty, it comes as no surprise that women are in the forefront of CBD conversations.
According to a recent New York Times article, - women are leading the CBD movement. “Women have long felt ignored and dehumanized by the medical and health care industries. They experience longer wait times for treatment. Their pain and suffering are more likely to be dismissed as anxiety or hysteria. And the male body has typically been the model for medical research.”
So, is CBD a wonder drug? Perhaps.
According the aforementioned NYT article “CBD is the most promising drug that has come out for neuropsychiatric diseases in the last 50 years,” said Dr. Esther Blessing, an assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine, who is coordinating a study of CBD as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder. “The reason it is so promising is that it has a unique combination of safety and effectiveness across of very broad range of conditions.” This includes opioid addiction, schizophrenia, anxiety, epilepsy, and many more.
Much research is yet to be done on the drug, but little by little the public is getting exposed and becoming open to the idea of CBD and the potential it offers. According to a study from the European Journal of Pain, CBD applied on the skin (using an animal model) could help lower pain and inflammation due to arthritis. Another study demonstrated the mechanism by which CBD inhibits inflammatory and neuropathic pain, two of the most difficult types of chronic pain to treat. So far, the strongest scientific evidence is for its effectiveness in treating some of the most serious childhood epilepsy syndromes, such as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome, which generally don’t respond to anti-seizure medications. As published by Harvard Medical School, CBD was able to reduce the number of seizures, and in some cases, it was able to stop them altogether.
They key is to understand there is much we don’t know about CBD with a lack of scientific studies to back up many claims that are made these days. Therefore, we must be careful not to fall too deep into the hype and adopt false expectations. If you read a brand touting ‘too good to be true’ benefits, they probably are. The best way to explore CBD is to buy high quality product and discuss with an expert what you are trying to achieve. More is not always better or more effective, in fact, it is often times consistent lower doses that offer the most benefit. In addition, there are many different ways to take CBD - from tinctures to edibles, topicals and more. Certain applications may be more effective for certain uses, and in many circumstances, it’s just a matter of preference.
So, remember. Buy quality. Get expert advice. And when researching, make sure you’re getting information from factual and scientifically based sources, not marketing hype, hearsay, or literature with questionable intentions. Otherwise, enjoy the incredible benefits of CBD and discover what works for you.