HOW CBD WORKS TO TREAT MOOD DISORDERS

Mood disorders are characterized as the cycle between mania and depression. Though the full chemical range of mood regulation is not fully understood, it is known that changes in emotion and mood are regulated in large part by the balance of serotonin and dopamine. Mood disorders can range from bipolar disorder to regular irritability.  These mood swings or imbalances occur in the limbic system, which is the area of the brain involved in regulating emotions. If this limbic system is imbalanced anxiety, depression, and irritability are often the result.  Most people suffering with regular mood swings are prescribed medications such as antipsychotics and antidepressants. Most of these medications produce completely different results from individual to individual. They also come with a mile long list of negative side effects that range from mild side effects to severe side effects like depression and suicidal thoughts. These medications have proven mostly effective, but there may be other natural and safer options to check out that might be just as effective, if not more.  Which brings us, to how CBD can help your mood disorder.  *Always check with your doctor before changing, adding, or removing medications.* Endocannabinoids and their receptors have been found abundantly within the limbic system, along with every other functional network of the central nervous system. This means that cannabinoids, like CBD, play a GIANT role in establishing and maintaining emotional health at the chemical level.  Many studies have shown that endocannabinoids are directly responsible for the releasing and regulating of monoamine neurotransmitters, which are the main players in mood regulation. Tying this back to our introduction about serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain, these two chemicals are directly controlled and regulated by endocannabinoids within the central nervous system. Studies have shown that mood swings caused by a chemical imbalance, are a byproduct of simple endocannabinoid deficiencies, and a natural product like CBD can treat these deficiencies and bring the body back to balance.   The endocannabinoid system (ECS), if you’re not familiar with it yet, is an innate (naturally occuring inside the human body) network of cannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors that are in charge of many of the body’s major biological functions in bringing the body to homeostasis. When the body is in homeostasis the body is in balance at the internal cellular level. On the contrary, when the ECS is not in balance and there are deficiencies within the ECS, any number of those biological and/or neurological functions can be thrown out of balance. Adding a natural and simple product that is CBD based, helps the ECS balance back out which then brings the body back to homeostasis once again.  With the rise in scientific studies proving CBD to be effective in treating mood disorders it should definitely be a remedy to consider in the treatment of these disorders.