What?
CBD is a compound found within the cannabis plant. It is non-intoxicating, non-addictive and non-toxic. CBD has a balancing effect on our health, regulating the flow of natural chemicals in our bodies, helping us to be at our optimum. CBD is also a stimulator of our serotonin receptors and it influences our GABA receptors in our body increasing it’s calming effect.
How?
To understand how CBD works you need to know about the Endocannabinoid system (ECS).
The ECS is a regulatory system that responds to changes in our internal and external environment. ECS receptors are found in the...
- Brain
- Major organs
- Central nervous system
- Immune system
- Cardiovascular system
- Bone Marrow
- Skin
- Gut
- Glands
The ECS’s role is to maintain homeostasis or balance across 5 primary functions:
- Eating: It influences our appetite and how we metabolize food
- Sleeping: It regulates our sleep cycles and the stages of sleep
- Relaxing: It influences our nervous system’s ability to calm down and balance brain chemicals
- Protecting: It regulates our immune system, fights inflammation and protects our brain from toxins
- Forgetting: It enables the brain and body to process trauma so we don’t get stuck in flight/fight mode
Why?
If we experience pain, stress, anxiety, our bodies naturally produce chemicals called endocannabinoids which regulate our ECS. Stress, trauma, illnesses and other lifestyle factors can cause our ECS to become deficient. When we are not able to produce enough endocannabinoids we can use CBD, a phytocannabinoid, to stimulate our ECS back to optimum functionality.
Terms
ECS: The Endocannabinoid System. An internal regulatory system that is central to health and wellbeing.
Endocannabinoid: chemicals produced in our bodies that act on our ECS.
Phytocannabinoid: chemicals produced by the cannabis plant that act on our ECS such as CBD.
