WTF Wednesday is back! Today we’re talking about another super trending topic in the health + wellness space: CBD. It’s been pretty crazy to watch the CBD explosion over the last year or so. From being rather difficult to get your hands on, to now being available in pressed juices, ice cream, gummies, skincare, pet food, and more—CBD is all the rage. But why? What even is it? Should we all be buying up all of the CBD products?

We’ll be honest—we’ve had very little experience with CBD products. But, we still wanted to help educate you, our readers, so you can hopefully determine if CBD is worth investigating further for you! And we’d love to hear about your experience with CBD, whether it be positive, negative, or indifferent. If you’re reading this and have no idea what this “CBD” we’re talking about is, buckle up and read on!

What is CBD?

CBD is short for cannabidiol, which is a naturally occurring chemical compound in the cannabis plant (yes, like marijuana, weed, pot, etc.). Cannabidiol is actually one of 104 chemical compounds found in cannabis, but one of the two most studied by scientists.

How we typically see CBD is as CBD oil, which is made by extracting the CBD from the cannabis plant and then diluting it with an oil, such as coconut or hemp seed oil.

So, will CBD get me high?

Nope! Unlike Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the other most-studied chemical compound in the cannabis plant—CBD does not contain any psychoactive properties, and therefore, will not get you high.

What are the health benefits of CBD?

Now that we’ve established what CBD doesn’t do, let’s talk about what it can do. Not unlike celery juice, CBD has been portrayed as somewhat of a cure-all. There are a number of proclaimed health benefits of CBD, including treating epilepsy, relieving pain, reducing anxiety and depression, treating acne, improving heart health, and helping with insomnia. Marijuana has been used to treat pain for centuries, but some studies have shown that CBD alone may help reduce chronic pain and inflammation. CBD has also been shown to help relieve cancer-related symptoms and side effects related to cancer treatment, like chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

What’s so appealing about these health benefits is that CBD is a natural remedy, as opposed to most over-the-counter medications or prescriptions, which are often associated with adverse side effects. CBD, on the other hand, has shown very little adverse effects when tested on humans and animals alike.

The main thing to note here is that, similarly to a lot of newer discoveries and trending topics in the health and wellness space, there really haven’t been that many studies conducted for that long of a time period. And some of these studies have only been done on animals. All that’s to say, take this so-called cure-all with a grain of salt, and as always, do your research (and no, reading this blog post doesn’t count as research—we’ve merely scraped the surface when it comes to CBD).

Is CBD right for me?

You know we always inevitably wind up at this question on most of our WTF posts. And every time, by no coincidence, the answer is pretty much the same. Before jumping to any self-diagnosis or prescribing yourself all things CBD, do your research, speak with a professional, and do what feels right to you. Just because someone else swears by something, doesn’t mean you’ll have the same experience. CBD comes in many different forms and doses, so you may have to experiment a little before finding what, if anything, works best for you! We hate to sound preachy when we get to this part of these posts, but trust us, even we need these reminders sometimes. It’s so easy to be influenced by others on social media—sometimes without even realizing you’ve been influenced.

Now, we want to know…

Have you tried any CBD products? Do you use CBS regularly? What has your experience been like? Leave us a comment, shoot us a DM on Instagram—we’d love to hear your thoughts!

This post is part of our WTF series—where we’ll break down some of the latest food, fitness, and health + wellness trends blowing up your Instagram feed.