It’s Time To Add CBD To Your Sex Life — This Is Our Favorite Way To Do It

By now you've gotten the message that CBD is on the rise. Over the past few years, we've been tapping into its healing properties to help decrease inflammation, support our gut health, calm our anxiety, calm our pet's anxiety, quiet angry skin, help us sleep—you get the picture.

What you might not realize is that CBD isn't just a trendy buzzword—in fact, cannabidiol has rich roots in ancient medicine. For centuries, cannabis-derived remedies have been widely used by herbalists and physicians around the world to treat a number of women's health issues. And thanks to the country's growing legalization of recreational and medicinal cannabis, the female-relevant benefits of CBD are back on the map—in a major way.

Wait, wait—before you roll your eyes and dismiss CBD-infused pleasure enhancers as nothing more than the next wellness trend du jour, consider this: The reason CBD and THC (the chemical cousin to CBD that gets you high; cannabidiol does not) affect our physiology in the first place is because the human body has a network of cannabinoid receptors that latch on to these chemical compounds. It's called the endocannabinoid system—and it's all over the female reproductive tract.

Scientists are still learning about the ECS, but the quick take is to think of it as your body's master regulatory system with a big job: to keep the body balanced under stress. These receptors are activated specifically by our bodies' natural cannabinoid-like chemicals and cannabinoid content from the cannabis plant. They're located in our nervous system, immune system, digestive system, and, yep, the female reproductive system to control inflammation, mediate sensations, and more.

When it comes to the female reproductive tract, cannabinoid receptors are found in the uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, vagina, and vulva, and they play a huge role during pregnancy, childbirth, and the day-to-day pleasures and pain associated with sex.

That's key because although lack of interest in sex, low libido, inability to experience the magic O, and painful sex are all incredibly common issues, pharmaceutical advancements have largely helped men navigate sexual health and dysfunction more than women.

Fortunately, brands like Foria are helping to close this gap. Their sexual wellness products—which range from a menstrual-relief suppository to natural enhancement products like Awaken, a pre-lube or arousal oil—are the result of recognizing how well the human body responds to functional foods, herbs, and botanicals and are formulated with natural ingredients that engage our cannabinoid receptors and help our ECS do its thing, soothing pain and discomfort if needed. (If you live in California or Colorado, Foria offers similar formulas made with THC.)

Take Awaken—their wildly popular arousal oil. Its formula is made of eight organic plant extracts and essential oils, including broad-spectrum CBD from hemp grown in the United States. CBD can help relax muscle tension and tightness and promote circulation of blood down there while also quelling overactive inflammation and pain signaling. Users have noted experiencing a wave of relief, relaxation, and enhanced blood flow, heightening the intimate sensations of sex.

But it's CBD's synergy with Awaken's other ingredients—all with a long history of use as aphrodisiacs—that makes Foria's approach stand out. Kava root, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, peppermint, vanilla, cacao, and coconut oil all help to enhance arousal and increase the feel-good factor of foreplay and intercourse. Use it as a massage oil, and not to get too TMI, but it's completely lickable and edible.