Anxiety: Can CBD Help You Find Calm Within Chaos?

In such a rapidly changing and connected world, being able to take a step back and breathe is a valuable ability to have, allowing us to diffuse stress and anxiety. It helps us to look at an issue from a different perspective, or allows us to mentally prepare for a potentially adverse upcoming situation.

Unfortunately that’s very much easier said than done for many people, as the pressures of day-to-day life can stack up all too easily and too quickly, and can often times remove the opportunity to have some time to oneself.

For some of us, anxiety and stress can then set in, compounding the issue further with irrational thoughts of worry. It then becomes all the harder to combat this anxiety through relaxation practices, as it can feel impossible to shift your thoughts away from the central cause of distress. On top of this, excessive anxiety and stress can then start impacting our bodies and minds in different ways, both in the short and long-terms. This can range from heart palpitations, breathing problems, and fatigue, through to migraines, memory problems, and a weakened immune system. These side-effects go to show just how crucial it can be for your wellbeing to be able to let go every now and then, to unwind, and to allow your body and mind some time to reset and recover.

So what are we worried about?

Firstly, it’s important to say that anxiety is natural, and to a degree it’s a necessary emotion, as it allows our body to respond to danger in a “fight or flight” mode. Additionally, anxiety can often times motivate us to deal with difficult challenges in a creative manner, however it’s when anxiety becomes persistent and can start impacting day-to-day life in a detrimental way that it becomes a real issue.

It’s very difficult to say what exactly are the main causes of anxiety and anxiety disorders, and a majority of the research into the field of anxiety causes show that there are a whole multitude of potential reasons. These can range from environmental factors, social factors, self-identity issues, and genetic factors, to name just a handful.

Over the last year there have been multiple studies into the rates of mental health conditions across the UK population, with reports showing that around 1 in 5 adults experienced some form mental health concern, with forms of anxiety disorders (such as Generalised Anxiety Disorder) being the most common. The rates heavily spiked for adults aged 16-39, with an increase of over 150% in the first 3 months of 2021, to nearly 1 in 3 people in that age range citing symptoms.

But while there has been a rapid increase in rates of anxiety very recently, these rates have been slowly creeping up for just over a decade now, and mainly in the 18-34 age range. Between 2008 and 2020, studies show an increase in diagnoses for anxiety disorders of between double and triple. This can be linked to many different factors, however social media has repeatedly been considered a major factor, as there is a tendency to always be comparing ourselves to every other post that we scroll past.

Truth be told, ultimately there is no definitive answer for why there has been an increase in anxiety over the past decade or so. There have been major events that could cause a spike in diagnoses temporarily, however that would typically flatten out rather than continually increase over the course of a decade. Everyone will have their own causes for feeling anxious, so trying to universally pin down one reason to a long-lasting and consistent increase is a fruitless effort. Everyone will feel anxious over different things, and everyone will have their own way to combat it.

Can CBD help with anxiety?

There has been a number of studies conducted into CBD and its impact on stress and anxiety, especially looking at PTSD, GAD, Social Anxiety Disorder, OCD, and Panic disorder. For these disorders, studies show positive outcomes, however we cannot say that it definitely will help. That being said, in our experience, attempting to combat stress and anxiety is the main reason why people turn to CBD. Many people find that CBD can have a very relaxing effect on people, and can help allow people to mentally take a step back and collect their thoughts. Additionally, our customers who regularly take our CBD oils who suffer from anxiety or panic attacks say that they are less prone to those attacks, even when faced with a situation that would typically trigger such a response.

What else can we do to be less anxious?

This is inherently a very tricky question to answer, as mentioned earlier, what is relaxing and de-stressing for one person might be the complete wrong thing for another. The absolute first step in combatting anxiety is to figure out what the root of your anxiety is, as well as what methods of relaxation and unwinding would work for you as an individual. A few methods people commonly use to alleviate stress and anxiety are:

Try talking about your feelings to friends, family, or a health professional. Sometimes just talking to someone can help straighten things out in your mind.
Make sure you have a well-rounded diet with regular meals to keep your energy levels stable.
Take a time-out. Find something relaxing to do that allows you to take a step back (e.g. Yoga, listening to music, meditation, etc.)
Understand that it’s impossible for one person to control everything.
Exercise often, as many studies show that there are anxiety-relieving benefits to exercise.

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