CBD oil has been marketed as a silver bullet for a wide variety of ailments and diseases over the years. In particular, the last few years have seen an exponential rise in interest.
There is some evidence to suggest that CBD can be useful for a wide range of conditions such as anxiety, depression, pain, inflammation, etc. Not many people are aware that CBD can also help women going through menopause by affecting the internal blood chemistry and hormonal balance of the female body. This article will dwell upon this issue and explain how CBD can help women going through menopause.
What is CBD?
The cannabis plant contains over 100 different cannabinoids. In terms of the most active compounds, there are two that stick out: cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
There is often confusion around these two, with many misattributing the psychoactive properties of THC to CBD. CBD is a non-psychoactive compound, meaning it does not alter the way in which your brain functions and in fact is believed to counteract the psychoactive impact of its cousin, THC. To put it simply, CBD will not get you high.
While there can be a lot of confusing terminology within the CBD industry, the three main types of CBD are simple:
What is menopause?
Menopause refers to the end of the menstruation cycle in females, and all females undergo this phase during their life. Menopause also means that a woman can no longer conceive a child and has reached the end of her reproductive life, where she will no longer have to deal with the menstruation cycle each month. Menopause can also result from a surgical operation if ovaries are removed, and some other health conditions may also lead to menopause.
Menopause typically arrives for most women between the ages of 45 and 55, although it can go 5-10 years the other way in some circumstances. Women undergoing menopause must deal with many physical and hormonal changes that are both interconnected as one often leads to another. Hot flushes, reduced sex drive, vaginal dryness, abnormal sleep cycle, sleep disruptions, and night sweats are among the most common symptoms of menopause.
These symptoms may last for years, and it is not uncommon for some of the symptoms to appear even before menstruation has stopped. Women facing these symptoms often face a fair amount of discomfort and want medication to help cope with these symptoms. Various medications have been experimented with over the years, and until now, there is no single medicine that can fully relieve these symptoms.
Can CBD Oil help women going through menopause?
Menopause is one of the major transitions that any woman goes through in her life. In terms of changes in the body, it is quite similar to other transitions, such as puberty, as it involves a wide range of changes in a woman’s body that are often painful and may cause a lot of discomforts. Menopause usually involves significant changes in the biological processes, which brings hot flushes, mood shifts, and sleep disturbances other symptoms.
CBD is a non-psychoactive substance that is among more than 100 phytocannabinoids derived from hemp or marijuana. Medical practitioners have known the beneficial effects of CBD for centuries. There is some evidence that CBD was used by ancient civilizations such as Egyptians and Greeks to treat or at least relieve the symptoms of a wide variety of health conditions. Unlike its close cousin THC, CBD does not have any intoxicating effect and is entirely safe to use from a brain functioning standpoint. CBD oil interacts with the endocannabinoid system in our body. The endocannabinoid system is responsible for a number of significant biological functions such as immune system, sleep, memory, mood regulation, temperature regulation, fertility, and reproduction.
As menopause involves some major changes in the female body, there are various symptoms that can affect a woman going through menopause. CBD oil can help with some of these symptoms. A recent literature carried out by Argueta, Ventura, Kiven, Sagi, and Gupta, published in 2020 (A Balanced Approach for Cannabidiol Use in Chronic Pain) concluded that CBD could help treat chronic pain, improve the sleep cycle, and reduce inflammation. Let us move on to assess what menopausal symptoms can be treated with CBD.
Which menopause symptoms can be treated by CBD?
Mood Shifts
Due to hormonal changes in the body due to menopause, many women experience mood changes while going through menopause. CBD oil has long been considered an effective treatment for anxiety, depression, and other similar conditions that are often driving these mood changes. While further research is always required, some studies, including one conducted in 2015 (Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders) by Blessing, Steenkamp, Manzanares, and Marmar have found positive evidence for treating anxiety, depression with CBD oil. Another study by de Mello Schier, Coutinho et al (Antidepressant-like and anxiolytic-like effects of cannabidiol: a chemical compound of Cannabis sativa) published in 2014, found that CBD acts quite like antidepressants in people suffering from depression. Due to its effectiveness in treating anxiety, and depression, it can be assumed that CBD can aid with mood shifts in women going through menopause.
Sleep Disturbances
As previously mentioned, the endocannabinoid system plays a vital role in regulating the sleep cycle in humans amongst many other bodily functions. CBD is among the few known substances that can affect the endocannabinoid system’s workings and thus affect our sleep. A study conducted in 2012 by Zhornitsky and Potvin (Cannabidiol in humans-the quest for therapeutic targets) found that CBD can help increase sleep duration. Furthermore, a review published in 2019 by Shannon, Lewis, Lee, and Hughes (Cannabidiol in Anxiety and Sleep: A Large Case Series) also looked into the effects of CBD on sleep and found that CBD improved sleep quality in 66.7% of the 72 patients who were administered CBD. As sleep disturbances are quite common in women going through menopause, we can conclude from the above that CBD has the potential to help with women’s sleep disturbances during menopause.
Bone Density Loss
Oestrogen is the primary hormone that regulates the process that replaces old bone cells with new ones. Menopause leads to a drastic reduction in the female body’s estrogen levels and leads to a loss in bone density. Lower bone density leads to further problems such as osteoporosis and other conditions affecting bones and joints. CBD is known to inhibit the action of GPR55 receptors that are the primary cause of bone density loss. By inhibiting GPR55 receptors, CBD can effectively reduce bone density loss and help make bones stronger.
Hot Flushes
Hot flushes are linked to chemical changes taking place in a woman’s body going through menopause. One particular study by Carpenter, Yu, Wu et al in 2009 (Evaluating the Role of Serotonin in Hot Flashes After Breast Cancer Using Acute Tryptophan Depletion) found that antidepressants which effect the level of serotonin in the body are useful for treating hot flushes. CBD is a known antidepressant and, as such, could be considered quite helpful in treating hot flushes.
CBD products of all kinds are now readily available at many shops in the UK, and one can also easily buy CBD oil online at numerous online stores too. Preliminary evidence suggests that CBD oil has the potential to relieve the symptoms of menopause in women. A number of clinical studies support this claim, as CBD appears to be an effective treatment for treating anxiety, depression, and other health conditions that arise due to menopause.
This content was originally published here.
