By Dr. Robert Kornfeld

    Summertime affords us a time to shift gears. Life is more care-free. We have beautiful weather and the great outdoors to enjoy. Children are off to camp having fun and parents are free from the daily rigors and duties of parenting. It’s all very therapeutic for everyone. But with the end of Summer nearing, as well as the need to shift gears again to ready the kids for school, the stress levels start to rise. It’s a time of year where children start becoming anxious about the return to school and parents have a lot of things to accomplish, let alone dealing with the stress their kids are going through.

    Raising a family is a beautiful thing. It is a supreme gift that many of us get to enjoy and cherish. But it comes with huge responsibility and is not without stress. Sometimes, even though we do our best, stress can get the best of us. It can manifest physically in the form of aches and pains, headaches, insomnia, GI problems, hives, skin rashes, etc. It can also manifest emotionally in the form of anxiety, depression and mood swings. None of this is anything to be ashamed of. It is not a choice any of us make. It is mediated by chemicals in the body called neurotransmitters. It is a cascade that develops over time and once there is a dominance of excitatory neurotransmitters, symptoms are very difficult to avoid. Medications are used to target the symptoms by elevating one neurotransmitter or suppressing others. This inevitably leads to one of two things. Either the meds are slowly adapted to by the body and there are breakthrough symptoms requiring higher doses of medication or there will be associated side-effects such as brain fog, weight gain, loss of libido and others.  

    Working with the body naturally instead of trying to manipulate it with drugs is always a safer and better tolerated route when effective. There are many things that assist the body in decreasing reactivity to stress. Removing refined sugars from the diet has a calming effect on the nervous system. Exercise elevates endorphins that can have a modulating effect on excitatory neurotransmitters. Meditation has also been shown to ease the effects of adrenal stress and neurotransmitter imbalance. Clearly, anything that we can do to help the body function more efficiently is part of the process of managing the effects of stress.

    Add to this list an amazing little molecule called cannabidiol (CBD). CBD has the capacity to improve the way the body functions by stimulating the pathways of homeostasis (the very pathways that are designed by nature to keep us healthy). CBD has a configuration amazingly similar to endocannabinoid molecules produced in our bodies that bind to receptor sites called endocannabinoid receptors. These receptor sites serve as the messaging pathway for many body functions (detoxification, repair, replacement and replenishment). In effect, these molecules turn on the light switch of homeostasis and help to balance the body and keep us healthy. One of the effects of endocannabinoid molecules is to ease the effects of stress on the body. Since CBD binds to these same receptors, it functions in a totally natural way and since it works with the body instead of against it, does not have the attendant side effects associated with prescription drugs.

    CBD is present in the Cannabis species of plants. When CBD is derived from the Hemp plant (which contains almost no THC), we get the medicinal benefits without the associated “high”. This means we can ease anxiety and depression without altering who we are. Being completely lucid while enjoying the benefits of this incredible molecule makes it a great choice for managing the effects of stress on our bodies.

    Canbiola makes one of the best CBD products on the market. It is 99.5% pure CBD oil. It has no chemical preservatives. It is processed via an advanced form of sound wave nanotechnology, reducing the size of the CBD molecules to 30 nanometers. This enables sub-lingual absorption and puts the CBD directly into the bloodstream. This maximizes the utilization and delivery of the CBD for enhanced efficacy.