Cannabis has grown massively in popularity in South Africa over the last few decades. CBD oil especially has been booming in the last half-decade. Between 2017 and 2021, an estimated compound annual growth rate of more than 39% was predicted.
Much of the growth has been attributed to the benefits of CBD oil. Cannabidiol oil – CBD oil – is a product derived from the cannabis plant. If you’ve been curious about the benefits of CBD oil, read on for eleven of the best effects.
CBD Products, South Africa
South Africa has already embraced CBD fully. In 2019, South Africa became the first nation in Africa to create a federal market for CBD.
Before this, much had fallen outside of legal channels. With recent regulations, CBD’s legality is no longer an issue.
This makes South Africa one of the best places to use CBD products or CBD isolate. South Africa has placed some limits and CBD can’t see use completely freely, but the market made makes use much easier.
Available Forms
in South Africa, there are many forms available. While we’ve focused mostly on CBD oil here, there are many different ways to ingest that oil.
CBD gummies, for example, are a popular and enjoyable way to ingest CBD. You may also look into edibles if you dislike gummies but like the thought of eating your CBD.
Eliquids are another common form for CBD to take. This form is typically paired with a vapouriser. Much of vape culture has embraced CBD as a whole, meaning that there’s a great deal of CBD e-liquids on the market.
CBD isolate is another form. This is the same compound in isolation without implementation into oils. The most common form is as a powder or crystalline substance.
CBD Oil, Concerns, and Varieties
While we’ll be exploring eleven in particular, there are countless benefits to CBD oil. Many of these effects continue to see research into them, with most likely to expand.
CBD also isn’t exclusive to humans, interestingly. Many have found CBD oil for dogs to be just as beneficial for many of the same reasons. While it’s less commonly used for other pets, there’s ongoing research to see how effective it may be for them.
As far as CBD oil for pets goes, make sure that you consult a veterinarian before doing this. Some pets may require different dosages or have pre-existing conditions
Common Concerns
One concern that many potential users have is wanting to avoid any sort of high. Hearing that CBD comes from cannabis can often give that misconception, but no worries. Unlike THC, CBD causes no intoxication at all.
Another concern is that the substance may be addictive. As of now, there is no evidence to support that CBD can cause addiction. Current research has shown no substance-based signs of dependence on CBD either, though there hasn’t been extensive research into the long-term effects yet.
It also shouldn’t be confused with any of the other isolated compounds in cannabis. Hemp oil or THC isolate are extremely different things and will have drastically different effects.
Finally, there is a concern at a lack of regulation and health. Before use, make sure that you consult your doctor to see if CBD will be effective for you. While CBD hasn’t yet been fully embraced globally, its health benefits are well-acclaimed.
With that out of the way, let’s jump straight into the eleven primary uses of CBD oil.
1. Pain Relief
Pain relief is typically the most common reason that anyone would use CBD oil. Often this works by alleviating other ailments that could be causing pain such as illness or helping with poor health.
In some parts of the world, such as the United States, pain relief is the primary reason to use CBD. Studies show that as much as 64% of CBD users use the compound for pain relief.
2. Acne Reduction
Skincare is another key use for CBD oil. Many skincare products have begun including CBD, especially those focused on acne reduction. This isn’t universal, as not all skin or acne is the same, so make sure you do some research on your skin and acne beforehand.
CBD is useful for this due to affecting the way that our skin produces sebum. Sebum is a waxy, oily substance used in our skin. While mostly used to protect our skin, it also can become trapped in a poor and cause acne.
That isn’t to say that CBD stops this helpful substance from seeing production altogether, of course. Rather, CBD helps to stop sebocytes – sebum-producing cells – from overproducing sebum. That way, our skin has what it needs without having too much.
3. Cardiac Health
While still being heavily researched, there’s quite a bit of evidence that supports CBD being useful for cardiac health. Working as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidative helps to relieve stress on your heart.
The primary way that CBD helps is by helping to lower blood pressure. Interestingly, this is mostly shown on a stressed heart, and there are currently no studies to show that it helps a heart that isn’t undergoing stress. Still, lowering blood pressure, at any rate, can help prevent a variety of heart complications, as well as strokes.
For something this massive, ensure that you talk to your doctor first. Cardiac health is incredibly serious and high blood pressure should be checked out first. Many doctors have begun suggesting or prescribing CBD-containing products.
4. Substance Abuse Treatment
CBD is currently undergoing further research on its use as a substance abuse-deterrent. Primarily, the research is focused on helping victims of substance abuse avoid relapse. This is especially the case in addictive drugs.
This primarily helps by working to reduce stress and anxiety in a patient. By lowering these symptoms, a patient is less likely to relapse into addictive substances. Given that CBD itself hasn’t had any studies show any sort of addictive properties, it’s well-matched to the task.
5. Excellent Sleep Aid
Sleep aid is another highly popular use for CBD oil. By working as a calming substance, CBD is able to help promote sleep.
With current research, it’s unknown exactly how this works. Some believe that it promotes sleep by directly causing the effect. Others believe that it reduces symptoms of other conditions that can stop you from falling asleep.
Either way, the result is the same. CBD taken at night can help you fall asleep faster. This sleep is also often more restful, helping promote better sleep in general.
6. Reduced Anxiety and Depression Symptoms
Anxiety is one of the primary reasons that anyone would take CBD oil. The same study mentioned above on pain has anxiety as the second most popular reason to use CBD.
This is especially true in long-term use. A lengthy CBD regiment, particularly when used daily, can help to keep anxiety symptoms down.
While more often used for anxiety, CBD can also be useful for depression. Patients that suffer from both disorders especially have a great use for CBD. Given that both often also feed into each other, treating one will frequently lessen the other.
Though long-term use is more often the reason, there are plenty of short-term benefits as well. Use of CBD before an anxiety-inducing situation can lessen the severity and duration of the anxiety. It can also help to soothe an anxiety attack.
7. Beneficial for Healthy Skin
Outside of neurological uses and pain, healthy skin is the most popular reason to use CBD. We’ve touched a bit on acne, but there are dozens of ways CBD helps skin health.
One of the popular uses is to help with collagen. Collagen is an abundant protein in our body that helps keep our skin healthy. This is particularly of note for the face, as collagen can prevent wrinkles, especially with age.
As we age, our body produces less and less collagen. Commonly, this leads to wrinkling and a variety of other effects. CBD has uses to help promote collagen production at any age, but is especially popular among those 40 and up.
Many moisturisers especially use CBD, as the substance can help to hydrate the skin. Working as an anti-inflammatory helps to keep skin healthy and without blemishes. While research is still ongoing, skincare remains a popular use for CBD oil.
8. Anti-Inflammatory Benefits
Research suggests that CBD as a compound has strong natural anti-inflammatory properties. Because of this, many have begun using CBD oil to help reduce inflammation.
This can be useful for joint pain and for infection, though should never be the only substance used for these ailments. While it won’t treat an infection directly, it can help to lessen the inflammation the infection causes. Many inflammation-related symptoms see alleviation by CBD directly.
Arthritis is a common ailment to treat this way. Much like the previously-mentioned collagen, treating arthritis leads to high popularity in older demographics.
9. Good for Cancer Treatment
CBD is being extensively researched as a way to help treat cancer. It’s worth knowing that many believe CBD could be used to cure cancer. At this moment, there is no research to support this.
However, it’s often seen as a way to help treat cancer symptoms. This can also help ease the road to recovery or make recovery a more likely possibility. CBD is especially used to help reduce nausea and insomnia, two common cancer side effects.
Some research has been made that supports CBD as an anti-tumour substance. There’s some evidence that supports it slows tumour growth and reduces their rate of spreading. As such, many believe it can be used to slow or stop cancer from spreading.
10. Effective Treatment for Eating Disorders
As a treatment for symptoms, CBD is useful for a number of eating disorders. Many have found a use for CBD as a treatment for anorexia and bulimia specifically.
With bulimia, CBD can help to reduce nausea. Soothing anxieties and helping to lessen mental symptoms also helps to reduce bulimia’s severity. The same can be said for anorexia nervosa
Much of this is due to our appetite being dictated by our mood. Chronic stress or anxiety can often cause or worsen eating disorders. While this is most commonly seen in anorexia and bulimia, the same is true for binge eating and obesity as well.
11. Alleviation and Treatment of Neurological Disorders
CBD has seen some use as a tool to alleviate or treat a select few neurological disorders. We’ve already discussed eating disorders and anxiety, but what about some other severe options?
Epilepsy and seizures have seen some treatment from CBD oils, for example. Severe migraines and even dementia have seen treatment as well. As before, this is primarily from treating symptoms, and should not be seen as a direct cure for these ailments.
CBD can help to alleviate irritation and agitation in dementia patients especially. Helping to soothe these mental disorders can help to lessen symptoms altogether. By doing so, CBD makes dementia significantly easier to treat.
Benefits of CBD Oil
The benefits of CBD oil, while well-documented, are still under research. As such, there’s always the chance for the eleven uses here to change to some extent.
That said, there’s also still room for there to be many, many more uses discovered. CBD oil is more than just a recent trend – it’s an incredibly useful health product that millions nationally have begun to embrace.
If you have any further questions about CBD, be sure to browse our informative blog. Feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have as well.
