Anxiety
Anxiety is the mind and body’s response to a situation deemed stressful, dangerous, or unfamiliar, and while some anxiety is useful in that it helps us stay alert, many individuals are living with persistent anxiety. Research has shown that anxiety can be inherited, can follow a traumatic event or traumatic childhood, or is linked to depression, drug use, and physical health issues.
There are an estimated 280 million people in the world batting this complex illness and all its contributing factors that spill over into work performance, health, and relationships, causing it to be deemed the disease of the 21st-century.
What Happens To The Body When We Feel Anxiety?
Our brain is made up of old and new parts and when something is perceived as a danger our primitive brain activates the autonomic nervous system, which releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which then raise the heart rate to circulate blood to vital organs and muscles more efficiently. This prepares the body to take immediate action if necessary.
The problem, of course, is that the old brain doesn’t have the sophistication of our new brain to assess risk and in the ideal situation, the new brain catches up, assesses the risk, and allows us to return to our normal state fairly quickly. But when the new brain tends to live in the future, worrying and fretting and creating catastrophes, the old brain responds by triggering its threat detection system, and this overload of stress hormones reduces our metabolism, weakens our immune system, and keeps us awake.
What Does Anxiety Feel Like?
The Royal College of Psychiatrists describes feeling worried all the time, feeling tired, being unable to concentrate, feeling irritable, sleeping badly, and feeling depressed. In the body, it manifests as fast or irregular heartbeats (palpitations), sweating, a pale face, dry mouth, muscle tension and pains, trembling, numbness or tingling in fingers, toes, or lips, faster breathing, dizziness, faintness, indigestion problems, frequent urination, nausea, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.
The behaviours of someone with anxiety can include biting nails or picking skin, double-checking plans, avoiding difficult conversations, and leaving messages unread for days. Be gentle with them.
What Are The Different Types Of Anxiety?
There are many anxiety-related disorders, which are generally split into three groups.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) occurs when people with generalised anxiety disorder display excessive anxiety or worry for at least six months.
Panic attacks and intense fear come on quickly and reach their peak within minutes. Phobia-related disorders can happen in situations that involve flying, heights, receiving injections, and more.
How Can Medical Cannabis Help With Anxiety?
The endocannabinoid system is expressed in all brain regions that are important for the processing of anxiety, fear, and stress and has been identified as playing an important role in stress and anxiety responses.
Research has discovered that medical cannabis, especially CBD, the non-active compound, appears to affect the amount of GABA neurotransmitter levels in the brain, which balances anxiety levels. A separate study has shown that regular cannabis users have reduced emotional arousal and stress reactivity in response to negative imagery, suggesting that cannabis reduces cortisol, the stress hormone but more research is required to ensure this reaction is positive.
A paper titled Effects of Marijuana on Mental Health found that 300-600 mg of CBD taken orally, reduces experimentally-induced anxiety in individuals without anxiety disorders and reduces anxiety in patients with social anxiety disorder.
A Washington State University study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found that varying concentrations of THC and CBD can help stress, anxiety and depression. The researchers found that one inhale of cannabis that is high in CBD and low in THC was optimal for reducing symptoms of depression, two inhales of any type of cannabis was sufficient to reduce symptoms of anxiety, while 10 or more inhales of cannabis high in CBD and high in THC produced the largest reductions in stress. In a 2019 study published in the Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, researchers looked at the effect CBD has on anxiety and stress, related to public speaking and found that CBD can help reduce blood pressure. The group that took a medium dose (300mg) of CBD experienced the most notable reduced anxiety response, indicating that CBD can help reduce stressful environmental factors given the optimal dosage for it.
What Are Alternative Ways To Manage Anxiety?
When you feel overwhelmed, experts suggest interrupting the pattern by touching sensory items like beads, a stress ball or clay, or smelling essential oils. Some people find that exercise can use up excessive adrenaline while others say that eating food can regulate your breathing. Another option is ‘alternate nostril breathing, a type of yogic breathing that translates as “subtle energy clearing breathing technique” and can be seen here.
Further Reading
How and where to safely buy RSO medical cannabis oil online
Introduction to Medical Cannabis
Help and Advice
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