Various forms of cannabis can help address the stress and anxiety that prevents us from achieving a mindful state. Here are some other things it does.

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and has been reposted with permission.

With the increasing awareness of the health benefits of cannabis for treating a multitude of ailments, it would be normal for a healthy person to wonder if there are any advantages for them using cannabis.

The truth is that cannabis can still be therapeutic and help even the healthiest of people. You don’t have to be sick or ill to enjoy its health benefits. This plant medicine is extremely powerful for helping mitigate even the most minor occurrences in our daily lives that can build up over time and make us sick — either mentally, emotionally, or physically.

Understanding The Endocannabinoid System

Before you get to know how cannabis works in the human body, whether for sick or healthy people, it’s essential to understand the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

As humans, we have another system that biology classes of the past did not teach us about: the endocannabinoid system. This complex system as first identified back in the early 1990’s, and while much of it is still mysterious, experts do know that it’s vital for helping regulate many processes that keep us healthy. These include regulating our appetite, mood, sleep, fertility, reproduction, memory, inflammation, and much more. It does so through the massive network of cellular receptors and chemical signals within the ECS.

Meanwhile, the CB1 and CB2 receptors which can be found in the brain as well as other parts of the body, work to regulate other neurotransmitters. This is how cannabis helps to increase or decrease functions in the body such as sleep or hunger in order to achieve homeostasis. These receptors are further stimulated through endocannabinoids, which are compounds similar to the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant except that our human bodies produce our own. While we have our own endocannabinoids in the body, the cannabinoids in the plant help the endocannabinoid system work more effectively and address even minor ailments to promote balance all throughout.

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Since the endocannabinoid system helps to regulate so many complex functions in the body, it doesn’t require sickness or illness for us to benefit from cannabis. Instead, think of cannabis as a vitamin or supplement that helps to keep us even healthier in the absence of disease with its ability to address problems such as endocannabinoid deficiencies, nipping any potential sicknesses in the bud.

How Cannabis Benefits Healthy People

Even the healthiest people are prone to certain things such as stress from work, occasional anxiety, and vitamin deficiencies to name a few. Here’s how cannabis can help keep you healthier:

• Stress: Everyone is prone to stress in varying levels. Whether stress is caused by work, pressures of parenthood, family life, or anything else, it has been scientifically proven that constant exposure to stress can kill you. That’s why millions of people count on cannabis during stressful moments in life – it simply makes you feel better immediately but more importantly, it addresses internal processes that are impacted by stress.

These can include fatigue, high blood pressure, migraines, headaches, abnormal heart rhythms, insomnia, and more. stress can also cause anxiety and depression. Studies show that microdosing cannabis is the most effective way to benefit from its stress-fighting properties, so you don’t need to smoke a whole joint to benefit from it when you’re having a tough day.

• Muscle recovery: Regular exercise is critical for health, but with fitness programs, it’s also important to pay attention to muscle recovery. Working out at the gym, trying a new yoga flow, or experimenting with a new workout – no matter what your fitness regimen is comprised of, muscles are prone to soreness, pain, and spasms.

It’s no secret that even elite athletes rely on cannabidiol (CBD) as well as THC to help with muscle repair and recovery after intense or mild workouts. Delayed onset muscle soreness, also known as DOMS, is a common side effect of workout regimen. Athlete or not, people who exercise regularly are prone to this but lighting up with a toke or taking CBD orally can greatly reduce the inflammation and pain associated with exercising.

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• Mental health: Sure, your tests show that you are physically fit and healthy. But how about your mental health? If you find yourself vulnerable to the occasional anxiety, mood swings, depressive episodes, or other mental ailments, cannabis is here to help.

People who suffer from these ailments turn to cannabis not just because it makes them happier or makes them feel better. Studies show that THC plays an important role in regulating emotions, suggesting that the endocannabinoid system does help us process our emotions in a healthier manner. Regularly dosing with cannabis can thus help us manage negative emotions so as to not affect interpersonal relationships or increase our stress levels.

• Mindfulness: It can get too easy to be caught up in the trivialities of day to day life, so much so that we forget to live in the present moment, especially with most people becoming addicted to their mobile phones. This is why the practice of mindfulness has grown increasingly attractive for people for all walks of life. The American Psychological Association (APA) says that current research points to mindfulness practices as beneficial for improving cognitive processes that could otherwise lead to problems down the road such as heart disease and stress.

Various forms of cannabis can already help address the stress and anxiety that prevents us from achieving a mindful state. Whether with the relaxation offered by CBD or the mild psychoactivity of THC, a little is all it takes to feel more blissed out and centered no matter how busy or stressful our day would be without cannabis. Use it as a tool for your meditation and yoga sessions, or to reflect at the start or end of your day.

Conclusion

With these tremendous benefits offered, there’s no reason that even healthy people can’t take advantage of the impact of cannabis for the human body.

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and has been reposted with permission.