Opinion

CBD oil – the magic hangover cure

Written by Petar Petrov

CBD has demonstrated powerful medicinal properties that span a wide range of serious conditions, but this precious compound can also alleviate something so trivial that most people dread, hangovers.

What Causes Hangovers?

Beyond the obvious culprit, it’s important to understand what causes a hangover on a scientific level in order to understand how CBD can alleviate it.

Low blood sugar

Because the human body recognizes alcohol as poison, the liver aims to remove it. This in turn leads to the release of insulin which lowers blood sugar. As a result, your blood sugar levels are lower than normal the next day, making you feel low on energy altogether.

In addition to this, alcohol is also famous for dehydrating you which additionally makes your energy and overall state plummet.

Dilation of Blood Vessels

Alcohol dilates the blood vessels and as they go back to normal the next day, blood gets clogged. This is where those throbbing hangover headaches come from.

Toxicity

Alcohol is also highly toxic, killing brain cells and increasing the stomach’s acid production which causes acidification of the body and leads to bloating, heartburn, acid reflux and stomach ulcers.

Inflammation

Alcohol also triggers the immune’s system inflammatory response which in turn leads to blurry vision, hazy memories, and dampening of the cognitive and motor skills.

How does CBD Help?

Alleviates Headache

CBD has become the go-to treatment of headaches and migraines. The ultimate testament to CBD’s power is the amount of professional fighters who are turning to it for relief of headaches and concussions, as well as many muscle and joint aches.

In one study, cannabis, not even CBD oil which has far more concentrated healing power, decreased migraines with over 50%, with 39,7% of patients reporting positive effects, including migraine prevention. (1)

Antioxidating and Neuroprotective Properties

CBD is also a strong antioxidant and neuroprotectant. (2)A study tested CBD properties on rats who were exposed to toxic levels of excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate.

It turned out CBD showed as good as or even better results in preventing oxidative damage and protecting against glutamate neurotoxicity than other actual antioxidants.

“This data also suggests that cannabidiol maybe a potentially useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of oxidative neurological disorders such as cerebral ischemia,” the researchers say.

Furthermore, because of its neuroprotective properties, CBD eases the dilation of blood vessels and thus prevents headaches.

Regulates Blood Sugar

Another study found that CBD demonstrates remarkable and sweeping properties, attenuating a series of conditions like “myocardial dysfunction, cardiac fibrosis, oxidative/nitrative stress, inflammation, cell death, and interrelated signaling pathways.”(3)Not only do these wide-spanning effects make CBD very effective against hangovers, but the study even concludes that CBD’s ability to regulate glucose has “great therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetic complications.”

Anti-Inflammatory Effects

These are by far CBD’s more pronounced effects, and there are countless studies, including the one mentioned above, that have proven them in a variety of settings. It’s this magic power that fighters are especially grateful for, even more than the concussion relief.

Curbs Nausea

CBD is also famous for curbing nausea, a property which is praised by many patients, and now it can be celebrated by heavy drinkers as well. CBD achieves that indirectly, by activating a monoamine neurotransmitter, called 5-HT1A which actually soothes nausea. (4)

An honorable mention goes to CBD’s ability to reduce alcohol’s damage to the liver and brain by almost 50%, (5) which at first might not feel as cleansing as CBD’s hangover curative super powers, but it could surely come in handy in the long run.

References:

  1. Rhyne DN et al, Effects of Medical Marijuana on Migraine Headache Frequency in an Adult Population, 2016 May;36(5):505-10. doi: 10.1002/phar.1673.
  2. Hampson AJ et al, Cannabidiol and (-)Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol are neuroprotective antioxidants, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.1998 Jul 7;95(14):8268-73.
  3. Rajesh M et al, Cannabidiol attenuates cardiac dysfunction, oxidative stress, fibrosis, and inflammatory and cell death signaling pathways in diabetic cardiomyopathy, J Am Coll Cardiol.2010 Dec 14;56(25):2115-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2010.07.033.
  4. Rock EM et al, Cannabidiol, a non-psychotropic component of cannabis, attenuates vomiting and nausea-like behaviour via indirect agonism of 5-HT(1A) somatodendritic autoreceptors in the dorsal raphe nucleus, Br J Pharmacol.2012 Apr;165(8):2620-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2011.01621.x.
  5. Liput et al, Transdermal delivery of cannabidiol attenuates binge alcohol-induced neurodegeneration in a rodent model of an alcohol use disorder, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior,Volume 111, October 2013, Pages 120-127

About the author

Petar Petrov

Petar is a freelance writer and copywriter, covering culture, art, society, and anything in-between that makes for a nice story. And as it so happens, cannabis is a great element to add to each of those conversations.