Do fluorescent lights make your eyes burn? Is your sore neck and that pounding in your head making you extra irritable? If you suffer from headaches, you’ve probably experienced at least a few of the many painful side effects that come along with a headache.
But what you might not know is that CBD might be able to help with your headache. Ready for some natural headache relief? Read on!
What is CBD?
You’ve likely heard about CBD in the media–whether it’s the latest Instagram influencer touting CBD-infused water or someone raving about its many benefits. But, what is CBD exactly?
Derived from the hemp plant, CBD is a component of marijuana that preliminary research shows can relieve or treat some medical conditions. Healthcare professionals and research companies have conducted dozens of scientific trials involving CBD, and these support the hypothesis that CBB is an effective way to treat patients for various ailments.
While patients have used CBD to help treat Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, diabetes, and anxiety, there’s not enough research to support its impact and effectiveness for these specific ailments.
Headaches 101
Headaches are a very common condition that most people will experience many times during their lives. We’ve all (unfortunately) had them at one time or another. Headaches are one of the most common pain conditions in the world; about 75% of adults worldwide have had a headache in the past year.
There are more than 150 types of headache, and they fall into two main categories: primary and secondary headaches.
Headache pain is caused by brain, blood vessel, and nerve signals interfering with each other. There’s an unknowable mechanism that affects muscles and blood vessels during a headache. Pain signals are sent from these nerves to the brain, which is what gives you headaches.
There have been a lot of clinical studies trying to find ways to reduce migraine headaches and alleviate the pain. With the laws governing the legal use of cannabis beginning to loosen up, there’s been quite a bit of focus on the use of CBD oil for treating everything from arthritis to chronic pain, including headaches and migraines.
But, does CBD oil really help relieve headaches? Let’s dive in…
Can CBD Oil Help Headaches?
In short, yep.
Conclusive research supporting the impact of CBD for headaches can be scarce, but medical experts agree that the analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties of CBD can indeed relieve the symptoms that result from the intense stimulation to our sensory nerves (that cause the pain we feel when we get a headache).
Do you get nauseous or experience sore joints and muscles when you get a headache? CBD oil also has antiemetic effects that can help minimize those symptoms.
Medical institutions need to do more research to understand if CBD oil is a viable treatment for headaches, but a few early studies show it reduces inflammation and relieves chronic pain. So, if your headaches are unbearable and you’re looking for symptom relief, it might be worth trying CBD.
What is the Research on CBD for Headaches?
Clinical results, long-term studies, and conclusive results take time to gather and analyze. As a result, research around CBD oil for headaches is still relatively new, but early clinical trials look promising.
An analysis of nine California clinics found that 40.7% of patients reported that marijuana and CBD had therapeutic benefits for their headaches and migraines.
In another clinically-validated study, approximately 86% of participants reported a decrease in headaches after 30 days of using CBD. This 2017 review found that CBD could potentially be beneficial for treating headaches, but for the science to be more widely accepted, much more thorough research needs to be done.
It’s also important to note that if you’re considering using CBD oil for headaches, you should talk to your doctor before adding it to your routine. Not all CBD companies are the same, so do your research to make sure that what you’re buying is real, hemp-derived CBD and that there are third-party lab test results to back up the claims.
How to Use CBD for Headaches
There are many different ways to use CBD for a headache, but here are some of our faves:
- Take a soothing bath, and plop in a CBD bath bomb to help melt your headache away
- Headaches are sometimes caused by not drinking enough water. Next time you feel a headache coming on, grab a tall glass of water, and add a few drops of vanilla extra-strength CBD oil.
- Give yourself a relaxing neck and shoulder massage with some CBD cream.
Don’t be held captive by your headaches! CBD can help you find relief from your headache symptoms so you can free yourself from the pain symptoms of headaches.
Check out our full lineup of sun-grown CBD products to have on hand next time you feel a headache coming on.
