Seniors can suffer from many health conditions, and they are under a wide range of prescription medications as a result. While the medicines may give them short-term relief for their illnesses, they will require greater dosages in the long term. Once they start to depend on the treatment, seniors eventually develop a reliance. Research has also shown that some of the doses lead to organ damage. Fortunately, new studies demonstrate that CBD has the potential to eliminate the conditions they suffer from and combat their addiction to prescription medicine.
Based on information by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), opioid overdose takes about 90 American lives daily. The elderly, who exceed 46 million in the US, are particularly in danger, considering they are more likely to be addicted to prescription medicines to reduce pain and other symptoms. Multiple studies confirm this; the CDC found that over 49% of seniors have arthritis, and Harvard Neurodiscovery Centre found that over 6 million Americans have Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Cannabis could be central to solving this problem.
States that have legalized CBD have reported 24% fewer deaths caused by opioid overindulgence than states that have not. CBD is displaying great potential in fighting the opioid epidemic as it minimizes drug-seeking habits. It may also relieve the elderly of symptoms of various conditions, including chronic pain through various products like tinctures or gummies.
Research illustrates that CBD addresses each point of the addiction cycle. This means that it can help to prevent countless disorders that make seniors vulnerable to addiction, such as insomnia and mood swings.
In 2018, scientists conducted a study on patients who previously self-administered cocaine and had relapsing symptoms, including anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and addiction. After consuming CBD once daily for a week, patients stop showing addictive behavior. Taking CBD also prevented the test-subjects from falling back to addiction for about five months. CBD gives its users long-lasting benefits and is eliminated from the user's body 3-days after use.
Smoking kills thousands of golden agers annually, despite being the most preventable killer in the US. Cigarettes can cause lung cancer, strokes, heart diseases, and other fatal conditions. In spite of these risks, smokers find it difficult to quit. Cigarettes have a highly addictive substance, nicotine, which causes smokers to feel relaxed. However, the relaxation is followed by withdrawal symptoms almost immediately.
In a study, researchers gave smokers who wanted to quit cannabis inhalers or a placebo. The test-subjects were to replace cigarettes with inhalers whenever they felt the need to smoke. A week later, they had reduced their smoking by 40%, while the placebo individuals could not cut their consumption. Seniors looking to fight their cigarette usage can try using CBD.
From liver damage to brain damage, alcohol abuse has multiple side effects. However, it's widely available and is easy to over-indulge, meaning millions of Americans are drowning in alcoholism. Researchers conducting preclinical trials have found that cannabis has neuroprotective properties that can prevent cognitive impairment, common among seniors who are heavy drinkers. Cannabis can also useful in reducing alcohol consumption.
According to the findings from various research studies mentioned above, CBD has multiple benefits to seniors, especially those battling pain, stress-related disorders, and addictions. While CBD properties can help individuals of all age groups, this article has focused on the population commonly affected by these conditions.