In the course of human history, people have been trying to find ways to improve our body. We are always trying to find the perfect plant, food, or concoction to keep our body physically fit, energized, and healthy. If there is a possibility for immortality, we’ll be looking at that too. But most of us are not even thinking about the cause of most health conditions: Stress! In this article, we’ll uncover what stress is and the role of adaptogens in stress relief and the similarities between cannabinoids and adaptogens.
Stress, stress, stress!
Stress is a part of life. Cramming to finish your homework, losing a game, making a presentation to the board, problems with finances, there’s a lot of ways stress starts and gets the best of you. Stress management is a very important thing that we need to proactively do because mismanagement of stress can result in a variety of anxiety issues and can contribute to a myriad of physical conditions as well.
So learning everything we can about stress is important! When our body is stressed, our body goes into 3 stages:
Alarm Phase
Phase of Resistance
Phase of Exhaustion
When stress is introduced to the body, our system recognizes it and releases different chemicals, like adrenaline, increasing the body’s ability to pay attention and handle the stress which is part of the phase of resistance. After our body is finished dealing with stress we feel fatigued, signaling the start of the phase of exhaustion.
Normally, our body can deal with a significant number of stressors. But sometimes we need help dealing with them. Adaptogens and cannabinoids are what a lot of studies are trying to uncover.
What are Adaptogens?
Adaptogens are plants or herbal pharmaceuticals that help us manage stress and normalize our body’s hormone levels. Essentially putting our body into homeostasis. Adaptogens work in a way that lengthens the Phase of Resistance when dealing with stress giving us more energy and increasing our focus. A study published in 2010 found a variety of benefits adaptogens can bring us such as:
Helping us fight fatigue
Protecting and stimulating our Central Nervous System
Antidepressant properties
A couple of adaptogenic plants that are popular are: Turmeric, American Ginseng, and Schisandra and there are more adaptogenic plants out there.
Adaptogens and Cannabinoids
As we have learned, adaptogens cause our body to reach homeostasis, an optimal level in our body wherein everything is right. Although cannabis is not regarded as an adaptogen, cannabinoids in cannabis work similarly with adaptogens. There is a general rule that adaptogens take about 3 to 9 months to work, but cannabinoids take less time than that to take effect.
Of course our body needs time to build up the adaptogens and cannabinoids so it may not take effect immediately, but combining the 2 can be very beneficial. CBD, Cannabidiol and other cannabinoids will work effectively with adaptogens to enhance stress and anxiety relief. CBN or Cannabinol is a perfect combination with adaptogens because while adaptogens work with stress, CBN can potentially help manage your sleep giving you more energy.
Conclusion
No matter how much we want to, we can’t shake stress. It’s a part of our lives. Managing it is essential. With adaptogens and cannabinoids, the dream of stress relief is possible now more than ever.