Can CBD’s Calming Effects Help Enhance an Artist’s Creativity?
Following a myriad of celebrity endorsements, the popularity of CBD has dramatically surged in the past year. Everyone from Dr. Sanjay Gupta to Mandy Moore have professed their support for the healing properties of CBD oil. Before long, people found out that CBD might also help with anxiety and insomnia, and even aid creativity.
So, can CBD really help increase an artist’s creativity? Keep on reading to find out as we attempt to trace the sudden rise of CBD and connect it to its many remedial properties.
What Is CBD?
CBD, along with THC, is one of the many chemical compounds in the cannabis plant. Though they are close relatives, THC and CBD have different effects on users. While they can both induce calmness and help with anxiety, CBD, unlike THC, isn’t psychoactive or addictive.
According to federal laws, a marijuana plant with less than 0.3% THC is called industrial hemp. All products derived from industrial hemp are considered legal on the federal level. Conversely, any plant with more than 0.3% THC is not hemp and, as such, is federally illegal. All in all, CBD products are the perfect legal alternative to marijuana for consumers, doctors, and dietary supplement distributors alike.
What Are the Medicinal Properties of CBD?
According to Dr. Peter Grinspoon, a specialist for medical cannabis, CBD has proven to be useful in treating insomnia, anxiety, and pain. He points out that CBD has always been in a kind of gray area. On the one hand, it is obvious that it has some healing properties and can help treat different ailments. On the other hand, it comes from marijuana, so any research has so far been suppressed. Still, no one can deny the following: CBD cannot be seen as anything other than a harmless, non-intoxicating compound.
The Rise of the CBD Industry
The rise of the CBD industry began around 2017 when the World Health Organization judged that CBD does not have any addictive or harmful potential. Then, in June of 2018, the FDA approved a CBD-based medication for treating epilepsy, bringing CBD even more positive attention and publicity.
Both of these decisions led to the expansion and growth of CBD businesses. The growth is so fast and so huge that forecasts suggest the CBD market could reach a worth of over $22 billion by 2022. With these developments, CBD slowly started becoming, among other things, an important ingredient in beverages all around the world.
CBD Products for Artists and Creative Individuals
In October 2018, a CBD seltzer called Recess hit the market. It apparently boosts creativity, and artists are its target demographic. The founder, Benjamin Witte, said that incorporating CBD into his own life made him much more creative, as well as less stressed and anxious. He added that establishing a connection between the CBD drink and feeling calm, creative, and productive has always been his main objective.
Similarly, an LA wellness company named Mowellens that produces high-quality CBD oil products also aims all their marketing strategies at artists. CEO Amy Duncan wrote how CBD enhanced her creativity a lot. She compared taking CBD to a phenomenon called “hyper-priming.” Hyper-priming occurs when we can easily make connections between seemingly unrelated subjects. (Research does point out that cannabis can cause hyper-priming).
So, Can CBD Actually Increase Creativity?
As you have read above, a lot of CBD products seem to be aimed at artists and creatives like those formulated specifically by brands like Royal CBD with full-spectrum extract along with other cannabinoids. However, there has been little to no research to support the fact that they truly enhance creativity. To put it simply, we don’t know if CBD alone can trigger brain activity in any capacity. Brain processes such as convergent and divergent thinking or the generation of ideas seem to have little connection to consuming CBD.
The lack of research doesn’t stem from a lack of interest though. The main reason why we still don’t know much about the effects of CBD is the US government’s war on drugs. Dr. Grinspoon explains that any research into anything related to marijuana has always been aimed at finding its bad, harmful effects.
Therefore, it isn’t a surprise that the research is seriously lagging even today. But the good thing is that, in the past, it was always artists who inspired new research into similar substances in the first place. It seems that the same is happening with CBD.
CBD’s Bad Reputation Is Still a Problem
The bad reputation CBD products still have is standing in the way of further research and conclusive answers. However, not everything bad circulating about CBD is unfounded. Since everyone treats CBD as a supplement, it can evade the FDA’s strict rules. This fact has led to many cases of products advertised as CBD-derived that had no CBD in them at all and instead had THC.
These deceitful practices made the public distrust CBD and any of its derivatives. Additionally, they put CBD on the government’s radar, making everything even more complicated. But don’t think that this means that it isn’t safe to consume CBD. As long as the product you buy is clearly labeled and tested in accordance with the FDA’s rules, you should be more than fine.
In Conclusion
Whether CBD helps with boosting creativity is still a question with no answer. As Dr. Grinspoon put it, if it is true that CBD can help with anxiety and insomnia, thinking that it may help with brain activity as well isn’t a stretch at all. Still, research is very much needed. Until then, we can only speculate.
***
MetalSucks occasionally accepts paid content. For more on our advertising policy, click here.
