Of all of the health benefits that CBD provides, one of the most commonly uses for it is to reduce stress – but does CBD really reduce stress? Or is it just a placebo effect?
We already know that CBD has quite a number of health benefits for the body – everything from reduced inflammation, decrease in chronic pain, anti-anxiety, and even more. More recent studies have now also been showing that CBD has a positive effect on cortisol levels in the body, and therefore is an effective stress relief supplement as well.
Cortisol and Stress
These days, people are inundated with multiple stressors daily – everything from their jobs to social media, finances, and so much more. Over the past two years specifically with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the average stress level for people hasn’t been higher in recent history. This increase in stress releases Cortisol – a stress hormone that releases to ease tension in your body during period of high stress. While cortisol is very helpful in small doses, if the body is under ongoing stress, it will release too much cortisol, which is bad for us. Too much cortisol can lead to anxiety & depression, trouble sleeping, headaches, weight gain, and more.
How Can CBD Help?
While it’s been known for some time now that THC helps to reduce stress and cortisol levels due to it’s psychoactive properties – it turns out that CBD has many of the same benefits without getting you “high”. In recent studies, researchers have found that CBD interacts directly with the adrenal glands – where cortisol is made – and can regulate the amount of cortisol that is being produced. This means that it can help reduce all of the negative physical effects that stress can have on your body.
What’s the Best Way to Use CBD for Cortisol Support?
When it comes to helping with regulating certain hormones, the best way to use CBD is through ingestion. This can be oils or edibles. Some of the most popular ingestible are CBD gummies – while these are candy-like, they provide the full CBD effects, some people just find it easier to take a gummy than the oils.
For ingestible CBD products, there are also different types of CBD to consider – CBD isolates or full-spectrum CBD products. When it comes to deciding which one to take to help regulate cortisol levels, it is important to provide distinction between the two types; CBD Isolate is a completely isolated form of CBD, meaning there are no traces of any other part of the cannabis plant.
For some people THC can actually cause an increase in anxiety, due to its psychoactive properties. For this reason, isolated CBD is considered to the better option for managing stress and cortisol levels. In addition to that, most of the research done on this topic is done using isolated CBD, so it stands that if that is what is being most researched for this use, it would be the better on to go wit has well to help ensure that you’re able to get the full cortisol support that you need out of your CBD.