Buyers Guide: What CBD Does and How to Get the Most Out of It

CBD is everywhere. Current estimates expect the CBD market to grow an average of 107% every year for the next three years.

Have you tried CBD yet? Did it work for you? Here's a look at the reported benefits of CBD, followed by some pointers on how to ensure that it works for you!

CBD for Arthritis

While more study is needed, it does appear that this product may have the potential to help individuals with arthritis. However, many of the studies which show promise have been smaller and conducted in rats. More studies of humans are needed.

The good news is that the results available so far are positive. Two studies - one in 2011 and one in 2016 - found that the application of CBD to rats with arthritis was beneficial. It helped to reduce inflammation, reduce signs of pain and increase movement. In 2017, a review found that the evidence did exist to imply that CBD could be a useful treatment for arthritis.

The National Arthritis Foundation has an entire article on their website about CBD. They note what it does, and give advice on how to take it in order to treat arthritis.

CBD for Pain and Inflammation

One of the most promising uses of this product is in reducing pain and inflammation. The two are linked: Muscle inflammation appears to be related directly to pain.

The evidence so far shows that CBD can reduce inflammation, thus reducing pain in the process. As noted by numerous scientific reviews and studies, CBD appears to have anti-inflammatory properties. CBD interacts with your body's Endocannabinoid System. This system can be manipulated in order to reduce inflammation.

CBD has been tied to reducing pain and inflammation across multiple studies. For example, a 2018 review found that CBD was tied to a reduction of chronic pain, neurological pain, and fibromyalgia. Other studies noted that CBD was positively associated with pain reduction associated with the side effects of cancer. Smaller studies found that CBD can reduce the pain associated with migraines. There is also evidence that CBD can reduce the pain associated with Multiple Sclerosis.

As you may know, there are many different ways of ingesting CBD. These include CBD Topicals, CBD Tinctures, vaping CBD edibles, CBD Gummies, vaping juices, and more. CBD Topicals for pain relief can be extremely effective. This is because you can rub them directly into the area of your pain. This allows you to specifically target what is hurting most. The only concern with CBD topicals is that it may take some time to kick in - potentially as long as ninety minutes. This is because the product has to travel through your skin in order to start working.

CBD for Sleep & Anxiety Reduction

Another potentially promising area that CBD can help with is sleep. There is ample evidence that CBD can help people sleep and address some very serious sleep disorders.

Some studies have found that CBD can help people sleep better and reduce grogginess. However, the exact mechanism by which this occurs is not yet fully understood.

There is an indirect reason why CBD may be effective when it comes to helping people sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, CBD has been found to help people reduce anxiety. There is evidence showing that CBD may be beneficial at reducing numerous types of anxieties. These include generalized anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and performance anxiety.

CBD leads to better sleep by reducing anxiety and pain, two of the biggest reasons that people have trouble sleeping. In this way, CBD may not only help you sleep by directly impacting your ability to sleep. Instead it may help you sleep by reducing standard problems that interfere with your ability to get a full night's sleep.

Furthermore, CBD has been found to help certain sleep disorders. For example, in one small study, people who took CBD were found to have decreased symptoms of RBD or REM Behavioral Disorder. This disorder is common in individuals with Parkinson's Disease. People who suffer from RBD have muscles that fail to "lock" during sleep, causing them to act out their dreams and potentially flail violently.

CBD for Seizures

There is one case in which a CBD-based drug can be prescribed in order to deal with a medical disorder. Epidolex, a prescription drug that has CBD as its active ingredient, was formally approved by the United States' Food & Drug Administration in 2018. This can be prescribed to children who suffer from two rare seizure disorders. It is THC-free. If you are interested in learning more about this drug, you should talk with your doctor about it.

Disclaimer

All of the above areas have to be couched with a disclaimer: While there is evidence to indicate that CBD may be helpful, none of these statements have been evaluated by the FDA. It is illegal to make a formal medical claim about CBD in all of the above areas.

Many doctors have begun prescribing CBD to their patients. Make sure you talk with your doctor first, just like you would any other supplement. There are potential concerns over drug interactions.

There are also other questions, such as whether or not certain types of this product work better. There is a lot of debate about whether Full Spectrum, Broad Spectrum, or Isolate types of CBD work best. Additional study is also needed to determine just what types of CBD are able to be more helpful than others. For example, are CBD Tinctures better for certain types of diseases, rather than CBD Gummies?

Lastly, it is also clear that all of the above are not the only potential areas that CBD is able to help. Studies have found that CBD has potential in other areas, including treatment for dogs and skincare.

I Tried CBD and it Doesn't Do Anything

The evidence clearly shows that CBD has real potential to help people address a variety of physical or emotional ills. If CBD isn't working for you, there are a few possible explanations.

Dosage

Often times people underestimate how much CBD they should be taking for it to work. Or they may be doing something which is causing the compound to break down too quickly. When it comes to CBD dosages, first-time customers should start in the 30-50mg range and working their way up to a higher dose, as necessary.

There are some who take as much as 150mg of CBD per day for their various ailments and chronic inflammation. While this is a very high dosage for most people, it is important to remember that our bodies are all different. Some people simply require more to achieve their desired effects.

Things such as diet, exercise, body weight, and age can all play an important role in how effective a dose of CBD will be. With so many variables at play, the effective dose varies widely from person to person. Remember that CBD is an incredibly safe compound, and it will not hurt to experiment a bit to find what works best.

Method of Ingestion

CBD is best taken sublingual (allowing the compound to absorb in your mouth as opposed to your stomach). Instead of swallowing your dosage, allow it to rest under your tongue or swish it around in your mouth for a few minutes before swallowing. It is quite possible that the compound is breaking down in your digestive tract before it has an opportunity to take effect.

Shake Well Before Using

Make sure you shake your oil tincture bottle well. CBD has a tendency to re-crystalline and settle at the bottom. It is important to shake your bottle very well before each use.

Buy From a Reputable Source

A trust-worthy CBD company should be able to tell you where their product is sourced from. They should also have a third party lab analysis of their CBD readily available. A lab analysis will tell you exactly what is in their products. This prevents them from selling you something other than real high quality CBD.

Conclusion

CBD has proven itself to have numerous potential health benefits and as such, has exploded in popularity. If CBD is not working for you, talk to an expert and make sure that you are using the product correctly. If you find that you are doing everything right, and the product is still not working, it's time to investigate the source. It's important to find a CBD company that you can trust.