5 ways cannabis can enhance your lifestyle

5 Ways Cannabis Can Enhance Your Lifestyle

With a New Year often comes a “new you”. While many individuals strive to make big changes to their lifestyle when a New Year approaches, that is not always necessary - or even healthy. In fact, small changes can also have major impacts on your life! For example, if you are wanting to enhance your life this year, cannabis is an easy way to do that - and here’s why!

Cannabis Can Reduce Stress One thing that every cannabis user can agree on is this plants potent ability to reduce stress and anxiety. Whether you are stressing about trying to reach you New Years goals, returning to work or managing your daily routine - cannabis can help.

While a little stress is healthy, in today’s society it is often felt at extreme levels leading it to be a debilitating factor for many individuals. In addition, chronic stress can result in sleep issues, lowered immune system and even lead to depression or a reduced quality of life. Fortunately, THC and CBD (two compounds found in cannabis) have the ability to stabilize mood and balance the endocannabinoid system1. This not only means that cannabis can repair damage from chronic stress, but it can also help to manage future anxiety. A few puffs here or a small edible there can work wonders in reducing stress.

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https://herb.co/2017/09/27/chronic-stress/

As a side note, cannabis reduces stress best when the THC is kept at a lower dose. Higher levels of THC can sometimes exacerbate anxiety, but low doses of THC (plants with under 15% THC or edibles at 7.5 milligrams2) are considered ideal.

Cannabis Can Improve Sleep Many individuals often resolve to get more sleep, but it doesn’t always happen that way.

Chronic stress, insomniac tendencies and lack of a proper sleep pattern often get in the way on our battle for proper rest. Anyone who has ever suffered from lack of sleep knows how difficult it can be to manage your daily routine, emotions, work, exercise, etc when you are fighting to keep your eyes open. Lack of sleep not only disrupts our goals for a healthy lifestyle, but it often leads to a reduced immune response and even mood swings. This is where cannabis comes in.

A combined study performed by The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Big Pharma’s Sanofi-Aventi showed that THC assisted the subjects in falling asleep quicker and easier3. This is backed up by research that goes far back as 19734.

When using cannabis for improving sleep patterns, edibles are the best way to go. While they can take longer to take effect (30-60 minutes), they last several hours. This is ideal for individuals who have issues falling or staying asleep through the night. Click here to learn more about the best marijuana strains for insomnia.

Cannabis Can Support Your Fitness Goals Fitness is top of mind for many individuals in the New Year. Whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle or simply improve your health, exercise is a fantastic way to get there. However, sometimes individuals need a bit of help. While it may seem counterintuitive that a plant which causes “the munchies” can be used to assist with fitness goals, it’s true!

A study by the University of Miami, found that BMI's of daily marijuana users were 3.1% lower in women and 2.7% lower in men5 when compared to non-users. This positive effect on BMI is believed to be due to how THC and CBD compounds in cannabis communicate with the Endocannabinoid system. For those who don't know, this system is in charge of most of the body - including appetite and weight maintenance. For individuals wanting to slim their waistline, bear in mind that the benefit is mostly prevalent in Sativa (daytime) strains. These strains in particular can have up to 54% of THC-V, which can result in appetite suppression, as opposed to the "munchies" effect caused by Indica (nighttime) strains. In addition, Sativa strains are known to be energizing and to help you focus, which can be great if your exercise routine needs a boost!

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http://www.drugandalcoholdependence.com/article/S0376-8716(17)30220-X/pdf http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2013.12003.x/abstract 4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00437513#page-1 5 https://www.livescience.com/56068-daily-marijuana-use-linked-to-lower-bmi.html 3

In addition, THC has a powerful anti-inflammatory component. This can be a great supplement when it comes to muscle recovery, especially for individuals who train hard! If you are a powerlifter, bodybuilder, endurance runner or pro-athlete, it might be high time to see what cannabis can do to help you improve your recovery!

Cannabis Can Help You Quit Alcohol If one of your New Year's resolutions was to drink less, trust me you’re not alone! Many individuals have the goal of drinking less alcohol - save themselves the calories, embarrassing nights out and hungover Sunday mornings. For many individuals, trying cannabis was their golden ticket away from alcohol.

A study by the University of British Columbia (UBC) found that cannabis can not only help individuals step down from alcohol, but also dangerous opioids6.This is not necessarily due to any other reason except for the fact that cannabis offers similar stress-relieving qualities as alcohol - only without all the negative side effects. Click here for more reasons why weed is safer than alcohol.

Cannabis Can Improve Overall Health One thing is apparent amongst the studies of cannabis - the health benefits are astounding!

Beyond reducing stress and improving sleep, as mentioned above, cannabis also has a variety of other health related benefits. Ranging from reducing the likelihood of alzheimer's, managing chronic pain and balancing mood, cannabis really is a wonder plant. While you may not have any illnesses or issues now, the compounds in cannabis can help ensure things remain that way.

Firstly, the anti-inflammatory effects of THC and CBD are ideal for managing physical stress in the form of exercise, aging joints or previous injuries. Also, as mentioned previously, these compounds help to balance the Endocannabinoid system.

This functions of this system include: ● Managing formation and storage of long-term memory. ● Facilitating neurogenesis of cells in the brain. ● Managing the release of neurotransmitters including serotonin and dopamine, which contribute to mood. ● Regulating appetite and controlling metabolism. ● Supervising the stress response, which relates to anti-inflammatory responses and immune function. ● Thermoregulation (controlling body temperature) ● Sleep regulation

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https://documents.tips/documents/zach-walsh-university-of-british-columbia-zacharywalshubc.html

As the cannabinoids found in cannabis occur naturally in the body, cannabis can be a great way to assist this system and help the body function at optimal levels. Plus, it is easy to buy cannabis online through an online cannabis dispensary, such as Fair Canna Care.