How CBD Oil Can Help Manage Anxiety Symptoms and the Role of Diet in Enhancing Its Effectiveness
Anxiety disorders are becoming increasingly widespread mental health concerns that may easily disrupt the everyday activities of many individuals, hurting work and school performance. It can also interfere with relationships with loved ones or people they interact with regularly.
Getting treatment for an anxiety disorder is a possibility. If you feel you might be suffering from anxiety, it is essential you get a proper diagnosis from a physician; you can discuss your concerns and ask if CBD oil for anxiety is an option to approach treatment more naturally.
One of the main questions people with anxiety have is, “How can I get rid of anxiety fast?” When it comes to CBD oil, some factors play an essential role in making CBD more effective for anxiety. For example, food is sometimes not considered when thinking about anxiety, but knowing that CBD oil can be absorbed better when having a proper meal is an excellent point to learn more about.
CBD for Anxiety: How Does it Work?
CBD has been proven through studies to help with anxiety and depression. There is also enough anecdotal evidence from people who happily share how CBD oil has helped improve their quality of life.
It is important to keep in mind the nature of CBD to better understand how CBD for anxiety and depression works. CBD, according to research, is an “allosteric modulator,” a compound that helps your body by feeding back what it needs.
CBD helps your body respond according to your own particular needs; that is why it is popular to find articles that state that CBD effects are not the same in every person with anxiety. The anxiety disorder might be the same, but the way your body responds to anxiety is different, and CBD will either boost or inhibit responses based on the need of each body.
“Allosteric modulators are a group of substances that bind to a receptor to change that receptor’s response to stimulus.”
But how does CBD help anxiety and depression symptoms? Here we give you some examples of the diverse ways CBD interacts with your body:
- Amygdala: Located in the medial temporal lobe, it is one of the essential elements of the limbic system, playing a crucial role in emotion and memory. GABA (neurotransmitters) can be found in the amygdala. “The role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA has long been regarded as central to the regulation of anxiety.” When there is an imbalance of GABA, CBD can raise GABA levels in the body. CBD will assist your body in producing enough GABA to slow down or inhibit the signaling that is causing your body to have an anxiety problem.
- Anandamide: It was the first endocannabinoid discovered and is known as the “bliss molecule.” It interacts mainly with receptor CB1. According to research, CBD can inhibit fatty acid amide hydrolase, the primary enzyme responsible for its degradation, thus boosting relaxation and well-being that anandamide brings to your body.
- Serotonin (neurotransmitter): Serotonin is used by the body to communicate between nerve cells. It can act as a mood stabilizer and influence emotions, melatonin levels, appetite, and digestion. According to healthline.com, CBD doesn’t necessarily boost serotonin levels, but it may affect how your brain’s chemical receptors respond to the serotonin that’s already in your system. A study found that CBD’s effect on these receptors in the brain produced both antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects.
- Dopamine (neurotransmitter): Dopamine is associated with feelings of pleasure, motivation, and being productive. CBD can indirectly influence dopamine levels, thus helping regulate cognition, inspiration, and reward-seeking behaviors.
Furthermore, CBD is lipophilic, and having meals that can help higher amounts of CBD reach the endocannabinoid system can help you have better results regarding your health goals.
CBD Oil for Anxiety: What to Eat to Make CBD More Effective?
When it comes to managing anxiety and using CBD oil, balance, patience, and paying attention to your body’s reactions are all critical.
Anything you put in your body affects how you feel; there are various meals and drinks that, after eating, might make you feel heavy or increase your anxiety levels, like coffee. That is why a balanced diet, especially when suffering from anxiety, is good to have.
There are recommended foods that may help you alleviate your symptoms. A diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, magnesium-rich foods, and omega-3 fatty acids, along with supplementing with CBD oil, can help you reduce your anxiety symptoms in a healthier way.
It is generally known that CBD oil is best absorbed along with meals. The best foods are healthy fatty acids, which can act as great binding agents for CBD and instantly transform into energy by the liver. Your body then can have the opportunity to burn fat and immediately utilize CBD oil (CBD will be less digested, allowing more amounts of CBD to reach the ECS).
Examples of food with healthy fatty acids:
- Fish
- Avocado
- Olive oil
- Eggs
- Sesame oil
Taking CBD oil with these meals can increase the supplement’s bioavailability, which is the degree and pace at which CBD, in this case, is absorbed and transported into the circulation, where it can function in your body’s natural endocannabinoid system.
Top 5 Foods/Drinks to Avoid if Suffering from Anxiety
Just as there are foods that help you reduce symptoms of anxiety, there are also foods and drinks that can increase or trigger the symptoms. Here we list the top 5 foods and drinks to avoid when suffering from anxiety:
- Coffee: When you have anxiety, your body’s stress response system is already overactive. Drinking coffee adds further stimulation, making anxiety symptoms worse. Coffee also increases heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and the release of adrenaline and cortisol. Avoiding coffee reduces stimulation and stress hormone levels, promoting a sense of calm.
- Refined foods, like pizza, bread, and sugar: Refined foods like pizza, bread, and sugar cause spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels. This activates the stress response, increasing anxiety. Stabilizing blood sugar by avoiding refined carbs and sugar provides the body with a calm, steady supply of energy, reducing anxiety triggers.
- Smoking: Smoking triggers the release of adrenaline and other stress hormones that exacerbate anxiety symptoms. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxation, but withdrawal between cigarettes increases anxiety, irritability, and restlessness. Avoiding smoking provides more consistent mood stability and reduces chronic anxiety.
- Alcohol: Alcoholic beverages disrupt sleep and lead to rebound anxiety the next day. Avoiding alcohol prevents fluctuating energy and mood levels, promoting stability which helps manage anxiety.
- Sodas: These types of beverages contain high amounts of sugar and caffeine, both of which can exacerbate anxiety symptoms. The sugar causes spikes and crashes in blood glucose, while the caffeine stimulates the fight-or-flight response. Avoiding sodas prevents these destabilizing effects, promoting steadier energy levels and reduced anxiety triggers.
Changing your diet and supplementing with CBD oil for anxiety can reduce symptoms. Knowing how fast CBD oil for anxiety takes effect and how long the results last is also essential when deciding what kind of CBD oil you would like to integrate with your anxiety treatment.
How Fast are the Effects of CBD Oil?
But how can I get rid of anxiety fast? You should know that “higher bioavailability” is your keyword to answer this question. It is essential to provide as much bioavailability as possible when looking for a faster effect and more potential for reducing anxiety symptoms. The lower the bioavailability, the more CBD oil is required to get the same impact.
Some examples of CBD anxiety and depression products taken orally are CBD gummies, tinctures, and capsules. CBD is then recommended to be taken along with meals rich in fatty acids so that the liver will digest it much faster. The effects of oral CBD oil can be felt in about 40 minutes to 2 hours.
You can also take CBD oil for anxiety sublingually. Due to the higher absorption rate (bioavailability), you can feel the effects in less than 30 minutes. But the flavor tends to be a bit earthy, so you might prefer to add it to your meals or drink. Just remember, it will go through the digestive system, taking longer for an effect. You can also find a flavored CBD oil tincture and find it easier to sit for a few seconds under your tongue.
Nano CBD is another excellent option for a CBD oil with higher bioavailability. Nanotechnology in CBD utilizes nano emulsion after CBD has been reduced to a nano-size molecule (50 to 300 nm). It gives CBD a “water-soluble” property and even dispersion, along with higher bioavailability and bioactivity. The effects of Nano CBD can be felt in less than 10 minutes.
Another good point to consider when it comes to the effects of CBD oil is the type of CBD oil: isolate, broad-spectrum, or full-spectrum. CBD isolate products offer only pure CBD, while in contrast, full-spectrum products have all the cannabinoids found naturally in the hemp plant, along with terpenes and flavonoids. Some people suffering from anxiety can be susceptible to THC and prefer a CBD isolate product; others consider the benefit of the “entourage effect” that a full-spectrum CBD oil can provide. THC has been found to reduce anxiety in small doses while increasing it in higher doses.