Top 7 CBD Gummies To Help With Anxiety (2022)

How Do CBD Gummies Work For Anxiety?

CBD increases serotonin activity by stimulating serotonin receptors, which impacts your anxiety and panic attacks. The same goes for dopamine — CBD stimulates the dopamine receptors, increasing dopamine levels to relieve anxiety.

Relatively high doses of CBD work best for anxiety because the CBD boosts GABA activity, promoting a feeling of calm by inhibiting stress- and anxiety-related brain activity.

This is the same neuroinhibitor targeted by drugs in the benzodiazepine class (like Xanax). CBD boosts GABA activity with less force than those prescription meds, leading to fewer side effects [1].

At the same time, CBD binds to the CB2 receptor to reduce inflammation, which can cause anxiety when it’s present in the brain. CBD also regulates cortisol levels, which are responsible for our experience of stress [2].

The body releases cortisol during stressful events in an effort to regulate the nervous system — but too much of it causes us to experience anxiety symptoms like high blood pressure, mood swings, and weight gain. Oral CBD works to reduce those cortisol levels, which can result in anxiety relief.

In fact, some of the only side effects you’ll likely notice after taking CBD for anxiety are better sleep, relaxed muscles, and relief from discomfort. Whether your anxiety keeps you from falling asleep or you have trouble staying asleep the whole night, a nightly CBD regimen might be able to help remedy those symptoms.

Anxiety can also cause disruptive dreams and disconcerting thoughts during sleep, like nightmares. CBD can help with insomnia, leading to better overall sleep [3].

Side Effects of CBD Gummies

Although CBD has few and mild negative side effects, it’s still important to take the correct dose, especially if you’re taking other anxiety medications. Side effects of CBD include drowsiness, dry mouth, diarrhea, nausea, and low blood pressure.

These side effects are non-fatal and will wear off as your CBD dose wears off, so if you take too much, you don’t have to worry about being uncomfortable for very long. That said, taking too much CBD can be bad for your anxiety treatment plan, especially if you’re already on SSRIs or other anxiety meds.

The CBD gummies we recommend for anxiety are made from consistent formulas that distribute the CBD evenly throughout the gummy, so you can easily split them up or double them to dial in your perfect dose.

Make sure to always check with your doctor before taking CBD alongside other anxiety medications.

Other Supplements That Combine With CBD For Anxiety

Although CBD’s benefits are many, there are lots of different supplements that can improve your anxiety. The best part? Most of them pair very well with CBD.

1. L-Theanine

L-theanine is an amino acid in green tea, black tea, coffee, and several other tea leaf plants. This supplement is another way to help with symptoms of stress and anxiety.

It’s shown to reduce depression, anxiety and increase sleep quality [4]. That means it can improve your anxiety symptoms while also increasing cognitive function, which may suffer under extreme stress or anxiety.

Scientists think L-theanine helps with anxiety by interacting with the glutamate receptors, which are the neurotransmitter pathways responsible for neural communication and memory. Common anxiety medications and L-theanine interact with the glutamate receptors to lower anxiety since glutamate activity is often abnormal in anxiety sufferers [5].

You can find L-theanine in capsules or tinctures to add to food or drinks, but you don’t need to take L-theanine with food to feel its effects. In fact, you can add it to your morning coffee or take it before bed along with your CBD gummy.

2. Magnesium

Magnesium is a macromineral that regulates a host of bodily functions, including blood pressure, muscle function, nerve function, protein creation, and blood sugar. Essentially, magnesium has everything to do with the production of energy in the body.

Although we can find magnesium naturally in the foods we eat, like nuts, beans, tofu, and whole grains, some people have a deficit or could use more magnesium to make up for the effects of disorders like anxiety and depression [6]. It can even help improve sleep and reduce migraines.

Magnesium works for anxiety by interacting with glutamate receptors to reduce stress response and regulate glutamate activity. Although more studies are needed to show the relationship between lessened anxiety and magnesium administration, the supplement seems to work in isolation for mild to moderate anxiety and depression [7].

It’s even more effective when combined with other anxiety-relieving compounds. You can take magnesium with your CBD, but you might have trouble finding a CBD gummy that includes magnesium already. Instead, use magnesium powder or pills alongside your CBD gummy regimen.

3. Kava

Kava is the root of the Piper methysticum plant. It’s usually available in root form, which is powdered and mixed with lukewarm water to create a beverage. It has mild to moderate psychoactive effects, which might make users feel elevated or relaxed.

Kava comes from the South Pacific and is native to Polynesian nations, where it’s been used as homeopathic medicine for centuries. These days, it’s used all around the world to treat disorders, including anxiety.

When you take kava, the kavalactones in the root modulate your GABA receptors to inhibit your anxiety response [8]. It actually functions similarly to CBD, so it’s important to start with low doses if you’re combining these compounds.

It’s totally safe to combine kava and CBD but make sure to take it easy at first due to kava’s psychoactive effects. Kava is traditionally mixed with water, but you can put it in tea or other beverages. You can also find it in tablet form, making it easy to take with your daily CBD gummy dose.

4. Delta 8 THC

Delta 8 THC is a cannabinoid similar to delta 9 THC — the compound we think of as marijuana — but it has one differing carbon bond. This structural difference means that delta 8 THC, which is psychoactive, has many of the same effects as delta 9, but it’s known to produce much less anxiety and paranoia.

Delta 8 is an excellent option for anyone who wants to get high to relieve some anxiety or stress but is worried about feeling anxious during the high. It has many of the same benefits as CBD and THC, including anxiety relief.

However, there are very few clinical trials on using delta 8 for anxiety specifically. That said, it is safe to combine with your CBD — and may even make your CBD more effective due to the entourage effect.

You can easily find delta 8 gummies to take with your CBD gummies, and you may even be able to purchase them from the same manufacturer. Like with CBD, make sure to always look for third-party lab testing and good company reviews when shopping for delta 8.

5. CBG

CBG, or cannabigerol, is the precursor molecule for most other natural cannabinoids. CBD, delta 8 and 9 THC, and other cannabinoids all start as CBG. It’s transformed into other cannabinoids as the cannabis plant grows, but early harvest preserves some of the CBG.

CBG is beneficial for anxiety because it inhibits GABA activity, just like other anti-anxiety medications and anxiety-relieving cannabinoids.

It also works similarly to CBD in that it can reduce the psychoactive effects of THC, so you can combine it with your THC to reduce the anxiety you might feel when you get high. It even has anti-inflammatory properties, so it can reduce anxiety by reducing inflammation in the brain.

You can easily find CBG and CBD together in gummy form. You can also take a CBG gummy separately from your CBD gummy to get more potency or easier measurements.

6. Passionflower

Passionflower, also known as Passiflora incarnata, is a plant that naturally grows in North America. Passiflora extract is a common gentle anxiety reliever taken as capsules or powders mixed into tea.

There aren’t enough studies showing how passionflower works for anxiety, but it’s comparable efficacy to a common anxiety medication [9]. Users report that it makes them feel calm and helps them fall asleep faster at night.

Passionflower can be combined with CBD in the form of a gummy, or you can take a passionflower extract pill alongside your CBD. While it won’t make you tired, most users recommend taking it at night because it can cause light sedative effects.

How Many Gummies Should I Take For Anxiety?

It’s important to use a dosage calculator when determining how much CBD to take for anxiety. If you’re on any other anxiety medication, check with your doctor or a drug interactions list to make sure it’s safe to take CBD at the same time.

Using your body size and desired strength, you can figure out the ideal dose. However, you can always dial this in using trial and error. Make sure to keep track of how much CBD you’re taking.

Gummies are ideal for figuring out the right dose because you can simply slice them in half or quarters with a knife to add or subtract from your dose. The CBD is distributed evenly, so simply divide the mg in each gummy with the number of equal sections you cut to figure out the concentration of each personalized dose.

High and low doses of CBD work differently for everyone — it isn’t better or worse to treat anxiety with a high or low dose. Some anxiety sufferers prefer to take a smaller dose each morning, while others use a higher amount to get to sleep at night and, in effect, have less anxiety the following day.

How To Make CBD Gummies Work Better For Anxiety

CBD is a powerful supplement — there’s lots of evidence to support its uses for chronic stress, anxiety, insomnia, pain, and so much more.

But you should never rely on CBD (or any supplement) alone to manage your anxiety levels.

The most effective way to relieve anxiety is to take on a multifaceted approach.

Every little bit counts. Pay attention to the food you eat, how much movement you’re getting during the day, and how much sleep you’re having at night.

The biggest impact you can have on eliminating anxiety is identifying the main source (or sources) of anxiety in your life and how to reduce them.

It doesn’t matter whether this means talking it out with friends and family, visiting a therapist, or spending time alone to think it out.

What Causes Anxiety?

Anxiety is the feeling of excessive worry that impacts several realms of your life, such as work and relationships. It can take the form of many different disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), phobias, agoraphobia, social anxiety, and more.

Although everyone experiences fleeting moments of troubling worry, those with anxiety disorders have trouble turning off this negative, worrisome train of thought. Not only is anxiety uncomfortable, but it can lead to a host of other mental health issues like depression.

It’s possible to develop an anxiety disorder due to a sustained threat in your life, but many people are born with genetic makeups like DNA methylation that make them predisposed to anxiety.

Anxiety comes from a disruption of communication between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex parts of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is instrumental in the regulation of emotions, especially negative emotions like anxiety.

Anxiety can also come from a physiologically dysregulated state, which means the patient has a high heart rate or other abnormal biomarkers. If you have general anxiety disorder (GAD), you might exist in this dysregulated state all the time. Otherwise, you may enter this state only when experiencing anxiety.

It may even result in a disruption of GABA from a substance like alcohol, which may lower GABA and thus reduce its calming effects. Anxiety can even come from an endocannabinoid deficiency [10].

CBD works for anxiety because it interacts with GABA and the endocannabinoid receptors like CB2, which are responsible for regulating moods and stress responses. There’s even promising evidence that CBD may modulate DNA methylation in the prefrontal cortex, which is where anxiety occurs in the brain [11].

Final Thoughts: Best CBD Gummies For Anxiety

CBD gummies are a great treatment for anxiety because they are easy to dose, convenient to carry around and offer the numerous anxiety-reducing effects of CBD.

Whether your anxiety is fueled by a stressful job, a chemical imbalance, trauma, or any other reason, CBD can help calm your body and, in turn, your mind.

Make sure you always choose CBD gummies that are third-party lab tested and made from U.S.-grown hemp, and always dose carefully when treating your anxiety with CBD.

References Used

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2. Shannon, S., Lewis, N., Lee, H., & Hughes, S. (2019). Cannabidiol in anxiety and sleep: a large case series. The Permanente Journal, 23.
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4. Hidese, S., Ogawa, S., Ota, M., Ishida, I., Yasukawa, Z., Ozeki, M., & Kunugi, H. (2019). Effects of L-theanine administration on stress-related symptoms and cognitive functions in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. Nutrients, 11(10), 2362.
5. Cortese, B. M., & Phan, K. L. (2005). The role of glutamate in anxiety and related disorders. CNS spectrums, 10(10), 820-830.
6. Kirkland, A. E., Sarlo, G. L., & Holton, K. F. (2018). The role of magnesium in neurological disorders. Nutrients, 10(6), 730.
7. Boyle, N. B., Lawton, C., & Dye, L. (2017). The effects of magnesium supplementation on subjective anxiety and stress—a systematic review. Nutrients, 9(5), 429.
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11. Sales, A. J., Guimarães, F. S., & Joca, S. R. (2020). CBD modulates DNA methylation in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of mice exposed to forced swim. Behavioural brain research, 388, 112627.