Botanical synergy takes place in nature everywhere you look. Plants partner together to make something more beautiful, efficient, or to survive. Botanical cooperation can also happen within our bodies when we are mindful of the supplements we take together.

Kratom and CBD are influential, potent botanical substances on their own, but may hold untapped potential when used together. Each works differently in your body but contributes so synergistically to your comfort and well-being that they are often celebrated as a pair. While synergy is a common experience for those who take Kratom and CBD together, it’s important to gauge how they work best for your own body and needs while adhering to dosing instructions. First, it’s necessary to understand each of these powerful plant substances, their unique properties, and how they can support you.

WHAT IS KRATOM?

Kratom is a tropical evergreen tree that grows in Southeast Asia. Also known by its botanical name, Mitragyna speciosa, the native peoples in this part of the world traditionally used Kratom to enhance their daily lives and ceremonial traditions. The leaves of the Kratom tree were chewed or ground and brewed into pungent teas.

Kratom is sourced directly from these plants and is now gaining popularity in the West due to the attractive potential benefits of this ancient plant. Today’s kratom enthusiast can find kratom to suit their needs and their tastes.

HOW KRATOM WORKS

The active compounds in kratom are called alkaloids. The combination of alkaloids within a kratom plant’s profile makes each type unique, depending on how and where the trees were grown, and then tailored to the veins we want by how we harvest and dry them. The two most discussed alkaloids are mitragynine and 7-hydroxy mitragynine. The alkaloids work through receptors in your nervous system.

Kratom is typically taken as needed, or on a schedule, with careful attention to not exceed dosage recommendations. There can be some complications when mixing with other substances, and some people may not be a good candidate for taking kratom. Therefore, it’s recommended to talk with your doctor, preferably one with knowledge of botanical product use.

TYPES OF KRATOM PRODUCTS

There is now a wide selection of kratom strains and kratom blends, some with cool names like Above the Waves, Spacebird, or several types of the wildly popular Maeng Da. Each has its own unique flavor and alkaloid profiles. Overall, kratom has an earthy taste and helps support relaxation, and in some strains motivation.

Kratom naturally matures into red vein kratom, but white vein and green vein kratom are also growing in popularity for their energizing and well-being support. Both white and green types are well-suited for daytime use. Red veins come in a variety of strains, some perfect for daytime use, while some are best for relaxing into your evenings.

Kratom also comes in a variety of forms; capsules, powders, drink mixes, etc. Some users prefer to honor the tradition and culture of kratom, brewing the pungent powders into teas. The good news is that kratom is thought to partner very well with another botanical favorite – CBD!

WHAT IS CBD?

CBD is also made from a plant, Cannabis sativa L., a variety of cannabis that’s commonly called hemp. There are several varieties of cannabis plants, ranging from the highly intoxicating marijuana ones to the hemp varieties that we source for CBD products, clothing materials, building materials, cosmetics, and all sorts of other things.

The numerous active compounds in cannabis are called cannabinoids. The two most popular are CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, or Δ 9 /Delta 9 THC). THC is the intoxicating one, though, at the trace levels allowed by law in a CBD product, it’s not enough to get you high.

Legal CBD products hit the market in full force when hemp was descheduled with the 2018 Farm Bill. This legislation legalized products sourced from hemp, distinguishing the low-THC plants from the highly intoxicating ones. This legislation freed up the CBD movement for health-conscious consumers to use the beneficial cannabinoids found in hemp.

Today, CBD products are regulated and must contain .3% or less of Δ 9 THC, the naturally occurring form of THC. Why bother with such a small amount of THC? Well, it seems to help the other cannabinoids to work well as a team, synergistically, to give you better results. This teamwork is called the entourage effect.

HOW CBD WORKS

Like kratom, CBD works on receptors in your nervous system. But CBD works with a different set of receptors altogether; CB1 and CB2 receptors that are part of your Endocannabinoid System. All creatures except insects have an ECS system which promotes balance in critical processes such as immune response, digestion, sleep, and memory.

What’s truly interesting about the ECS system is that your body creates its own endocannabinoids (produced in your body), which interact with the receptors. For reasons research is only beginning to understand, the phytocannabinoids (derived from plants) that come from cannabis mimic your body’s endocannabinoids and go right to work. The body receives this help well, and therefore – we feel better.

These days, CBD comes in a variety of forms. You can discover CBD in traditional herbal forms such as tinctures and capsules or oils, powders, and creams. People use CBD in many creative ways, making it easy to incorporate into an individual’s daily routine.

3 TYPES OF CBD PRODUCTS

• CBD isolate – 99% pure CBD. This type allows you to avoid THC and help bring balance, but you won’t get the influence of the entourage effect.
• Broad Spectrum CBD – CBD and other cannabinoids are selected and extracted, but not the THC.
• Full Spectrum CBD – Includes the THC for a “full” spectrum of the plant profile. The trace amounts of THC are not enough to produce a high feeling but are enough to contribute to a well-balanced CBD experience.

CBD products are non-addictive. As with other botanicals, they are best used under the advice of a medical professional who is up on the latest cannabis research.

CBD KRATOM: COMBINATION

It’s important to know what botanicals work well together, which do not, and which may even be harmful to combine. Even if you take botanicals at different times of the day, there can still be a combined influence. Consult a healthcare professional before you consider taking any botanical substance, especially if you plan to use them in combination.

Because kratom and CBD have some mutual potential benefits, it’s thought that they may work well in combination. And, because they work with different receptors in the body you could enjoy a nice synergy of benefits.