One of the most emblematic aspects about marijuana is its smell. Equally particular as it is enticing, marijuana’s scent is one of the world’s most recognizable smells. It’s also one of the hardest to get rid of.
In order to prevent your fabrics and your home from reeking of weed, there are a few things you can do, although it’s always better to prevent the smell over having to erase it once it settles in.
Here are 5 of the most useful bits of advice when it comes to making your home as marijuana-smell-proof as possible:
While there’s a lot of people who prefer to smoke joints and use bongs, vaporizers are effective if you want to consume something discreet and that produces little to no smell. These devices heat up marijuana instead of combusting it, creating no weedy smell (or at least a much subtler version of it) and saving your clothes a trip to the laundry.
Have a smoke buddy with you
Smoke buddies are a little clunky, but they’re a cheap and portable option that will help you get rid of lingering marijuana smoke. These devices allow you to blow smoke directly into them, leaving your surroundings odor-free. You can also make a sploof, which is cheaper and just as effective, only needing some dryer sheets and a cardboard toilet paper roll.
Have some Febreze and incense at your disposal
Febreze works in covering up the smell of weed, even if it leaves your home smelling of chemicals. If you prefer a more natural scent, you can try incense, which also produces a strong and distinct smell that will mask the odor of marijuana.
A common way to smoke marijuana on the low is to smoke in the bathroom while the shower is running. The water must be hot in order to create some steam, which will in turn mix up with the marijuana smoke and dissipate the smell.
Burnt popcorn masks the weed smell
While this measure is extreme, it is an effective way of masking the marijuana smell. Burnt popcorn smells very strong and will stay in your house for hours, maybe even days. However, when choosing this option, you’re basically trading in one smell for another. So hopefully you know how to get the burnt popcorn smell out of your home.
Everyone dreams of a sound night’s sleep, sleeping in, lounging and dozing…but for some, it is just a dream. Insomnia is a serious and debilitating condition, affecting people who are stressed out, struggling with medical conditions or are taking medication. It’s a common ailment, one that tends to affect people at some point in their lives even if only for short period of time. Even without insomnia, lately it seems the world is just spinning wildly and it is hard to let it go when you head hits the pillow. Here are 5 tricks to help you fall asleep naturally.
Use mindfulness
If you have recurrent bouts of insomnia, you can try working on your mindfulness, be that through the use of apps or through meditation. Develop this habit by practicing several times a week, before bedtime or at some time that when it works for you. Apps like Headspace provide guided meditations that can help your mind stay in the present and get your body to fall asleep.
We all have different sleep habits, formed and reinforced over the years from the side of the bed we sleep on to the positioning of our bodies when we snooze. Get to know your preferred positions for sleeping and try sticking to them, even when sleeping with a partner, sleeping in a new bed or in a new bedroom.
Develop a bedtime routine
Routines are extremely helpful for developing habits and for getting yourself to do something, including sleep. Try to maintain a steady routine before bed, limiting your screen time and getting your body ready for sleep. This can be as simple as brushing your teeth, reading a bit and laying in bed at the same time every night.
Most insomnia is due to stress, reminding us of all the problems that are bothering us and all the stuff we have to do. Find ways to cope with your stress, be that by speaking your problems out loud, writing them down or practicing mindfulness.
Get out of bed
A strange, yet very helpful piece of advice is to get out of bed when you’re tossing and turning. It’s important to keep your bed “clean,” keeping electronics and things that aren’t associated with sleep away from this space. If you can’t sleep and feel energetic, try taking a walk around the room, cleaning up your space or reading.
Empathy is a word that’s thrown out a lot. It’s a word that specifically means to feel something with someone (i.e. put yourself in the other person’s shoes). While pitying someone else’s struggles is easier, understanding their pain is a skill that’s needed in all aspects of life.
According to Psychology Today, empathy is a vital trait for maintaining all sorts of relationships, ranging from friendships to marriages. It’s a trait that takes time, practice and personal growth in order to flourish.
Here are five things you can do in order to become a more empathetic person:
While there are people who are better at empathy than others, everyone has it in them and it’s never too late to develop it. Make it a conscious decision to try to understand other people and to listen to them without interrupting, even if they’re completely wrong.
Don’t focus on the positive stuff
If someone is coming towards you with a personal experience that has hurt them, avoid looking for the silver lining. While it might make you feel better to be positive, this habit erases people’s feelings and invalidates their struggles. While listening to someone discuss an awful situation is hard and uncomfortable, it might just be what that person needs.
Have contact with people that are different than you
If you surround yourself with like minded people you’ll have a hard time exercising your empathy. Go out of your way to have conversations with people who think and act differently than you. Commit yourself to listening to others and to trying to understand their position. It’s also important to know that understanding someone and having empathy for them doesn’t mean that you have to agree with them or condone their actions.
Human beings are self-centered by nature but it’s important to rein in this impulse when you’re trying to be empathetic. If someone is telling you something sad that happened to them don’t pitch in with a darker story of your own. When people open up and are vulnerable, they’re expecting you to listen. There’s no need for you to become the protagonist of this conversation.
Be kind to yourself
Forgive yourself when you can’t understand some people’s thoughts or when you’re unable to suffer through their losses. Mashable reports that people who punish themselves over feelings of guilt can diminish their desire for helping and listening to others in the long run. In order to sustain high levels of empathy, it’s important to ground yourself in your reality and to manage your emotions.
It’s estimated that 18.1% of Americans are dealing with an anxiety disorder of some kind, including generalized anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress syndrome, or obsessive compulsive disorder. Unfortunately, less than half of individuals with an anxiety disorder are seeking treatment, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Can CBD help anxiety about seeing a therapist?
Why aren’t people in therapy or at least seeing a doctor about medication? Anecdotally, there seems to be a wide variety of preventative factors, including the expense and the ability to admit there’s something wrong in the first place. Being a man seems to come with even more hesitancy about spending time with a mental health professional because of social norms that encourage men to avoid asking for help even when they need it the most.
When Anxiety Keeps You From Seeing a Therapist
It seems that for some, the very idea of sharing their struggle and personal life, even with a doctor, is anxiety inducing. For example, individuals with social anxiety might struggle to see a professional because they’re fearful of being judged. Those who have trauma in their past could very well be avoidant of therapy because they’re uncomfortable with the idea of revisiting those events or worry that talking about them might make it worse.
These concerns are completely understandable; it can be incredibly difficult to talk honestly about the most difficult things in your life. However, anxiety shouldn’t keep you from getting the help you need to live a healthy and happy life.
Photo by Sohini via Unsplash
Using CBD to Manage Pre-Therapy Anxiety
While some report that getting stoned before therapy has helped them manage their anxiety and open up about what is going on inside their head, that’s a practice that won’t work well for everyone and might be discouraged by your therapist.
Cannabidoil, or CBD, is a cannabis product that shares many beneficial properties with marijuana without the high. It’s also legal in all 50 states. Among the many benefits of CBD is its ability to lessen anxiety, which might make it a better option for use before visiting a therapist’s office.
Although many of the studies up to this point have looked at how CBD oil effects animals with anxiety symptoms, a preliminary study in 2010 looked at CBD use in individuals with social anxiety disorder. Some participants were given 400mg of CBD while others were treated with a placebo. Those given CBD appeared to experience less anxiety based on imaging taken of their brains.
In 2011, the journal Nature published a similar study looking at the effects of CBD on anxiety about public speaking. In this study, participants were treated with 600mg of CBD and experienced quick and significant relief from their symptoms of anxiety.
Hopefully, more research will be coming our way soon, but since CBD oil has been deemed safe by the World Health Organization and has few side effects, there’s no reason to avoid giving it a try to see if it works for you.
How to Start Using CBD for Anxiety
If you’re looking for a creative way to manage the discomfort or nervousness you feel before heading into the therapist’s office, here’s a few tips for consuming CBD. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to CBD oil dosages; people respond differently to this cannabis product based on their metabolism and body weight. For this reason, we recommend starting slow and working your way up from there until you experience relief from your anxiety symptoms.
For example, many CBD products have a suggested dosage of 25mg, twice a day. Start there for a few days and then increase a little at a time until you start to feel better. If you begin to experience side effects, like fatigue or diarrhea, that might indicate you’re taking too much. Since you want to be in good shape before seeing a therapist, it might be a good idea to give yourself some time to adjust to the product instead of taking it for the first time right before any appointment.