There are times when stress feels like a tag-along shadow, and anger is not far behind. Stress often goes hand-in-hand with anger, and dialing one down can really help the other.
Starting with stress management can help with anger management, so if your looking to chill down a bit CBD oil and hemp products might be the place to start.
This green superstar is making waves in the health and wellness scene for its potential to help manage stress, navigate stressful situations, and even keep that excessive anger at bay.
Intrigued?
Find out more below on how CBD might contribute to better mental health and stress management.
Article Highlight
Behind this articleVegan Tropical CBDA GummiesCalm without the high. 50mg CBDA and 50mg CBD per gummy.See the gummies
- When stress gets ramped up it does not leave us with the emotional state to handle even minor annoyances, and this often turns into anger. Cue in cortisol and adrenaline, the culprits causing chronic stress, potential anxiety, and health challenges.
- Your emotional state is regulated in part by the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and the serotonin system. When these get out of balance, so does your ability to manage stress.
- Hemp cannabinoids like CBD, and its parent cannabinoid CBDA, both work by helping regulate the ECS and serotonin systems, bringing on a calmer state.
- Finding the right quality CBD or CBDA product, and the right dose is often a great tool in your stress management routine.
Understanding Stress and Anger
Excessive stress can often facilitate many poor decisions, and your ability to handle problems that life throws at you.
Feelings of depression and fatigue are not uncommon in people with high levels of stress.
So what happens when stress and anger combine?
Cortisol and Adrenaline: Your Body's Dynamic Duo
Cortisol and adrenaline are your body's superheroes. With these guys, you're ready for 'fight or flight'.
Stressful situations can activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, causing an increase in these hormones.
They rush in, get your glucose levels peaking for energy and amp up your heart rate for more oxygen. It feels like your body's 'autopilot', deciding when to speed up or chill out, is working overtime.
And this can lead to anger as a natural response to these hormones.
The Toll of the 'Fight or Flight'
But what if your body doesn't switch off from 'fight or flight'? If these hormones are always on, it's like a never-ending alarm bell—leading to anxiety, restlessness, and messing with your mental health.
Soon, you might find yourself having trouble sleeping or reacting with rage to challenging situations.
Its a vicious cycle, as lack of sleep causes more stress, and your hormones stay out of balance.
Stress Hormones: The Long-Term Impact
Prolonged engagement of these stress responses leads to chronic stress, like a ticking time bomb. Over time, this constant stress can add up, leading to health issues like:
- Hypertension - high blood pressure over time can cause cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes - stress hormones like cortisol can increase blood glucose levels and insulin resistance
- Depression - altered mood states from chronic stress are common
- Insomnia - elevated levels of adrenaline and cortisol are common in patients with insomnia
- Fatigue - exhaustion from lack of sleep and chronic stress is common in people under chronic stress
Living with chronic stress can make you feel as if you're always in conflict, constantly facing challenges, and struggling with anger management. Your heart rate is elevated, blood pressure rises, and you notice you're often angry, struggling with emotion, and experiencing the physical and mental toll of stress.
But remember, there are steps to manage stress and ways to overcome these struggles. It's within your ability to support your mental health and navigate these certain circumstances. You're not alone in this journey.
The Science Behind CBD for stress and anger management
So what can cannabinoids like CBD and CBDA do to help?
Many people have started using hemp derived products for great effects, and the science is catching up to what the consumers are reporting. There are now many studies on the effects and how they can help in the right circumstances.
The Amazing ECS: Your Body's Hidden Hero
The ECS, endocannabinoid system, is found throughout the body, but is strongly integrated into many of the brains functions.
Like most neurotransmitters in the brain, the ECS works through endocannabinoids, which are naturally produced to signal through their receptors. The most common ECS receptors in the brain are CB1 and CB2, found on many of the neurons.
Sometimes the endocannabinoids are not produced at too low a level or are metabolized too fast to properly help regulate your mood.
It is currently thought that CBD may be able to help with stress management by acting on the CB2 receptor, and bring balance back to mood regulation.
CBD, ECS and Stress responses
Multiple studies showing the effects of CBD in pre clinical trials has revealed a strong role for changes the endocannabinoid system that lead to unwanted effects of stress and anxiety:- Stress can compromise neuron health, and addition of CBD can help with neurogenesis and cell remodeling.
- Cannabinoids like CBD and CBDA can help regulate the serotonin system as well, which is shown to have impacts on stress symptoms.
- Meta analysis of CBD clinical trials found benefits for stress management across 250 different participants.
CBD's Potential for Anger Regulation
Expanding our conversation about CBD and its effects, let's turn towards another emotion we all feel—anger. Now, you're probably thinking, "Can CBD really help with that?"CBD’s active ingredient seems to have a unique talent for mood regulation. Besides combating stress, CBD could help turn down the heat when our emotions run too hot, including those anger flare-ups.
Much of our anger comes from an inability to manage stress well. Since CBD oil has been shown to help with stress, it can also help reduce anger outbursts when we least want it.
However, there is not much in the way of research on direct impact of CBD on anger management.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that everyone's body is different. You may respond differently to CBD oil compared to someone else. How it will affect negative feelings? Will it balance your fight or flight response, or help you get enough sleep? Will it assist with symptoms of anger issues? These questions might still need answers and might require high doses and further research.
Meet CBDA: A Possible Ally in Your Battle Against Stress and Anger
Remember when we chatted about CBD earlier? Well, buckle up, my friend, because we've got another letter to add to that mix – A – making it CBDA, or Cannabidiolic Acid if you want a mouthful.
It's not as well-known as CBD, but trust me, it's quite the hidden gem!
CBDA 101: The Basics
CBDA is the natural cannabinoid made by the hemp plant. Why? Well, all natural cannabinoids start out in this "acidic form". They only later get turned into CBD since the conventional purification processes uses heat and converts CBDA to CBD for example.
This is why you dont see many hemp derived products with CBDA.
Because CBDA possesses a unique chemical structure that can make it quite a star player when it interacts with our body's trusty Endocannabinoid System (ECS).
What makes CBDA oil more potent than CBD oil?
- Over 500% better absorption than CBD, making it way more bioavailable.
- Anti anxiety and stress properties via its interactions with both the ECS and critical serotonin receptors.
- Shown to have anti inflammatory properties through inhibition of COX-2, a critical inflammatory enzyme increased during stress.
- Pre clinical trials show substantial benefits for nausea
- Animal studies suggest CBDA may help with joint pain through anti inflammatory properties and inhibiting TRPV1 pain signaling channels.
Many of the studies with CBD oil find that they need very high doses to help with anxiety and stress management. This is a little talked about problem with neutral cannabinoids like CBD, they have poor absorption.
If drugs cant get into the blood stream well, meaning low bioavailability, they have trouble exerting any significant benefit.
This is why CBDA is such a great option, you need less of it to get a great results.
Conclusion
Isn't it fascinating how CBD might help with stress and anger? Plus, its parent CBDA could give a boost to those benefits. But remember, we're still in the figuring-out stage.Whether using CBDA or CBD for stress and anger management, make sure to start with a low dose and work your way up. This is typically in the 20mg to 40mg range, and can get up to the 100mg per day range on the higher end.
Before adding these potential tools to your wellness toolbox, always chat with the health experts. Ready to see what CBD might have to offer? A calmer, feel-good life could be waiting!
Behind this articleVegan Tropical CBDA GummiesCalm without the high. 50mg CBDA and 50mg CBD per gummy.See the gummies