WHAT IS THE ENDO-CANNIBINOID SYSTEMS
Your ECS is an intricate cell-signaling system, and is perhaps one of the most essential physiologic systems you have involved in establishing and sustaining human health. Throughout your body, you have endo-cannabinoids and their receptors. You have them in your: Connective tissue, Brain, Glands, Organs and Immune cells.
The endo-cannabinoids, with their complex actions in your nervous system, immune system and pretty much all of your organs, are literally a bridge between your mind and body. When you understand this system, you'll begin to see a component potentially connecting brain activity and states of disease and physical health.
Experts continue to try and completely understand the ECS. So far, they know it plays a role in regulating a wide range of processes and functions, including: Mood, Sleep, Memory, Appetite, Fertility and Reproduction.
The ECS is present and active inside your body even if you don't use marijuana.
When you look at the term "endo-cannabinoid", you'll see "endo" which is short for endogenous (meaning it's produced in your body naturally) and "cannabinoid", which comes from cannabis. Therefore, "endo-cannabinoid" really means cannabis-like substances that occur inside you naturally.
The ECS itself consists of several parts:
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Endo-cannabinoids, which our bodies naturally synthesize.
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Enzymes that help break cannabinoids and endo-cannabinoids down.
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Receptors around your body and in your nervous system that cannabinoids and endo-cannabinoids bond with.
Not only is your ECS a natural part of your body, but it's also a critical one. You might have heard many reports on the medicinal properties of cannabis, or of its cannabinoids CBD and THC. Because it has a lot of seemingly unrelated effects, you may be wondering if what you're hearing is just a bunch of hype from individuals wanting the drug legalized. But, there is medical science backing up these reports, and the reason for the various unrelated effects have to do with the scope and size of your ECS itself.
It seems the primary function of your ECS is to maintain your body's homeostasis — biological harmony in response to environmental changes. Taxonomic study and investigation revealed the ECS is extremely old, and evolved more than 500 million years ago. Furthermore, it's in all vertebrates with birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles producing endo-cannabinoids.
Initially, research suggested endo-cannabinoid receptors were present only in the nerves and brain; however, later on, scientists found the receptors were present throughout the entire body, including your: Bones, Skin, Pancreas, Liver, Fat tissue, Blood vessels, Heart, Gastrointestinal tract and Kidneys.
Arguably, endo-cannabinoids are one of the most versatile and widespread signaling molecules humans know.
HOW DOES CBD WORK?
Researchers don't understand everything completely regarding how CBD works. What they do know is that it interacts with cells and proteins in your brain. They also know that cannabinoids attach to the CB1 and CB2 receptors.
HOW DOES CBD AFFECT THE ENDO-CANNIBINOID SYSTEM?
CBD interacts with your ECS differently than THC. It's non-psychoactive, and therefore doesn't get you high.
Your ECS doesn't just respond to your body's endo-cannabinoids. It also responds to external cannabinoids such as CBD.
CBD acts on your CB1 and CB2 receptors in your body, producing positive outcomes. It doesn't bind directly to these receptors, but rather affects them indirectly by activating TRPV1 receptors that control essential functions like body temperature, pain perception, and inflammation. CBD can also boost how much anandamide you have in your body. Anandamide (the bliss molecule) contributes to neural generation of motivation and pleasure.
While there still isn't a complete and full picture of what the ECS does, researchers do know it helps fine-tune most of your important physiological functions. Discovering the ECS showed a biological basis for plant cannabinoid's therapeutic effects, and has gained renewed interest in CBD and cannabis as medicine.