Gone are the days where when you think of cannabis you think of a group of teenage boys smoking a joint in the high school bathroom. Here are the days you think of relieving chemotherapy pains, halting tremors and increasing the appetite in the frail. And we have the seniors of this society to thank for that.
In 2002, the amount of the senior population that participated in marijuana was only 1.1%. In 2014, it raised up to 6.1%, which is a 455% increase in 12 years. In 2016, a national survey on Drug Use and Health surveyed 47,140 people. In the study, they asked about marijuana use daily and weekly. To no surprise, patients 50-64 had a 58% percent increase compared to the older statistics between 2002 and 2014. Patients older than 60 had a 250% increase in marijuana use.
What is it about this hemp plant that is getting seniors to try something they have been taught is poison their whole lives? This generation has heard some of the worst anti-marijuana propaganda you could find growing up in the 50s and 60s, and yet their numbers are increasing at the quickest rates. Our generation’s seniors pack quite the punch, and they are crushing the stigma around cannabis use.
Seniors Have To Take Too Many Pills
One reason there has been such a monumental incline on cannabis use from seniors is the number of pills they consume on a daily and even hourly basis. If there were only a way to turn six pills into one, it wouldn’t be so hard to get your medication down. And that’s exactly what switching to CBD has helped patients do.
If you are taking anti-depressants, arthritis medication, anxiety medication, medication for your weak bones, medication for your muscles, medication for your eyes and medication for your heart, it is very possible to replace some of these if not all with one solution. CBD works with your neurological and immune system, which trickles out into helping other systems indirectly like the cardiovascular system. Switching to hemp can help get rid of that handful of pills that need to be taken three times a day.
Seniors are also even opting out of pills altogether. They take so many, why add any more to the pillbox? Seniors are taking advantage of edibles for their depression and gastrointestinal issues, making it a different way to take your medication every day. Sometimes slowly eating a soft brownie is a lot easier than swallowing a pill.
Some Side-Effects Of Medications Have Harsher Consequences On Seniors
It’s no secret that as you get older, your body doesn’t work the way it did at its peak. Which is a problem considering seniors generally take the most amount of medication. This means a lot of chemicals are going into a body that might not be able to handle it.
The AARP has a list of medications seniors over the age of 65 should be wary of. The side effects include things like:
- Heart Failure
- Increase Blood Pressure
- Stomach Bleeding and Ulcers
- Increase Risk of Falls
- Confusion
- Toxic Kidneys
- Seizures
- Hallucinations
- Stroke
- Tremors
- Death
Seniors are already going through a battle against an aging body, do they really need to deal with these extreme side effects? Many seniors are saying no, we’ve had enough.
Of the nine medications listen on AARP’s list, seven of them could be replaced by Cannabidiol. Like mentioned before, if you had to take five of them and now you only have to take two, that is a pretty big win. But not only are you replacing the handful of pills, but you are also replacing the handful of side effects as well.
Seniors are finally to the age where they can retire and relax. Play with the grandkids and reminisce on things of the past. They do not need to worry about stomach bleeding while they are rewarded for their time here on this earth.
Seniors Can’t Sleep
Nursing homes can have a lot of commotion. In the middle of the night, emergencies can happen, and people have to get where they need to be as quickly as possible. And that is going to create some noise. Also, being new to a nursing home can make it difficult to sleep. It can be scary and nerve-wracking moving into a new facility.
Seniors in nursing homes aren’t the only seniors that can’t sleep because of their nerves. Many seniors experience some form of anxiety, which can cause them to be unable to sleep. Between 3% and 14% of older adults have met the criteria for an anxiety disorder. While that number does jump to 27% in assisted living centers.
This sleepless anxiety can look like:
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Having reoccurring unwanted thoughts or rituals which they feel they cannot control.
- Panic Disorder
- Panic attacks, which are sudden feelings of terror, that happen without warning and repeatedly.
- Phobias
- An extreme irrational fear towards something that poses little to no threat.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Persistent symptoms like nightmares or flashbacks that come after a traumatic event.
Another reason many seniors can’t sleep is because of pain. The ongoing joke of, “It’s always something,” becomes more real once the lights go out. For some, it seems like as soon as one part of their body stops hurting, another pain appears out of the blue. The pains can range from mild annoyances to severe chronic pain. And chronic pain is almost impossible to sleep through.
To combat these issues, seniors everywhere are switching over to CBD instead of using over the counter sleeping pills. Unlike sleeping pills, hemp oil is not addictive, so seniors can safely take it without their body craving it. CBD also doesn’t leave you waking up groggy. It helps you actually rest when you sleep, so when you wake up it’s not even harder to get out of bed and onto your feet.
CBD Is Making It Easier For Seniors To Walk
Once you get to a certain age, you can’t lift the weights you used to and running on the treadmill hurts your joints just thinking about it. For many seniors, they turn to walking as their exercise. It gets them out of the house or facility with some fresh air, as well as helping keep the body healthy. Many even turn it into a social gathering which is incredible for their mental health.
One problem is that many seniors face joint and muscle pain issues. Whether is it fully diagnosed arthritis, or the bone density is so low it can be painful to move, CBD can help with those problems.
Seniors are taking CBD for arthritis relief because hemp oil is an anti-inflammatory. It calms down your body’s immune system which is what is attacking your joints and sends soothing chemicals to your brain like anandamide that help ease the pain. CBD not only helps with the joint problem, but it also helps with patients bone density. And don’t worry, if you have any slight injuries that are keeping you from taking your daily walk, CBD also helps keep your bones healthy and can aid in healing them when they are injured.
CBD Is Helping Seniors Regain Their Appetite
One thing that can come with old age is lack of appetite, and if that didn’t happen medications can make it happen just as well. Being underweight can cause physical health to decline as well as mental state. Once the psychological state begins to fall, it becomes even harder for someone to gain an appetite. But luckily CBD can help.
Hemp based products regulate appetite. Someone who is hungry all of the time may take CBD and feel like they are satisfied with less food, and might crave food less often. For those who need to eat more, CBD boosts the appetite, making the person suffering more likely to start eating.
Seniors are even giving themselves incentives to eat to help get their appetite back up and running. By putting CBD in foods like spaghetti sauce and garlic butter, it gives eating more of a purpose. It’s difficult to force yourself to eat when you aren’t hungry, and you feel like you might have no benefit, though you absolutely will. But by adding CBD, it can make the task of eating a little more important, giving more motivation.
Using cannabis as treatment is becoming more and more popular, and a special thanks can go to our strong-willed seniors who aren’t willing to give up the fight. After paying their dues to this world, they deserve a life that is pain-free and enjoyable while they play with their grandkids or going on that cruise they have dreamed about for the past ten years. And they are finally finding it in hemp oil. Could CBD be the solution to a problem that is holding you back?
