There are a thousand articles out there touting the benefits of CBD for dozens of different conditions. It truly does seem like a miracle treatment at times, with users reporting therapeutic effects for everything from nervous system conditions to anxiety disorders. Best of all, it’s all natural and comes with virtually no harmful side effects. CBD can be administered as a pill, or a lozenge, or vaporized and inhaled. Right now what we can’t get enough of, though, are topical CBD creams. When used as a topical, you’ll marvel at all the different benefits people have experienced, just as we have. Here are six reasons we have no plans to stop using CBD cream:

CBD Cream can help with chronic pain.

If you’re one of the millions of people worldwide who suffer from chronic pain conditions, take heart in knowing many have reported great success in using CBD to alleviate such ailments. The mechanisms behind its effectiveness are relatively simple: CBD acts on your pain receptors, which allows it to block the signals sent by your neurotransmitters that keep your body hurting. Because of this, users have said that CBD can be extraordinarily effective at helping you manage your pain, especially when used locally directly on the afflicted area. For example, if you suffer from arthritis in your hand, you can simply apply some CBD cream directly to your hands and allow it a few minutes to absorb into your cells (don’t wash your hands right away.) As it crosses the barriers of your skin membranes, it will, according to researchers, reach your pain receptors and potentially start to ease the pain you are feeling. Topical CBD cream can be used for arthritis, cramps, sore muscles, diabetic neuropathy, and other conditions.

CBD Cream can target specific areas to help acute pain.

If you’re in pain and you take a painkiller medicine, whether prescription or over-the-counter, it will immediately begin to dull the neurotransmitters in your whole body. Even if these pharmaceutical pain medicines are effective, they are limited as they’ll just act on your whole body, rather than just the afflicted body part. If you have a sore knee, you don’t need to take headache medicine, but that’s essentially what you are doing when you pop painkiller pills. One of the great benefits of CBD cream is that it can simply be applied directly to the problem area; if you have a sore knee, you just rub the cream on and around your knee. That way, users say it will begin to act on your knee—and only your knee—functioning more like a targeted source of help instead of an unwieldy blunt instrument.

CBD Oil is great for people who are into fitness.

If staying in shape is important to you, and you can frequently be found exercising, either at the local gym or just in the great outdoors, CBD cream may be perfect for you. Since it reduces inflammation, users say it can alleviate a lot of the soreness associated with exercise, allowing you to recover from workouts that much faster. Its reported benefits for reducing stress and anxiety will also help you get in better shape; stress leads to increased production of the hormone cortisol, which prevents your body from losing weight and becoming stronger. CBD has been known to reduce stress, which can, therefore, reduce cortisol production, and therefore reducing the associated muscle breakdown.

CBD helps with skin conditions.

Another amazing benefit of CBD as a topical that people have reported is its ability to help with various skin conditions. Tied into its anti-inflammatory properties, CBD can act on the sebaceous glands in your skin to reduce acne on the face. It can also soothe the redness, swelling, and flaky skin that plague psoriasis sufferers. It is excellent according to users for treating skin infections, both bacterial and otherwise, and shortening the healing time of rashes. Not only that, it can be used to treat sunburns, as well as burned skin with other causes. Improved skin health very often leads to improved self-confidence and a boost in your quality of life.

CBD Creams are great for general skin health.

You don’t need to suffer from any skin condition to reap the benefits of CBD cream. In truth, since it acts as a natural antioxidant, CBD cream can give a boost to your skin’s health and elasticity, reducing many of the signs of premature aging and giving you a healthy glow. Part of the reason for these benefits is that the creams contain far more beneficial ingredients than simply CBD—depending on the cream, they may also have Vitamin C, hemp oil (a natural moisturizer), and other antioxidants. Using CBD cream regularly as a topical could keep your skin looking young and healthy for years to come.

CBD Creams have better bioavailability than other sources.

CBD can be extremely effective when taken any number of ways, but for us, topicals may just be the best. When you are consuming any source of CBD, you’ll need to consider something called bioavailability – that is, how much of the active ingredients is your body really using? If you ingest CBD, it must first pass through your digestive system, and into your bloodstream, where your body will carry it to afflicted areas of your body. Similarly, if you vape CBD, it must cross the soft-tissue barriers in your lungs to enter your blood and be carried to your body and brain. While both these methods of consuming CBD work just fine, because they have to essentially work with a ‘middleman’ in your body, they can take a while to take effect. In particular, ingested CBD has to contend with your metabolism before it can take any effect. Conversely, if you use CBD as a topical, it will be absorbed through your skin and begin to act on your CB2 receptors right there; no need for the compound to enter your bloodstream at all. For acute and chronic pain, users say CBD cream is often the best option.