Endocannabinoid System & How CBD Works

Cannabidiol—CBD—is a cannabis compound that has significant nutritional benefits, but does not make people feel “stoned” and can actually counteract the psychoactivity of THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

The fact that CBD-rich cannabis is non-psychoactive or less psychoactive than THC-dominant strains makes it an appealing option for patients looking for relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety, psychosis, seizures, spasms, and other conditions without disconcerting feelings of lethargy or dysphasia.

Scientific and clinical research underscores CBD’s potential as a treatment for a wide range of conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, MS, chronic pain, schizophrenia, PTSD, depression, antibiotic-resistant infections, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders. CBD has demonstrable neuroprotective and neurogenic effects, and its anticancer properties are currently being investigated at several academic research centers in the United States and elsewhere.

Wikipedia says this about it:
"Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of at least 113 active cannabinoids identified in cannabis. It is a major phytocannabinoid, accounting for up to 40% of the plant's extract. CBD is considered to have a wide scope of potential medical applications - due to clinical reports showing the lack of side effects, particularly a lack of psychoactivity (as is typically associated with THC), and noninterference with several psychomotor learning and psychological functions."

Read the rest of Wikipedia's description of CBD

What is CBD Oil used for?

The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is one of science’s newest and most exciting discoveries. The ECS regulates a variety of biological processes, like relaxation, eating, sleeping, certain inflammation responses and even cognitive function. In a nutshell, your ECS is responsible for making sure your entire body is working optimally.

Read Wikipedia's description of the Endocannabinoid System

Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body. However, while The Endocannabinoid System performs different tasks, experts believe that the overall function of the ECS is the regulation of homeostasis (keeping the body in a stable state of health).

There are two main types of cannabinoid receptors—CB1 and CB2—on cells throughout the body. They are most abundant in the brain and immune system respectively. Your body naturally makes its own cannabinoids (endocannabinoids like anandamide and 2-AG) that share a similar chemical structure with plant-based cannabinoids like CBD.

Endocannabinoids (and plant-based cannabinoids) link with protein molecule receptors—called cannabinoid receptors—on the surface of cells. CBD has also been shown to strengthen and improve the efficiency of mitochondria, the “powerhouses” of your cells that are responsible for ensuring that your cells work the way they should. Research on the ECS has shown that as part of regulating homeostasis, and is responsible for repairing damaged cells. Research has also shown that cannabinoids are able to target damaged cells while sparing normal cells, meaning that the Endocannabinoid system may act as a biological defense system.

When a person ingests Hemp CBD Oil or other cannabinoids, these cannabinoid receptors are activated (CBD appears to have a greater affinity for CB2 receptors than CB1 receptors). Research indicates that when you supplement your ECS with nontoxic, non-habit-forming cannabinoids, you may create a healthier endocannabinoid system and, almost certainly, a healthier you.

The ECS literally means “the Cannabinoid system inside the body”. As CBD modulates endocannabinoid tone, it is helping to balance and maintain a well-founded internal environment within your body. By regularly supplying our ECS with the nutrients it was designed for, vital communications can be restored between the control centers of the body and every other system.

From the National Institutes of Health in 2006:
“In the past decade, The Endocannabinoid System has been implicated in a growing number of physiological functions, both in the central and peripheral nervous systems and in peripheral organs… modulating the activity of the Endocannabinoid System turned out to hold therapeutic promise in a wide range of disparate diseases and pathological conditions…”

For more data by The National Institutes of Health, go here

Researchers are just now learning how cannabinoids and other compounds work to affect the Endocannabinoid System. CBD and THC are not the only thing the Endocannabinoid System uses. There are at least eighty phytocannabinoids, several endocannabinoids, which are the cannabinoids all mammals make in their bodies, and some other compounds like omega fatty acids that appear to interact with cannabinoid receptors.

There are thousands of published, peer-reviewed studies on the Endocannabinoid System. The Endocannabinoid System has been attracting the interest of pharmaceutical drug development and research since its discovery over two decades ago.

Overall, this research indicates the Endocannabinoid System seems to have a very “protective” role in our bodies. In fact, the most important thing that the Endocannabinoid System wants to protect is homeostasis – that is, making sure the body is running optimally at all times.

Some researchers have proposed an “Endocannabinoid Deficiency Syndrome,” a syndrome in which the body doesn't make enough endocannabinoids. This research speculates that a cannabinoid deficiency may be at the root of autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and more.