Cannabis and Anxiety

It is no secret that we are experiencing more and more mental health crises in our nation today. A big part of this is related to anxiety. Trying to get through life with anxiety can be a really difficult thing to do, especially when one does not have the proper treatment options or coping mechanisms to work with. The other thing about anxiety is that it looks different for everybody. Some people struggle with anxiety depending on various situations going on in their life, and the anxiety will eventually go away once certain stressors are worked out or minimized.

Other people, however, struggle with anxiety on a more chronic scale. Anxiety disorders are becoming more and more common in the United States. Many states are now including anxiety as an accepted condition for receiving a medical marijuana card. If you are having a hard time getting through the day dealing with anxiety, it may be time to go see a doctor about getting your medical marijauana card. Anxiety disorders also have a way of manifesting themselves physically, and some people even experience awful physical side effects as a part of their chronic anxiety.

With all that being said, some states do not list anxiety as one of the qualifying conditions for applying for a medical marijauna card. In those states, people with mental health problems are petitioning and lobbying for a change of legislature that allows for more cannabis related anxiety treatment. More than 40 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with some clinical form of anxiety, and that is a huge increase in the last few decades. Anothe report also shows that there have been as many as 5 million suicide deaths worldwide caused by unmanaged anxiety dissorders. So where does cannabis come into the conversation? Well, I firmly believe that cannabis can be used as an effective means of treating and managing chronic stress and anxiety disorders. 

Cannabis strains fall into two categories: sativa and indica. Indica is the strain of marijuana that is most commonly used to treat symptoms of stress and anxiety disorders, because it has a natural calming effect and helps people relax and be able to sleep at night. Have you ever been so worried about something that you have not been able to sleep? Some cases of anxiety can even lead to chronic insomnia, since people are dealing with so much mental unrest that they are not able to stay asleep at night. Cannabis can be a great option for dealing with this. The indica strain of marijuana is great for helping people fall asleep and relax at night when dealing with chronic anxiety disorders. After all, we all know that not getting enough sleep at night is a great way to find yourself dealing with more stress and anxiety the next day.

The other thing that I will say is that generic prescription medications for treating anxiety and stress can be dangerous and have harmful side effects. Some of the most common medications used to treat mental health conditions are harmful in the way that they affect the brain and body in the long term. Not to mention, we are dealing with a serious opioid and prescription medication crisis in our country today. Why not turn to a more natural approach like marijuana? Especially because it is not addictive and does not have near the same amount of side effects as other commonly used prescriptions. 

Anxiety is becoming a problem for many adults in America. It is also found in several studies that women are almost twice as likely to develop some sort of clinical anxiety as men are. Cannabis may be a great solution for treating and managing anxiety.