ECS and Nervous System Regulation
Recent studies on the endocannabinoid system resulted in an explosion in medical research, potentially giving us another pharmacological target to address imbalances and disease that affect the human frame. The reason for exploring this complex receptor system is to understand the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids for human health and disease. Our goal in medicine is to improve how we face disease and bridge the gap to treat conditions that medicine falls short for improving or addressing.
This is one reason why I started the endocannabinoid system club (along with some other great old colleagues) at Life University because of the role the ECS plays in nervous system regulation, which is exactly what chiropractors are out to accomplish. After all, the ECS is the largest receptor system in the human body and they are most densely located in our nervous system (CNS and PNS) than anywhere else in the body. What a better thing to use in a practice for someone directly dealing with the nervous system! This is one reason why chiropractic and cannabinoid medicine go hand in hand and why all my chiropractic and future chiropractic friends are introducing cannabinoid therapy into their practice. We are shaping the face of medicine TOGETHER.
The truth is that diseases that affect the nervous system are continuously on the rise, which means we need to search for more effective treatments than what are currently available and what a better therapeutic agent to use than a safe and effective herb. Since diseases that affect the nervous system are still on the rise, this means that we need another form of treatment because the treatment options we are currently utilizing on aren’t as effective as we want to see. If they were, these numbers wouldn't be going up, they'd be going down. We want a treatment option that is not only more effective, but one that comes without the negative side effects typically seen with pharmaceuticals. This is truly a win-win for patients. Check this out.
The ECS is a high therapeutic target because this receptor system was shown to play a crucial role in regulating the nervous system. In fact, the ECS was shown to help control an aberrant (abnormal) nervous system, which takes place in a variety of neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, etc., many of which treatment today falls short for improving or addressing. The problem with a dysfunctional nervous system can be due to a variety of things including neurotransmitter imbalance, hypersensitivity of the nervous system, certain neurological conditions that amplify anxiety (epilepsy, etc.), genetic factors, as well as chronic stress, all of which cannabinoids were shown to help address directly or indirectly (1).
The goal is to use this receptor system to help regain balance within the nervous system and that's exactly what we plan on doing and sharing. As we know, the ECS also controls homeostasis, which gives researchers much hope when discussing imbalances and diseases that affect the nervous system because they disrupt normal cellular homeostasis, which is crucial to rebalance and restore when we discuss improving a condition or addressing a disease process.
According to The Royal Society, a peer-reviewed open access journal, by targeting the ECS and its receptors we can potentially treat a wide range of neurological disorders and psychiatric conditions (1). Through neurotransmission modulation (controlling the release of neurotransmitters in the brain helping to influence synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability), neuroprotection (protects neurons from damage and degeneration, helping to address neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and neurodegenerative diseases), pain regulation (suppress pain signaling pathways in the CNS and PNS), neural development (ECS regulates neurogenesis which is the formation of new neurons), axonal guidance (the formation of synapses), mood and behavior (regulates mood, stress response [immunomodulatory] in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex), as well as managing homeostasis by regulating immune functions, energy balance, and temperature regulation (2).
With this receptor systems (ECS) ability to regulate so many different physiological functions in the human body, it is becoming a high target to address imbalances and diseases that directly involve the nervous system as well as other organ systems, since these receptors are present in many other organs and cells.
Cheers to these amazing plant compounds and all the help they offer to help regulate our nervous system. As a father of two, nervous system regulation is a lifesaver for me LoL! I hope our products have a positive impact on your life as they do mine.
One amazing plant with seemingly endless benefits. Now that’s what I call medicine.
Bee Well,
Brandon Farless
References
1. Skaper, S. D., & Di Marzo, V. (2012). Endocannabinoids in nervous system health and disease: the big picture in a nutshell. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 367(1607), 3193–3200. https://doi.org/10.
2. Meccariello R. (2020). Endocannabinoid System in Health and Disease: Current Situation and Future Perspectives. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(10), 3549. https://doi.org/10.3390/
