CBD appears to be safe at oral doses ranging from 300-400 mg, and seems to provide numerous therapeutic effects across a range of therapeutic domains.
Utilizing a double-blind placebo-controlled design, we conducted an experiment to investigate whether CBD could alleviate emotional exhaustion symptoms among frontline health care professionals in an office environment.
Anxiety
CBD’s antianxiety effects stem from multiple mechanisms. A study on individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder showed that those treated with CBD 90 minutes prior to undertaking public speaking tasks experienced significantly less stress and discomfort compared with control subjects. CBD administration decreased activation in an area of the brain known as the cingulate cortex which is involved in emotion processing and anticipatory responses; in contrast benzodiazepine use resulted in increased sedation as well as motor coordination impairment during speech exercises.
An additional mechanism of CBD may involve modulation of aversive memory processing. When given acutely to rats in a fearful faces task, acute CBD administration attenuated activation in the amygdala and medial temporal regions involved with emotion processing; decreased ACC-amygdala functional connectivity (FC), which indicates overactive emotional processing; as well as blocked reconsolidation of fear memories through its CB1R activity effect. A retrospective chart review of 103 adult patients who used CBD treatment at psychiatric clinic found anxiety symptoms decreased significantly within 1 month while sleep disorder symptoms also improved by this same amount – both types of treatment had significant decreases within 1 month or 2 months of starting treatment while sleep disorder symptoms also improved within this same amount of time frame.
Pain
CBD has not only proven useful in treating anxiety and insomnia, but has also been found to be an effective pain reliever. CBD works by engaging cannabinoid receptors, ion channels, anandamide and enzymes which regulate how the body responds to pain; cancer, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia have all benefited from using it as treatments, while those struggling with addiction disorders such as opioid use disorder find reduced drug cravings through CBD therapy.
CBD has been demonstrated to possess analgesic properties in animal models of both neuropathic and inflammatory pain. CBD was shown to activate three glycine receptors on dorsal horn neurons of mice experiencing chronic constriction injury model of neuropathic pain, leading to reduced mechanical allodynia. Furthermore, CBD reduced behavioral expression of pain by inhibiting acetylcholine release – with results from several small open label studies on ad hoc CBD dosing regimens showing qualitative improvements in self-reported pain levels.
Seizures
Seizures are a type of neurological disorder in which there is a sudden, uncontrollable surge of electrical activity in the brain that disrupts its delicate balance, leading to changes in behavior, movements and emotions. People experiencing generalized seizures may have changes in their senses or feel dizzy before losing consciousness; repetitive behaviors may include eye blinking, lip-smacking or chewing movements, hand rubbing/finger motions or even twitching in arms/legs.
CBD has been shown to reduce seizures among those living with epilepsy, although this does not treat their underlying causes or cure them. CBD may interact with anti-seizure medications; therefore it’s important that you talk to your healthcare provider about the best course of treatment options available to you.
Studies conducted with plant-derived, pharmaceutical grade CBD have demonstrated significant reductions in drop seizures among children diagnosed with Dravet and Lennox Gastaut Syndromes (DS and LGS), leading to FDA-approval of Epidiolex for both LGS and DS in 2018.
Inflammation
Inflammation is your body’s natural way of responding to injury, infection or other health concerns; however, chronic inflammation can become a problem when it doesn’t go away on its own. Furthermore, inflammation has been implicated as the root cause for many chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
CBD may help relieve inflammation by activating TRPV1 and TRPA2 channels, lowering oxidative stress levels, and inhibiting AEA synthesis via its GSH-binding site [75]. CBD has also been shown to help reduce neuronal cell death through modulating PPAR ligands such as CBG, VCE-003, HU-331 among others [76,77].
Anti-inflammatory CBD derivatives include (+)-dihydrocannabidiol and (+)-tetrahydrocannabidiol, both with CB1 receptor affinity. Furthermore, HU-331 was recently shown to prevent reperfusion injury by decreasing ROS generation and mitochondrial protein damage in mice’s hippocampus [102], while also activating 5-HT1A receptors directly – increasing AEA levels while simultaneously decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokine production dose-dependently [103].
