Avoid Sickness
First, let’s start out with the most common complication, which almost anyone who’s traveled in a plane has been effected by: The common cold. You are 100 times more likely to get a cold flying on an airplane. In fact, as many as 20% of airplane passengers develop respiratory infections while traveling. That is a huge number! One good thing to come out of the pandemic is that many airlines have replaced their filtration systems with HEPA filters which helps drastically. However, the combination of dry air and the possibility of a passenger in the nearby area infecting you is still very high.
So how do you avoid getting a common cold when one of the passengers near you is most likely sick? First of all, your number one defense mechanism against a common cold is to simply wipe down all the surfaces in your immediate area when you first get on the plane with a disinfecting wet wipe. This will help lessen the chances that you will have hand to mouth exposure. Additionally, wash your hands more often or wear gloves improves your chances. You are less likely to put your hands on your mouth or cross contaminate with gloves.
Stay Hydrated
Second is to keep your mucous membranes moist. This is your first line of respiratory defense. So how do you keep the mucous membranes moist? First, stay hydrated! We have all heard we need to drink more water. It turns out that on a plane it is extremely important not just for respiratory defense, but dehydration can lead to fatal and painful complications during air travel.
So, how does hydration help avoid the common cold? Moist mucous membranes filter air much better than dry ones. Actually, it is 100 times more effective if moist so hydration is extremely important. Turns out that when we are born, we are actually close to 60% water. As we make it into old age our water levels decrease by approximately 50%. In fact, a lot of the effects of aging are directly due to dehydration of the skin, joints, and organs.
Your body functions better when it is hydrated! Water is critical for every cell membrane to function properly. Those membranes act as a sort of respiratory system for the internal cells. Every chemical reaction within the body requires water. So, to stay young and healthy, drink more water!
One of the other things we can do to keep the mucous membranes moist is to wear a mask. Although many mask do not have great filtration capabilities, Masks will actually help to keep the mucous membranes more hydrated in really dry situations. You may also consider lightly dampening your mask before wearing to add to the moisture.
Another important hydration tip which may be unpopular is to reduce your alcohol intake while flying. Alcohol dehydrates your body at a much quicker rate. A great rule of thumb to follow is drink at least one glass of water for each hour of your flight and an additional glass for each alcoholic drink that you consume.
In case you are unlucky and catch a cold, I recommend that you have a Z pack on hand just in case it turns out that you get a bacterial respiratory infection. It is always nice to be prepared. Most doctors will prescribe it as a prophylactic to be used when necessary. It is important to remember when taking antibiotics that you must take a full course and take as guided. I do recommend that you consult your physician ahead of time so that you have them on hand. They can be tricky to find once your travels begin.
Pack Light - Avoid Back Pain!
So let’s move onto the second most common complication: back pain! Around 80% of the population will suffer from back pain at some point in their life. Approximately 8% of airplane travelers will develop some form of back pain either from lifting too heavy of luggage compounded by the stress of traveling or simply the bad airline seats. Having your back go out when you are traveling is the worst feeling and usually easily avoidable.
The first tip starts with being more organized when packing. Lay everything out before you start packing a suite case. Try not to bring duplicates of heavy items. Bringing every beautiful thing you have may actually cause you pain. Bringing less items lightens up the bags which means less stress when lugging your luggage around especially your overhead bags.
Putting your bags in the overhead creates a lot of pressure on your spine! Most people don’t know that standing creates 100kg of pressure in the spine while sitting is about 150kg. But when bending and lifting something overhead, it creates 220kg of pressure on the spine. Shockingly, the most amount of pressure forced on the spine is caused when you are seated and trying to bend and lift. This creates 275kg of pressure! Of course, the more weight you lift causes those numbers to go up exponentially. So for your back’s sake, use some restraint when contemplating that extra pair of shoes.
One thing you should pack is Dr Bradley’s RX Nano 40 Pain Serum. It works amazing for back sprains, arthritis and generally stiff backs after sitting long hours in the uncomfortable seats. Nano 40 works immediately to reduce aches and pains and last hours to provide continuous relief.
Stay Healthy.
The final complication of the air travel that we need to discuss is blood clots. Obviously, blood clots become more prevalent when your circulation is restricted, but they also become more prevalent when sitting still for over four hours. In fact, the risk goes up dramatically. As many as 1 to 2 people per thousand develop a blood clot when immobilized for over 4 hours while traveling.
Blood clots are extremely painful. They often take up to a week to manifest and once they come on, the symptoms can vary. They can be anything from immobilizing to causing a stroke which is a severe complication.
There are things that you can do to avoid a blood clot. The number one is to stay hydrated. We already talked about how important that is, but hydration helps determine blood volume. More hydration leads to thinner blood making it less likely for your blood to clot. Remember to follow the rule of drinking one glass of water per hour.
Secondly, you can wear flight hose. Hose will prevent too much blood from pooling down in the legs which is the most common place for blood clots to form.
We also recommend for flyers to perform certain movements every hour during the flight. A simple movement that can be accomplished in your seat are cash pumps. These are done by simply dorsiflexing and plantarflexing your foot meaning pulling your toe back and pushing it out 10 to 20 times. This action will help create circulation. If you have the option, getting up and walking down the aisle a couple of times is a great way to avoid a blood clot as well.
There is no reason to carry any prescription medication with you if you do not have a history of clotting, but there are over the counter medications that can help with prevention. If you don’t have any abdominal issues, travelers can take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory such as Advil, Aleve, or Tylenol. These prophylactic medications will help thin the blood and avoid clotting. As always, please take only as prescribed on the bottle. If you are higher risk you may consider traveling with a medication called lovenox. Lovenox can be self-injected into your stomach if you are at a real high risk of blood clots. Please consult a physician before taking.
That sums up our tips and tricks to prevent the physical pitfalls of travel. Our team at Dr. Bradley’s RX hopes you have an amazing vacation and business travel.
We will be releasing a number of different self-help tips for ultimate health. These have been accumulated from 40 years of medical experience assisting patients stay at their optimal levels of health helping patients look younger, feel younger, and be able to do more. Thanks again for listening and watching. Have a great day.
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Cannabidiol derived from Hemp must have less than .3% THC. Therefore, we recommend you look to see where the CBD is derived and, in most cases, you should use full spectrum cannabidiol distillate from hemp to avoid potential intoxicating effects.
We will talk more about when you might consider using CBD from Cannabis in another blog. But for this discussion we will be talking about CBD derived from Hemp.
CBD concentration is a little difficult to understand when we start talking about nano CBD concentrates so let’s start with just plain CBD concentrates AKA CBD Oil or Hemp extract. If you were to smoke it or ingest unprocessed hemp, the concentration would solely be determined by the plant.
Many new strains of hemp plants are being developed to increase the concentration of CBD in the plant. But smoking anything has been shown to have negative effects on the lungs so this is probably not the ideal way to get the benefits of CBD.
Now lets talk a little about products made from CBD concentrates made by some type of distillation or pressure. These processes can lead to extremely high concentrations of CBD and other plant components as well. This process leads to three different types of finished products.
They are Full Spectrum oil, Broad spectrum oil, and CBD isolate. This is important because isolate for example ONLY contains CBD concentrated. It does not contain many other important compounds needed to get the best biological effect.
In the case of CBD isolate, distillation down to an isolate lead to the absence to compounds like terpenes, which have been shown to be very important partners to aid in the proven biological effects of CBD.
For example, a terpene known as Beta Caryophyllene is more complex than other terpenes and bridges cannabinoids and other compounds in the hemp plant. It has anti-inflammatory effects, and could be useful for a range of conditions like arthritis and nerve pain.
It also contains piperine and helps with CBD absorption. Isolates are also the cheapest and easiest to store so many products are made with this inferior form of CBD concentrate. Therefore, we recommend not using products made from CBD isolate.
Broad Spectrum CBD is a distillate that contains most the other plant components but NO THC. While this sounds good, full spectrum CBD contains only a small amount of THC, .3 Percent, and is the most biologically active form of CBD.
Full spectrum oils in the USA must contain less than .3 Percent THC and this is not enough to intoxicate someone but may be beneficial due to an effect called the entourage effect. Studies show Full Spectrum CBD Oil is the most biologically active form of CBD concentrate, meaning is most likely to give you the positive affects you are looking to achieve with your CBD concentrate.
Keep reading to learn about concentrated cannabidiol, its potential benefits and risks, dosage information, and more.
Related: Shop Concentrated CBD
CBD concentrates are made using multiple different methods such as with CO2 extraction, a high-pressure process and ethanol distillation a more traditional distillation process. They’re many pros and cons of these processes but that is for another blog.
All the distillates of CBD oil start with hemp or cannabis plants, but CO2 extraction, for example, is cleaner, but takes longer and is more expensive of a process than say ethanol extraction. Yells and concentrations are also dependent on the plant you start with, the higher the plant concentration of CBD the higher the yield concentration.
Why are high concentrations of CBD so important? While CBD has many positive effects it is a relatively weak molecule. In fact the only Medication the US Food and Drug administration has approved is Epidiolex (Cannabidiol or CBD) oral solution for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy.
Epidiolex (Cannabidiol) oral solution is clear, colorless to yellow liquid containing cannabidiol at a concentration of 100mg/mg. This is a very high concentration.
Concentrated cannabidiol and other CBD products are non-intoxicating; they don’t lead to a “high” like with cannabis usage. Therefore, even with the higher doses found in concentrated CBD, it doesn’t affect someone the same way as cannabis.
As we have previously stated, CBD products exist in various concentrations and forms — we generally recommend starting with lower dosages and increasing them if they have no effect.
Remember, each product is different in not only the CBD concentration, but also the other plant constituents that may increase the bioavailability of the CBD itself. So equal amounts of CBD in different products may create a product that’s more or less effective depending upon the other constituents as well.
Nano CBD Concentrates – What is it and why are they the gold standard for CBD Concentration?
True Nano emulsified CBD is a long and more complex issue, so that will be for another blog, but I will give a brief description of why and what are Nano CBD concentrates.
Nano emulsions are a process by which you take large molecules of CBD that are not very soluble (able to be absorbed), and you shrink the molecules and coat them to make them more soluble. This results in fast acting, greater bioavailability CBD concentrates.
The main determining factor of concentration and effectiveness in Nano CBD concentrates is the end particle size, basically the smaller the particle size if the finished product, the more concentrated and the more effective the CBD Nano Concentrates.
Most Nano CBD is NOT really nano CBD Concentrate, it is Liposomal CBD which has not been proven to be more effective. One way to determine size of the Nano CBD concentrate is to look at it. If it is clear, it is most likely very small particles.
One other factor is the actual amount of CBD in the Nano concentrate. 50mg of Full Spectrum CBD per ml is a superior amount of CBD. If particle size is given, looks for particle size below or at 40 Nanometers.
Looking for concentrated CBD to help relieve your chronic pain? We found it for you.
Good products will list how much Full spectrum CBD is in the product somewhere. However, this information is becoming more challenging as the FDA does not like CBD listed on the product labels and is requiring that companies list hemp extract not the actual CBD amounts.
This has only made things more confusing for the consumer who is looking for good product with high CBD concentrate. If a company is legitimate, it will list the Certificate of analysis(COA) and it is there that you can find the actual CBD concentrations.
How much concentrated cannabidiol is right for you depends on various factors, including:
There are many variables affecting your ideal CBD dose — it’s typically best to start small before working up to a higher dose until you feel like it’s treating your symptoms effectively.
However, calculating how much CBD is in your products and how bioactive it is isn’t always easy. Remember to look at the certificate of analysis if the amount of CBD is not stated anywhere.
Some products, like capsules and gummies, tell you how much CBD is in each serving, making dosing simple. For example, the packaging would say 5 mg of CBD per capsule or gummy.
CBD oils are also popular, typically coming in a dropper bottle. The packaging might say how much CBD is in one drop — or it might state how much concentrated cannabidiol is in each bottle.
A single drop is about .05 ml, meaning a 10 ml bottle of CBD oil has around 200 drops. So if the bottle contains 1,000 mg of concentrated cannabidiol, each drop contains about 5 mg.
In that case, say you determined your ideal dose is 30 mg; you’d take about six drops.
If you are taking CBD straight from the leaf, via say smoking it, you will need the COA to determine how much CBD is in an OZ. This will take a little more math and is often not easy to determine exactly how much you have untaken.
While concentrated or distilled cannabidiol comes in higher doses than CBD taken straight from the plant, its potential benefits, if it is a full spectrum CBD extract, should remain the same. This is because both regular CBD and concentrated CBD act on your endocannabinoid system, producing possible health benefits, including:
People have used cannabis for pain relief for thousands of years; more recently, researchers discovered that cannabidiol is responsible for those pain-relieving effects.
Related: Who Is Dr. Bradley?
Concentrated CBD may help relieve chronic pain by interacting with neurotransmitters and reducing inflammation by affecting the body’s endocannabinoid receptor activity. For example, one study found that CBD alone can be effective for back and nerve pain.
Other studies have found CBD to be effective for treating pain related to arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Many mental health disorders are treated with pharmaceuticals, which can have a number of side effects.
CBD and concentrated CBD have shown promise for treating some mental health disorders, including insomnia and anxiety.
For example, one study found that 300 mg of CBD significantly reduced participants’ anxiety before speaking in public. CBD has also successfully helped treat anxiety and insomnia in children and adults with PTSD.
Other studies show concentrated cannabidiol’s ability to help treat social anxiety, depression, and more.
Some researchers believe that CBD can benefit people with neurological disorders, and more studies are coming out to back up those claims.
The CBD-based spray Sativex helped 75% of people with MS reduce their medication-resistant muscle spasms. CBD oil (Epidiolex), also significantly reduced the number of seizures in people with epilepsy.
Concentrated cannabidiol and other CBD products may also benefit people with Parkinson’s disease and tuberous sclerosis.
Other than treating the issues listed above, many other studies have focused on CBD and its effect on our health. Although more studies are needed in many of these areas, CBD may provide other benefits, including:
While concentrated cannabidiol and other CBD products are generally considered safe and well-tolerated, they can cause rare adverse reactions with large doses.
Some studies note side effects like:
Some studies have reported additional side effects, including sedation, drowsiness, and abnormal liver function. However, these effects may stem from CBD’s interaction with other medications.
In addition, concentrated cannabidiol products are more potent than other types of CBD, meaning they might not be ideal for everyone, especially those sensitive to CBD or who don’t typically use it.
Taking a high dose of CBD without prior experience may come with a higher risk of side effects. Note: all these possible side effects are considered transient or temporary.
Looking for CBD without harmful side effects? We can help relieve your pain.
CBD has been rigorously studied for its role in easing the symptoms of various common health conditions, including pain, anxiety, and neurological disorders.
However, these health benefits vary based on each individual and the type and dosage of CBD they use. In addition, some studies focus on the combination of THC and CBD — not CBD alone.
Research is still ongoing regarding concentrated cannabidiol and its health effects, but from what we’ve seen, the results are extremely promising.
Related: Learn More About CBD]]>