(Newswire.net — May 24, 2019) — The US has a significant amount of the population that is over the age of 65. PRB estimates as much as 46 million Americans fall into this category, making seniors a significant demographic in the country.
One of the facts of life is that we all grow old at some point, and as we get older, our bodies start breaking down and becoming less efficient at its tasks. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical that is naturally found within the cannabis plant and, as Harvard Medical Sciences mentions, doesn’t have the potential for being addictive because it doesn’t cause a user to become ‘high’. While the jury is still out on many of the purported health benefits of CBD, there are a few well-known positives to using CBD that can potentially benefit seniors to a great extent. With the legalization of recreational marijuana consumption in many states, these benefits can be even more pertinent to those of us that are getting on in age.
Pain Management with CBD
The European Journal of Pain (EJP) published results that suggested CBD can potentially cause reduced inflammation and reduction in pain. CBD can be a natural alternative to modern pain medicines. Additional research in the area seems to back this up, with follow up studies suggesting that there may be little to no adverse side effects of administering CBD as a pain treatment. CBD is easily attainable now, thanks to its legalization, and it can be considered as a viable alternative medicine for seniors who suffer from pain.
Quality of Sleep Management
The US National Institute on Aging mentions that older adults tend to go to sleep a lot earlier and rise earlier than they did when they were younger, despite needing the same amount of sleep to function correctly. At current, many seniors who have trouble falling asleep opt for using sleeping medication to force their bodies to rest. Long-term use of these sleeping medications won’t help the body develop a natural circadian rhythm, nor will it help the body rest and heal, despite making the body sleep. CBD tends to have a much more natural method of getting the body to sleep by allowing it to relax and enter the first stage of sleep quickly. Once that happens, the body’s natural rhythms take over, allowing for a healthier sleep cycle.
Bone Health Management
It’s general information that as our bodies age, our bones get more brittle. American Bone Health mentions that the number one cause of death in adults 65 years and older is a simple fall. The journal Annals of Medicine published a study where the use of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol was linked to bone regeneration and increase in overall health, suggesting its use in commercial medicines for the management of osteoporosis (brittle bone disease). At present, the process is undergoing refinement and medical testing, but the potential for the use of CBD in the treatment of brittle bones is massive.
Heart Health and CBD
Heart problems among the elderly are another primary concern, and Aging Care mentions that almost half of Americans has high blood pressure []. Current research suggests that CBD might be a viable method for dealing with blood pressure problems in seniors. The journal JCI Insight indicates that a single dose of CBD has the potential to reduce blood pressure. Additional research in the field has suggested that CBD might also be able to reduce cardiac inflammation and slow down cell death from oxidative processes. In combination, these provide a solid basis for further research into the use of CBD to promote heart health.
The Effect of CBD on Neurodegenerative Disorders
Opposition to the use of CBD usually cites the damage that overconsumption does to natural brain systems like recall and logical processing. However, one of the factors that support the use of CBD in older adults is its effectiveness (when taken in moderation) against neurodegenerative diseases. The journal CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics mentions that CBD may be beneficial to people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, and suggests that it may be useful in dealing with several different conditions of this type. The number of studies performed that support this hypothesis are massive and more of them are being published every month, suggesting that we may see the incorporation of CBD into the treatment of these disorders in a relatively short amount of time.
Quality of Life
As we get older, the factor that preys on us the most is how much our age impacts our quality of life. Growing old is a frightening process as it introduces a lot of issues that we as individuals have never encountered before. CBD has already proven its usefulness as a tool to combat the usual symptoms of aging, and as more research comes to light, we might even see CBD as a means of managing the discomfort that growing old brings with it. Having a chemical that can give us back some semblance of the quality of life that we were used to in the prime of our lives is essential because it offers a way for us to grow older comfortably.