What’s Your Endocannabinoid System?
Your Body’s NEW Wellness Center.
Science is recognizing the endocannabinoid system (eCS) as "perhaps the most important system involved in maintaining human health.”
What (and where) is your eCS?
The eCS is a “transmitter system,” like, the sympathetic nervous system, or the endocrine system — and it was only “discovered” about 30 years ago. Which is pretty crazy when it turns out to be responsible for regulating + controlling many of the most critical body functions, such as learning and memory, emotional processing, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune + appetite and mood responses.
It’s made of a vast network of chemical signals, cellular receptors + enzymes, located in our brain and throughout our bodies. Our bodies also produce molecules called “endocannabinoids,” which power this cellular “machinery.” Phytocannabinoids, which we get from hemp plants (like found in hemp, as well as in other plants such as black pepper, cloves, hops, ginseng, black truffles, and dark chocolate) that work in the same way in our ECS.
The “Gut-Brain Connection”
The eCS regulates the two-way communication between the gut and the brain. Stress related changes in the brain can alter gastrointestinal function, which can cause inflammation or infection. These “messages” are communicated back to the brain from your “gut”, via the eCS. Phytocannabinoids can help calm + balance the digestive system.
Stress
CBDA, from the raw hemp leaf, has 100x the affinity for the 5-HT1A (Serotonin) receptor than lab extracted + processed CBD. The phytocannabinoids in the hemp plant, work with the naturally ocurring endocanabinoids in our bodies, within the ECS, to regulate the body’s response to stress. It’s the natural way to stop stress from the inside out.
Mood
While we are still learning about the eCS + how it functions, the main “hypothesis” from studies, is that the eCS dampens neuronal activity within brain regions critical for the generation of fear and anxiety responses. The eCS also helps regulate the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA which help mood stabilization.
Sleep
Certain fatty acids in the body increase levels of endocannabinoids that regulate pain and sleep receptors in the eCS, which increases a calming effect inducing sleep.
Memory + Focus + Learning
Because the eCS plays a role in modulating the central nervous system it helps in managing underlying factors that impede attention and concentration.
Muscle Recovery
When we exercise, we are also exercising the eCS, in that exercise modulatesthe expression of receptors and enzymes involved in the synthesis and breakdown of endocannabinoids, which have a role in anti-inflammatory responses in a balanced eCS system.