Can You Use Cannabis to Banish Burnout?

This article is brought to you by KOAN, creator of Koan Cordials: cannabis blends crafted with cannabinoids, terpenes and botanicals precisely calibrated to improve your well-being. The founders of Koan believe the core value of Cannabis is the quality of the experience and your intention. The Active Ingredient is you.

Using Cannabis to Banish Burnout

Are you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted? If you’re saying yes as you read this, you may be experiencing burnout.

You may have used the expression, “I’m burned out,” but do you really know what burnout is? We’ve got a definition for you. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that occurs when we feel overwhelmed by too many demands, too few resources, and too little time to recover and recharge.

As stress builds up, our motivation breaks down. Burnout is more than just feeling tired. Burnout saps our mental and physical energy, reduces productivity, affects our attitude, and can lead us to feeling hopeless.

With all the endless talk about self-care, we don’t always hear about the effects of stress on our bodies and brains. We also rarely hear about the way our endocannabinoid system (ECS) could play a major role in how we process stress.

Managing Stress Through Cannabinoids and Terpenes

The endocannabinoid system has been found to play an important role in processing external and internal triggers and affects how your brain responds and how you react to it. Simply put, your ECS affects how you react to and handle fear, anxiety and stress.

Cannabinoids found in cannabis, such as Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD), have been shown to interact with the ECS in a way that has been described as neuroprotective as well as antiinflammatory and supportive of immune response. Because of the way THC and CBD interact with one another, cannabis physicians often recommend full-spectrum CBD products or THC products with some CBD to improve the therapeutic effects. CBD can help temper the intoxicating effects of THC while THC can enhance or complement the anti-anxiety and anti-inflammatory effects of CBD.

Terpenes, the “aromatherapy of cannabis,” can also play a role in modulating stress reaction, relaxing the nervous system while enhancing the effects of cannabinoids. When you’re feeling stressed out, understanding the properties of different terpenes can help you achieve more of the effect and experience you’re seeking. Linalool, for example, has been found to provide anti-anxiety and neuroprotective benefits as well as working like an antidepressant.

Think of your ECS as operating like an air traffic controller, bringing all of your internal systems – like your nervous, digestive, respiratory, and reproductive systems – into balance or “homeostasis.” The cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis interact with your own naturally-produced endocannabinoids in a supportive way. When your systems are more in balance and in tune, you can better anticipate, navigate, and process stress.

Finding the Right Cannabis For Stress Relief

Ask anyone who uses cannabis why and they’ll often describe that it makes them feel more relaxed, less stressed, less anxious, even more able to cope with stressful situations. Even people who consume cannabis “recreationally,” for the enjoyment of the high feeling, say that cannabis makes them feel “good.” We have a right to be happy and feel good. Sometimes we forget this or are embarrassed about saying that we need to do something just because it makes us feel good.

Finding the right cannabis or cannabis-derived product that delivers the experience you’re seeking can be challenging. Smoking or vaping the dried plant can produce immediate effects, however, they can vary or be unpredictable, even when you purchase the same strain or cultivar each time. Plant medicine is less precise than more carefully formulated and produced medicines.

If you’re looking for specific outcomes, look for formulations that blend measured concentrations of cannabinoids with specific terpenes. Also, when you are looking for a product as a solution to burnout, you need to find one that is specifically formulated to help with this problem and one which will help you feel better every time you use it. For example, a product like Calm from KOAN contains a blend of cannabinoids and terpenes that can address stress and feelings of anxiety. The sippable cordial blends 1 mg of THC with 15 mg CBD combined with the terpenes Linalool, B-caryophellene, Bisabolol, and Limonene. KOAN also offers Balance, formulated to help bring about homeostasis, with 3 mg of THC and 10 mg CBD plus Bisabolol, B-Caryophellene, and Limonene. And because these products are carefully formulated for a precise effect, they are consistent time after time KOAN cordials are currently only available in California. (You can follow KOAN’s instagram @koanlife for more information about their products.)

With a better understanding of the properties and effects of cannabinoids and terpenes, you can better select the cannabis products that will produce the effects you seek. By nourishing your endocannabinoid system with the plant cannabinoids and terpenes obtained from the cannabis plant, you can fortify yourself against stress from the inside out. This deeper kind of self-care can have a longer lasting, positive effect on your ability to better address stress before you burn out.