Feeling stressed out lately? Looking for stress management solutions can be quite annoying. The recommendations usually revolve around invasive lifestyle changes — which aren’t always effective — or the use of stress medication. Pharmaceuticals can help people deal with chronic stress and anxiety disorders, but they may also come with negative effects, and a stress medication may become addictive over prolonged use.
In the face of those options, CBD stands out as a simple, natural, and convenient solution to the problem of stress. But how effective is it, really?
If you hope that CBD will “cure” your stress, then you should probably lower your expectations. However, CBD can be an effective stress management tool.
What is stress?
While the term “stress” is tossed around, the definition of the word often eludes the average person. Stress is a state of heightened awareness and responsiveness induced as part of the body’s fight or flight responses. It’s a defense mechanism, meant to make you ready to fight, escape, or hide when you run into a life or death situation. It was useful for humans foraging for food with other members of your tribe.
One of the tragedies of human existence is that while our societies advance in decades, our biology evolves over millennia. On top of that, evolution seeks to build on top of what already exists, instead of creating something new. That’s why bats, humans, and birds all have the exact type of bone in their forearm, for example.
All of this means that stress is a relic of the past, poorly adapted for the present world. Of course speaking in public makes you sweat and shake and stutter. Public speaking activates the same systems used to protect you from predators in the wild, except now the entire crowd is the lion.
The above example runs into another definition problem: there isn’t just one kind of stress. Although we often use the same word for all sorts of stress, psychologists often break stress down into three types: acute, episodic, and chronic stress.
The different types of stress
Speaking in public is a situation that often induces an acute stress response. Acute stress is the normal, healthy type of stress most people experience. It arises in response to a concrete outside force, usually due to a major life change or a special occasion.
Speaking in public, going in for a job interview, or having a serious fight with your spouse can all induce acute stress. In general, this type of stress response does not require treatment unless stressful situations regularly leave you unable to function.
The second type of stress is called episodic acute stress. The reaction is the same, but people suffering from this type of stress have stressful episodes with alarming frequency. This can be caused by living a stressful lifestyle or an ongoing life crisis, such as a health crisis in the family.
Chronic stress is the next natural step, where instead of having episodes of stress, you spend a large majority of your time in a state of intense stress. This is often caused by chemical imbalances, or as a side effect of enduring intense personal trauma or physical abuse, especially as a child.
What CBD can do to help
CBD is a naturally soothing substance. After some experimentation, you’ll be able to find the right dose and concentration to help you calm down from different levels of stress. That allows you to deal with each type of stress with the right type of CBD product.
For example, placing a few drops of Cibdol’s CBD under your tongue can help you relax before a presentation. For episodic and chronic stress, it is better to just make CBD a part of your routine. You can consume CBD every eight, six, or three hours to help manage your stress levels. Edibles are often the alternative preferred by people who want the effects of CBD all day.
Photo Credit
Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay
Guest Author Bio
Trenton J. Smith
Trenton is an aspiring writer who loves to research and write about a wide variety of topics. When he is not writing, he enjoys gardening and long walks with his dog Boomer.
I love your article about CBD. It’s super detailed and very helpful. Will share with my entourage. Big thank you for putting this together. Much much appreciated!