This year has proven to be one of the most stressful in recent record. Here’s how getting into a rhythm and some CBD may help you cope with excessive worry.

First and foremost… what the heck is this year? We’re dealing with a global pandemic, quarantining in our homes, and often working remotely (if we’re working). And 2020 isn’t even over yet!

That’s a whole lotta shakeup to our routines and sense of comfort. I don’t know about you, but my stress-management strategy relies a LOT on keeping my day-to-day in sync. I definitely wasn’t prepared for all the ways COVID-19 changed my life, and I’m certainly not unique in that regard.

Luckily, I have something in my coping toolbox that makes it easier to achieve a sense of calm and cohesion: Cannabidiol. Not only does CBD have direct effects on excessive worry (which is a manifestation of stress), but it can also help with certain challenging parts of a daily routine. For me, stressful times disrupt life in three ways:

1. They disrupt my sleep
2. They make it hard for me to focus on my day
3. They make it challenging to enjoy relaxation time

Whenever life gets hard, weird, or hard and weird (hello, COVID), these are the elements that suffer unless I make an effort to keep a routine for sleep, work, and play. And CBD helps me keep my patterns—even when I really don’t want to (which is when I need them the most!)

Here’s what CBD could do for stress relief

What do you notice first when chronic stress starts getting to you? Chances are, you begin to feel uneasy, worried, queasy, panicky… those are all little symptoms that add up to big anxiety.

Anxiety is a reaction to stress, and there's been a fair amount of research documenting CBD's effects on anxiety-related symptoms. For instance:

• The National Institute on Drug Abusereports that“CBD has shown therapeutic efficacy in a range of animal models of anxiety and stress, reducing both behavioral and physiological measures of stress and anxiety.”
• A 2011 studysuggests that“CBD reduces anxiety in social anxiety disorder (SAD),”one manifestation of anxiety disorders.
• “CBD may offer therapeutic benefits for disorders related to inappropriate responses to traumatic memories,”according to a 2018 review(yes, living during the COVID-19 pandemiccan causetraumatic stress)

Routines might be a magic bullet for stress

Right now, it’s super important to maintain a routine… and COVID-19 forced many of us to completely change the way we do our days. The sudden lack of structure can be mentally challenging, leading to increased stress and anxiety.

If you’ve been dragging your feet about setting new routines, I don’t blame you! But you can’t hide from creating a schedule forever. And the sooner you start, the better you may feel.

Adding CBD for stress relief to the daily routine may help keep things cool!

Many people use CBD to assist in establishing a routine—and as part of a stress-busting one. Here’s where my consistent schedule benefits from CBD (and yours might, too):

1. Prepping for my day: If I have a tough time waking up and getting focused, some CBD tincture offers calm, collected, and clear-cut chill. Whether it's a workday or a weekend (which means a project day), it’s a go-to part of my morning routine.

2. Winding down to relax: Likewise, sometimes I need a little help getting in the right mindset to enjoy myself after a long day. A few vegan stress gummies (featuring CBD, vitamin D3, and vitamin B12) ensure that I can redirect my focus and decompress.

3. Going to bed: Sleeping could be an issue until I added (you guessed it!) CBD to my night routine. While I'm winding down in the hour before bed, some tincture helps calm my racing mind and gets me feeling ready for sleep.

Be kind to yourself and remember: it takes time

If you have trouble sticking to your self-made routine at first, don’t take that as a sign that you should quit. Instead, look at your schedule and think about why it isn’t working. It could be that you need more time to adjust, in which case you should stick with it a little longer and see how you feel.

If time isn’t the problem, then maybe that’s a sign that the routine you set isn’t following a natural flow. If you’re seriously not a morning person, for example, then getting up at 4 AM to hit the gym isn’t going to happen—so, why force it? Instead, switch your gym timeslot to the afternoon when you’re energized from lunch.

Stop and think about what parts of the routine you’re struggling with and how you can make them work for you. Your regular schedule doesn’t have to look a certain way or follow any specific flow (other than yours). So, go nuts tweaking it until every day is more like your new perfect day.

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