‘Tis the Season for Stress

The holiday season is supposed to be “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” In reality, it can be the most stressful time of the year. The stress of having to plan meals for the entire family, shopping for gift exchanges, taking the kids to meet Santa, finances along with trying to please everyone can lead to anxiety and depression.

With all the stressors around the holiday season, having something like cannabis that can help alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and depression can be a blessing. There is an array of cannabis products available from short-acting to long-acting products. If you are stressing about some holiday plans or activities, you might need a short-acting product like an inhaled form of consumption. Some examples are vape cartridges, flower or concentrates which have the fastest onset of action. These fast-acting forms of consumption take about 2-10 minutes to take effect, have a peak concentration at about 30 minutes with the effects lasting about 2-2&1/2 hours. Tinctures can be used as an alternative to inhaled products with an onset of about 15-30 minutes when held under the tongue and their effects lasting about 3-4 hours. If you know of holiday plans in advance and how they may stress you out, you can plan ahead and take a longer acting product like a solution with an onset of 30-60 minutes and its effects lasting about 4-6 hours. Some other long-acting forms are tablets, capsules and RSO which have a slower onset of action at about 30 minutes to 2 hours but are the longest lasting products with their effects lasting about 6-8 hours.

Small doses of THC can provide a relaxing feeling which can help combat the stress which leads up to the holiday season. CBD can help reduce anxiety caused by stress. Certain terpenes are known to be more uplifting and anxiolytic, such as Limonene and Carophyllene. Terpenes which have a more calming and relaxing effect are Linalool, Bisabolol and Myrcene. Combining specific cannabinoids with a select combination of terpenes, known together as the “Entourage Effect”, can help decrease the stress, anxiety and depression that some of us feel around the holiday season.

With the numerous cannabis options available, this time of the year doesn’t have to be the most stressful, anxious or depressive time of the year, but rather the “MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR”, to spend with family and friends!