The Endocannabinoid System (ECS)

You may have read or heard us discuss the endocannabinoid system, or ECS. 

And with good reason. It’s one of our body’s most critical systems because it regulates various activities and responses within the body, which helps us reach or sustain homeostasis, or balance.

Also known as equilibrium, homeostasis is our body’s desired natural state because it means our bodies are working well - i.e., we’re in good health.

Think of the endocannabinoid system as a bridge between your body and mind. It produces chemicals called cannabinoids as needed, which are responsible for keeping your internal functions operating smoothly. 

Cannabinoids interact with your entire body - cells, tissues, organs, etc. - performing different functions depending on the needs of each given part.

Our ECS consists of several different interrelated mechanisms:

Endocannabinoids - your body’s very own cannabinoids, similar to the ones in plants (known as phytocannabinoids)

Receptors - places on your body’s cells that are designed to receive and interact with cannabinoids

Enzymes - chemicals designed to either create or destroy cannabinoids

Your body is constantly working to stay in homeostasis. When there is a tilt in this balance, the ECS is activated, responding however necessary to return the body to equilibrium by creating endocannabinoids.

Like a hand fitting perfectly into a glove, these endocannabinoids interact with specialized cannabinoid receptors throughout the body, including in the ECS (called CB1 and CB2 receptors). 

These receptors communicate information that helps jumpstart a response designed to restore the body’s desired equilibrium.

Often, for a variety of reasons, your body needs more cannabinoids than what your ECS produces. This is where hemp cannabinoids like CBD, CBG, and more come in, as they supplement what’s missing from your body’s natural cannabinoid production.

Like all cannabinoids, CBD interacts with the cannabinoid receptors in the ECS to help support it. What’s crucial is how CBD does this.

THC (and other cannabinoids) is an agonist. It binds perfectly to the receptors, especially CB1, fitting like a key into a lock, which is why it provokes such a strong physiological reaction (i.e., getting high).

CBD, on the other hand, is an antagonist. It causes its chemical responses by not fitting perfectly in the receptors, basically blocking them, which is why effects from CBD are generally not as intense as those from THC. 

Because it does not fit the receptors very well, CBD blocks other chemical messengers like THC from binding to the receptors, which prevents you from getting high.