Anxiety is a common mental disorder that has affected millions of people worldwide, including adults and adolescents.
Defined by a sudden distemper of fear, worry, unease, and nervousness, it can range from mild and temporary to intense and prolonged.
Although normal to be anxious at times e.g. during an exam or appearing at a public event, too much anxiety can cause severe issues to your health and performance.
In worst-case scenarios, it can lead to frequent episodes of panic attacks and phobias that can interfere with your personal, professional, and social life.
Fortunately, there are potential treatments for anxiety disorders that you can choose from depending on your budget and conditions.
Some of the common treatments include psychotherapy and over-the-counter/prescription drugs such as anti-depressants and anxiolytics.
In case you don’t like the sound of that, you can always turn to alternative medicines like weed or cannabis.
As a feel-good drug, cannabis has long been used by humanity as a body-friendly herb that can alleviate the state of anxiety and the like.
Moreover, as a versatile plant, you don’t necessarily have to smoke or snort it to be able to gain its desired therapeutic effects.
Among its numerous consumable forms, are cannabis edibles or simply “edibles” that refer to those food items and beverages that are infused with some or other form of cannabis.
These include but are not limited to baked goods like cakes, cookies, and brownies to confectioneries such as chocolates, candies, gummies, and lozenges, whether homemade or commercially prepared.
Before you start drooling and get going with these tasty weed delights, let’s find out a bit more about how anxiety affects a person’s overall health.
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Anxiety could be of various types starting from occasional worry about important things to frequent and excessive worries about everyday situations.
Apart from intense fear, anxiety disorders are generally accompanied by mental unease, physical restlessness, sweating, and an increased heart rate.
It can be caused by a variety of factors such as stress, genetics, health conditions, brain chemistry, and the surrounding environment.
Some of the common types of anxiety disorders are:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Social anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Phobias-related disorders
Regardless, what they all have in common are symptoms such as:
- Nervousness or tension.
- A fear of danger/panic.
- An increased heart rate and heavy breathing.
- Sweating, shaking, or trembling.
- Fatigue and tiredness.
- Lack of focus or concentration.
- Nausea or abdominal distress.
- Sleep problems.
- Fear of judgment and self-consciousness.
If not treated in time, anxiety can lead to depression, trauma, and even the risk of self-harm and suicide.
How Edibles Can Help with Anxiety
Given the widespread belief that cannabis is a potential drug for several diseases and health conditions, edibles are emerging as a popular means of taking cannabis, especially for medicinal use.
Being anxiolytic, anti-biotic, and anti-inflammatory, a controlled administration of cannabis can help you manage a lot of issues that are known to trigger anxiety- for instance, chronic pain, disability, and other medical conditions.
One of the key reasons for taking cannabis in the first place is nothing but the infamous ‘high’ which can be understood as both the intoxicating effects of the herb as well as the resulting feeling of being content and free of any unpleasant state of mind.
Turning to edibles, what makes them so promising compared to other means of cannabis consumption are features such as:
- Discretion and ease of use.
- Calmer, more relaxing, and longer lasting effects.
- Absence of harmful toxins and carcinogens as is the case with smoking/vaping.
Types of Edibles for Anxiety
Cannabis-infused edibles range from homemade food and beverages to commercially produced products.
E.g. baked goods, candies, gummies, chocolates, and lozenges to name a few.
In essence, most food items can be infused with cannabis be it using raw leaves and flowers or an edible cannabinoid-infused oil that you can purchase from a weed dispensary.
Speaking of which, cannabis edible oils come with a wide range of cannabinoids (natural cannabis compounds) such as CBD, THC, CBN, and terpenes in both isolated and mixed forms.
Of-the-shelf edibles to be specific may either be CBD-dominant or THC-rich depending on whether they are isolates, broad-spectrum, or full-spectrum.
To give you a hint, CBD is the main medicinal part of cannabis; whereas, THC is more to do with its euphoric or psychoactive effects.
So before you choose your poison, make sure to pay attention to the type of cannabinoids it contains.
Criteria for Choosing the Best Edibles for Anxiety
Finding the right edible for your palate is all about your preferences and taste.
So if you don’t like to get stoned or feel any ‘high’ then CBD-based edibles are your best bet.
However, if you want to gain the maximum effects of cannabis and are okay with the ‘high’, then you might want to go with those edibles that maintain a combination of both THC and CBD as well as other minor cannabinoids for a better “entourage effect.”
Apart from the cannabinoid content, you should also be wary of other ingredients like artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives as they can compromise the desired effects of cannabis edibles.
Being entirely food-based, you might also want to take a look at their calorie level as high-calorie edibles can lead to unwanted weight gain, the last thing a diet-conscious person would want.
Along with that, you should also take into account your tolerance and sensitivity to different types of cannabinoids and ingredients present in a weed edible.
For more info, you can always consult with your healthcare provider.
Top Edibles for Anxiety
While CBD and THC-infused gummies certainly top the list of edibles for anxiety, there are more intriguing options that you can choose from.
These include brownies, cakes, cookies, chocolates, candies, and all sorts of snacks and beverages.
Some of the most popular options include:
- Chews and gummies in a variety of fruity flavors.
- Cannabis-rich butter like our Big Pete’s Cannabutter.
- WHOA cannabis chocolates.
- Heavenly Sweet Cookies, cracks, and other snacks.
Likewise, there are numerous other treats that you can find to obtain the anxiolytic effects of cannabis via health-friendly edibles.
To explore them all, check the complete list of edibles here.
How to Use Edibles for Anxiety
Regardless of what medical condition you want to take the edibles for, the way to use them effectively is universally the same starting with a low or moderate dosage.
More specifically, the ideal or recommended dosage of CBD in edibles is said to be 10 mg; whereas, for the highly potent THC, it is set as 5 mg.
To be safer though, you might want to start low with about 2.5 mg of THC or CBD and gradually increase your dosage from there until you find the right hit.
Choosing a fixed time every day to have your fill of cannabis edibles is yet another important step to making the most out of this complex plant.
At the same time, it is crucial to be wary of your environment and mindset and not eat too much of edibles at once as is the case with stress-related binge eating.
When consuming edibles infused with cannabis, you should also keep yourself hydrated and nourished with essential nutrients.
Potential Side Effects and Considerations
Albeit considered significantly safer than smoking and other means of consumption, higher doses of edibles can pose severe episodes of cannabis-induced behavioral impairment.
These aversive experiences may range from cognitive and motor impairment to extreme sedation, agitation, anxiety, cardiac stress, and vomiting.
Overdosing on THC-rich edibles can produce short-term psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and anxiety in some individuals.
Speaking of which, unintentional ingestion of edibles is one of the most common issues that users face due to the difficulty of dose titration.
On top of that, since anything eaten takes about 30 to 90 minutes to be digested and produce its effects, overdosing on edibles can result in a longer duration of high.
Additionally, your weight, metabolism, gender, and eating habits can also play a major role in defining how soon and for how long you will feel the intoxicating effects of cannabis.
Conclusion
While edibles have shown to be quite promising against anxiety disorders, they have to be used mindfully and in limited dosages.
Being highly potent with anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic properties, too much of it can adversely impact your anxiety by intensifying it further.
Therefore, along with choosing the right taste, you should also stick to low or moderate dosages of edibles no matter how tempting.
FAQs
Cannabis-infused edibles may take up to 30 to 90 minutes to produce their effects that reach their peak at 2 to 4 hours after ingestion.
Since cannabis can potentially interact with other medications including anti-depressants and anxiolytics, it is better to consult with your doctor before adding it to your regime.
When taken in limited or recommended dosages, cannabis edibles can be consumed daily with no adverse effects.
While there is no standard mechanism to judge the quality of homemade edible, off-the-shelf authentic products come with proper labeling that you can go through to check the cannabinoid content, ingredients, recommended dosage, and storage conditions. In short, the entire quality of the product.
