Cannabis + Care: Mindful Consumption for Feelings of Anxiety and Depression
Whether or not you already consume cannabis, viewing the plant as a medicinal resource is crucial in understanding it’s many benefits. For centuries the cannabis plant has been utilized as a healing herb all over the world. Both history and studies explain consumption being linked to relief from chronic pain, increasing appetite, enhancing creativity, relieving nausea, improving mood, and helping insomnia to name a few. Simply put, it’s medicine.
Both medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries and services in legal states have remained open throughout the pandemic due to being deemed essential. Cannabis consumption use has increased greatly since the beginning of quarantine, largely due to increased feelings of anxiety and depression these times have caused. California alone has seen a 160% increase in sales in March 2020 vs March 2019.
Feelings of anxiousness relate back to stressors in our life that we experience past the time they have occurred or before they have occurred at all. (Example: Stressor = bills due, Anxiety = paying upcoming bills with limited income.) We may feel our mind racing, heart beating faster, temperature increasing, or thoughts become overwhelming when experiencing these feelings. Every person experiences these feelings outside of clinical diagnosis as it is a natural human response. Doing mindful and relaxing activities have proven to show relief for anxiety.
Similar but different, feelings of depression can be related back to anxiety and stress in our lives. We may feel numb, sad for an extended period of time, irritable, isolated, or helpless. When clinically diagnosed, many people are directed to pharmaceutical medicine and professional help that aid in managing depression. However, like anxiety many of us can experience feelings of depression as a result of lifes stressors. Connection to others, mindfulness, sunlight, physical activity, healthy diet, and rest are often recommended to provide relief.
Cannabis helps with both mindfulness and relaxation. There’s also more than one way to find relief through the plant. Different cannabinoids within the plant provide alternate options to best suit an individuals preferences. THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, stimulates the mind and provides the ‘high’ feeling while CBD, the non psychoactive cannabinoid of the plant provides a ‘calming’ feeling to help with relaxation. Two differing options for relief.
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Originally published at http://dayswithdash.blog on November 24, 2020.
