The Miraculous Endocannabinoid System

What is it and why does it matter so much?

Most of us have heard about some of the main neurotransmitter systems within our bodies, such as the sympathetic nervous system, which gives us our evolutionarily adaptive fight-or-flight response. Many of us are aware of the system of endorphins that give us natural, opioid-based pain control in times of grave injury, such as when I recently got plowed into by a distracted driver (read more on that here). Fewer of us, including many doctors and nurses, are familiar with the more recently discovered endocannabinoid system (ECS).

This lack of knowledge is astounding when you consider that the ECS is the neurotransmitter system which is most critical for almost every aspect of our moment-to-moment functioning and survival. The ECS also happens to be the main system that cannabis bootstraps on to, in order to work its magic, or its harms, depending on your perspective.

The ECS is what keeps our bodies in “homeostasis” which means that it balances our different, competing physiological systems so that we are healthy, regulated, and functional. It is not a simple task to keep our various cellular processes, many of which are antagonistic to each other, in equilibrium. Some systems activate our central nervous system (e.g., glutamate) and other systems dampen it down (e.g., GABA). The ECS functions like a judge, deciding which systems, at all moments, need to be amplified, and which need to be suppressed.

The ECS regulates and controls bodily functions such as learning and memory, emotional processing, energy balance, reproduction, sleep, temperature control, pain control, inflammatory and immune responses, and eating.