Each and every day, our bodies are constantly at work monitoring necessary and important functions. Is your heartbeat rapid or slow? How are your hormone levels? Is everything in a homeostasis balance? Is your temperature just right?
These are just some of the functions that our endocannabinoid system, ECS for short, helps our body regulate and maintain on a daily basis. The ECS plays a vital role in the bodies of humans and animals.
When your body experiences an imbalance of some sort, the ECS activates and works to get things back into a normal state. Cooling you down when you get too hot? Thanks, ECS. Brings down your rapid heartbeat over time? You can thank your ECS too. It also works to regulate other functions, including mood, sleep, and appetite.
Nonetheless, the ECS is essential to our everyday living, even though most of us have never even heard of having an ECS!
In today’s article, we’ll discuss all things about the endocannabinoid system and CBD in extreme detail as well as why CBD is bringing light onto the ECS like never before.
Let’s get it!
The Endocannabinoid System (ECS)
The ECS is a system in the human (and animal) body that is made up of various receptors that interact and work with different cannabinoids. Some of the most common cannabinoids that interact with the ECS are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Researchers investigating cannabis and marijuana use over the last ten years have continued to lead closer to understanding this system in the body.
The endocannabinoid system plays a major role in helping regulate our pain, inflammation, mood, sleep, and other functions all throughout the day. You really can think of our ECS as you would any other major organ system, like the immune system or cardiovascular system.
As research continues to examine the intricacies of this system, more and more discoveries are being made surrounding cannabinoid receptors in our body and cannabinoid plant receptors. The signaling system between these different types of cannabinoids is what we use as an umbrella term to call the endocannabinoid system (ECS).
So it’s starting to make sense now, right? Full circle status? Once you start to understand and learn the mechanisms underlying the benefits of cannabinoids for us humans and our furry friends, the more eager you may become to give CBD a try.
The ECS and CBD: How Does it Work?
I’m sure you’re curious as to just how CBD works with our ECS. Which effects do these cannabinoids have on our system?
CBD is just one of the exogenous cannabinoids that is derived from the cannabis plant and it is commonly referred to as a cannabinoid or phytocannabinoid. CBD can come from either the hemp or marijuana plant. We’ll touch the on differences between the two plants below.
When CBD is first introduced to the ECS, there are a wide array of potential effects that the body can endure. CBD can help maintain a normal inflammatory response and help support heart health, immune function, and even act as a neurological protectant.
