Anxiety is crippling the United States. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, it is extremely common, affecting roughly one-fifth of society, around 40 million individuals. The problem is immense, with serious consequences for people, their families, and their wider communities. Anxiety seldom occurs alone: It often shares company with depression. Most sufferers suffer both.
Unfortunately, anxiety is among the least treated conditions today. Anxious folks are among the least likely to seek treatment. The ADAA claims patients “three to five times more likely to go to the doctor,” but the reality is that only one in around three ever follows through with treatment. This equates to roughly 27 million folks not getting the help they need, and these figures are just in the United States.
How Weed Can Help
These statistics are awful. Inexcusable. There is no reason for anyone not to get treatment they need, particularly with marijuana legal in California and elsewhere. It allows you to treat anxiety and depression effectively and safely. Combined with counseling or therapy, even prescription drugs in some cases, doctors are proving that cannabis works.
Before you start searching “weed dispensary near me” in Google, there is much to know. Studies show cannabis with powerful anxiolytic and antidepressant properties. Anyone who has ever tried weed will tell you that much. Its calming, mood-lifting effects are famous, legendary. Several studies support these anecdotes, on both human and animal trials. Evidence mounts daily, showing weed a capable anxiolytic.
Insomnia, or any lack of sleep on a chronic and consistent basis, can devastate mind and body. In fact, sleep issues are a primary cause of most anxiety-related issues. It is extremely important for sufferers to sleep every night, and sleep soundly. Not only will healthy sleep relieve symptoms associated with anxiousness, but it will also boost mood and function too.
Treating Depression and Anxiety with Cannabis
Of the many ways people use cannabis therapeutically, the most common use of all is to calm anxiety and improve mood. The right Indica strain will put even the most anxious person into a refreshingly deep sleep, one that lasts as long as needed, and nightly too. The right Sativa will energize, motivate, and have you mingling with folks in no time at all. In fact, some might call cannabis the best medicine.
Good Sleep is Essential for Relieving Anxiety
According to many studies, approximately two-thirds of Americans suffer from insomnia at some or other time in their lives. Even worse, a growing number of individuals are enduring chronic insomnia, day in and day out. Science knows that insomnia is a major cause of anxiety disorders. It also knows marijuana offers a necessary, safe and effective treatment for both depression and anxiety issues.
Science links several severe health problems to lack of sleep. Failure to sleep at least seven hours each night can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other serious illnesses. No shuteye also affects concentration, physical performance, overall mood, and immune system functioning, hormonal stability, and yes, even mental tranquility.
How Weed Aids Sleep
The sedating effects of weed, both for tranquilizing non-sleepers and calming anxious nerves are widely accepted as fact by anyone who has ever used it. However, if scientific proof is what you need, studies from as early as the 1970s give it to you. They show folks sleeping easier, longer, feeling more restful, breathing better, and waking with less disorientation than sleeping pills cause.
Most people think that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is responsible for aiding slumber. Although true, all cannabinoids have sedative properties. Cannabidiol, or CBD, in particular, is a powerful tranquilizer, especially when combined with a potent THC-rich Indica strain. The two together cause the famous “couchlock” effect so widespread among medical Indicas and can push anxiety into non-existence.
However, it is important to understand dosing. You can find literally hundreds of THC- and CBD-rich products at an online marijuana dispensary, but they are not all the same. Sativas, especially if they have a low CBD-content, will not make you sleepy. Known for their energy, these strains are not good for treating insomnia. They will keep you awake for hours, which is why nobody uses them before bed.
Strain Matters Hugely
Strains differ in smell, taste, potency, cannabis type, and even effects. The way you consume it makes a difference too. While some strains will get you up and busy, others will calm you down. It is vital that you only choose strains that will lower your anxiety and help you sleep at the same time. Extremely potent THC-rich strains can exacerbate anxiety symptoms and actually worsen the problem.
You want a mellow, relaxing Indica or an evenly balanced hybrid strain to relax your nerves, calm your muscles, stop you from pacing or indulging in other obsessive, anxiety-triggering behaviors, and enhance your mood. You do not want an energetic strain that will have you walking in circles all night instead of sleeping peacefully in your bed. These strains typically heighten feelings of paranoia and anxiety.
Marijuana Dispensary Los Angeles
Prescription drugs, like pharmaceutical anxiolytics, sedatives, and tranquilizers, are outright risky. They are dangerous. Addictive, poisonous, and responsible for a variety of other, unrelated conditions, if they do not murder you themselves. More people are using cannabis to treat depression and anxiety, in fact all mental and emotional disorders, and without any of the dangers associated with pharmaceuticals.
Cannabis is much safer. Unlike these drugs, weed does not build tolerance quite as much, making it notably more effective as treatment, especially over the long term. A simple “weed dispensary near me” search will show you exactly where you can find quality marijuana in Los Angeles. However, swindlers abound online. Do your research and be careful. Check reviews and company legitimacy.