Our big, beautiful and complex brain. In charge of how we perceive and experience the world around us, our brains play an integral role in nearly every body function. It’s no secret that our brains can be difficult to live with at times. The brain does show up when it needs to — you know, in making sure we keep breathing and pumping blood, but it can also make life kinda… hard.
Anxiety and depression are no secret in today’s society. Mental illness on the whole affects more than 51 million adults in the United States. As science understands mental health more through the lens of brain function and collective experience, it also sheds light on the truth of mental health hardship across the globe.
In the last year COVID-19 has impacted the US with extreme force. Social isolation, increased fear over infection, experiences of mass grief and the umbrella uncertainty of COVID each have their own unique detrimental effects on mental and physical function.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention cites that it is natural to feel heightened stress, anxiety and grief during the pandemic. Though we believe COVID is an important factor in mental health right now, it will not be the lens of our discussion.
Here, we will focus on how mental health generally affects people in the United States. We’ll dive into the neurological makeup of anxiety and depression, common treatments and the research-based possibilities of Hemp CBD in offering alternative remedies.
No doubt you’ve probably heard more about mental health in the last year. If you experience symptoms of a mental health condition, you are certainly not alone. As mentioned earlier, there are 51.5 million US adults that suffer from mental health implications. That’s 1 in every 5 people. Mental illness shows up in a variety of ways including:

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Negative thinking with inability to see positive solutions
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Agitation
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Restlessness
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Inability to focus
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Lashing out at loved ones
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Irritability
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Withdrawing from loved ones and regular activities
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Increase in sleeping
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Exhaustion and lethargy
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Morbid, suicidal thoughts
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Weight loss or gain




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Fear represents an emotional response to a real or imagined imminent threat.
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Anxiety represents an emotional response to some perceived future threat.
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Anxiety disorders represent psychological disorders that share features of excessive anxieties and/or fear.
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The determination of what constitutes excessive anxiety or fear is based on the notions of state and trait anxiety.
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Trait anxiety refers to the personalized internal feelings that everyone has, but differs in when people experience anxiety or fear in accordance with the same or similar threatening situation.
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State anxiety refers to the overall duration of the fearful anxious episodes, such that when a threat is present or perceived to be imminent, individuals experience anxiety or fear, and when the threat is removed, the anxiety or fear should dissipate.
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Individuals with anxiety disorders experience state anxiety for periods far longer than would be expected under normal circumstances given the same level of threat, and they experience far more intense feelings of anxiety/fear than expected given the nature of the real or perceived threat.
Science does not have all the answers when it comes to our brains, and it’s important to stress that our brains and bodies are incredibly different. What works for one person may not even come close to helping someone else.

What if cannabis, a plant still most commonly associated with its psychoactive properties, could help us retain and sustain equilibrium in our bodies to support healthy and peaceful functioning?



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