Cannabis, Endocannabinoid System, and Getting High On Your Own Supply
Once I understood how my body naturally is designed to integrate with cannabis, my views on cannabis begin to change. In the beginning however, everything about cannabis was “doom and gloom.” This commercial seemed to emulate that correctly and hilariously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh8GbPnoqCI.
Once you understand how the endocannabinoid system generally operates, using cannabis becomes so much more interesting, useful/impactful, and this is something that famous mindfulness speaker Wim Hof has also discovered through his breathing techniques, helping to bring the body’s naturally occurring system to recent spotlight.
In short, the system controls all other major bodily systems in the human body. Below, many of those systems are demonstrated, along with the major receptor sites that you will find in those regions and thus the affinity for either CBD or THC.
*Greenleaf Solutions Website for visual*
When you see all of the regions that the ECS can influence, you start to realize the power of cannabis. When I personally realized this was also when I began to experience with cannabis in different ways to create my own anecdotal evidence that works for me. So I started experimenting with cannabis in a few different ways. For example, one time I thought that during a fit of the super-annoying “hiccups,” that “Hey!…wait a minute….hiccups are just muscle spasms of the diaphragm, and a mixed ratio of THC/CBD will ease muscle spasms, so let’s give THAT a try!” Two minutes later and 2 puffs of a 1:1 ratio of CBD critical cure, and the spasms ceased!
For years, I would go to the orthopedic surgeon because of a randomly sporadic pain I would get in my knee. The surgeon was very reputable, but couldn’t figure it out, and I could tell even to the point of frustration. A good friend of mine had a mother who was a long-standing nurse practitioner and herbalist, and she mentioned that inflammation could be the issue. My knees would stiffen suddenly, and if I was standing for a while, it was hard to bend it. If I was sitting for a while, it was hard to stand up and straighten my leg after a few minutes. It made no sense at the time, but now, once I’m older and better understand these things (I was 15 at the time), I understand that this symptom could definitely just have been inflammation in the knee. Once I realized this, I also tried a lotion for a my knee and a high-CBD strain, and within minutes the problem didn’t exist any longer. In fact, the I seldom receive that feeling any more ever since I have started with cannabis use on a regular basis.
I later found that with cannabis my blood pressure seemed to normalize (or maybe it just influenced healthier practices), my sleep was more balance, my mood certainly was, my raging appetite that would occur after a few beers on Sunday football would cool off, mainly because my drinking was being moderated as well. My bruxism at night (tooth-grinding) seemed to slow down considerably, my heartburn was gone, because my immune system was balanced I haven’t felt cold-symptoms in years as well, etc, cannabis just seemed to totally balance me out every time that my body seemed to be out of balance. To be honest, any hormonal imbalance that I can possibly think of that I have experienced since my start of utilizing medical cannabis has been almost completely normalized at this point.
Although cannabis has been incredibly helpful in all of these respects, coming across Wim Hof’s breathing method only seemed to amplify my body’s internal balancing act. If you haven’t heard of the Wim Hof breathing method, you should check it out here: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises.
Yes, he appears crazy a few minutes into his videos at first, but trust me, once you do the exercises a few times the impact is real, and Wim is incredibly genuine in his overall demeanor which is refreshing in today’s age. Wim is really revolutionizing how we view fitness, the body, the whole thing in one big holistic way, and it includes the ECS! One of Wim’s rallying cries with his method is to “Get High On Your Own Supply!” He acknowledges that this occurs through the bodies own ECS. When you go through the breathing method, at first it can be a little off-putting if you’re not ready for it, since you start to feel tingly, light, etc. I do this laying down, and at the end of the rounds of breaths, there’s a huge release that washes over your body, that feels a bit like a cannabis high, but a tad different. I think this makes since, as Wim states, you’re using your body’s own supply to get high! The high here is incredibly relaxing, clear-headed, but also energizing at the same time. You have an enormous sense of peace afterwards, and it’s a great way to start the day. Afterwards, you use this state of complete awareness to jump in a cold shower!…yes, also strange, but the benefits prove pretty significant. Wim explains the significance of endocannabinoids in this excerpt on his website:
“The significant activation of the cognitive cortical areas indicates a release of endogenous opiates/cannabinoids. These endocannabinoids are known to promote the feeling of euphoria and well-being, pleasurable feelings which can be often observed after stress-induced activities or which can explain the absence of pain during high-stress situations. The rise in the release of endocannabinoids could possibly constitute a mechanism to mediate decreased sensitivity to cold exposure, since another key property of endocannabinoids is their analgesic action. Interestingly, endocannabinoids are known to inhibit edema and inflammation, which is in accordance to the reported reduction of the immune response associated with the WHM practice [1].” https://www.wimhofmethod.com/blog/ongoing-research
So the point of this article is that your endocannabinoid system is real, and you can influence it whether or not you decide to partake in cannabis. My take is, if I already have a natural system to optimize my body, why not utilize it! Once I acted on that take, positive results in my health soon followed. You won’t hear this likely from your doctor, as most aren’t taught this in medical school (however it’s possible that that is starting to change as well). So check out the links below and intuitively see for yourself how cannabis may be able to assist in positively influence a system for YOU that could use a little balancing!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2241751/
https://www.healthline.com/health/endocannabinoid-system#how-it-works
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789136/
https://www.leafly.com/news/science-tech/what-is-the-endocannabinoid-system
https://norml.org/library/item/introduction-to-the-endocannabinoid-system