One of the most essential things in our lives is sleep. Sleep is beneficial for everything, focus, diet, and overall health.
Unfortunately, many people have sleeping problems. It can be due to disorders like PTSD, insomnia, and obstructive sleep apnea being more frequent than ever. Obstructive sleep apnea or OSA condition affects 2-9% of adults in the US.
If you have any of these problems or you just want to improve your sleep quality there is CBD that can help you. In this article, you will find everything you need to improve your sleep with CBD.
How to Use CBD for Sleep
There are several ways to take CBD, and they differ in how you use them and how much:
- Vape Concentrates
- Oils and Tinctures
- Pills and Capsules
- Edibles
CBD Softgels and capsules can be produced with other herbs/supplements to assist with sleep like these CBD Softgels For Holistic Sleep Solutions from 55plus CBD which include 3mg of CBN and 3mg of Melatonin.
It’s best to try every type before choosing one to stick to it. Generally, vaping is the fastest way for CBD to get into your body. But, keep in mind that vaping CBD hasn’t gotten enough research to call it completely safe. Vaping may pose respiratory risks, on the other hand, edibles don’t pose any risk. If you want to try some healthy edibles you can try Spruce Rest gummies.
The dosage of CBD and the time you should take it, depending on a lot of factors like your weight, age, sleeping habits, and if you have any disorders. Keep in mind that what works for someone may not work for you.
Clinical studies with CBD started giving subjects from 25mg to 1,500mg of CBD per day. It’s best to start very low and gradually up your dosages. Subjects said that they started to feel the effects after about one month, so you should be patient and, although possible, don’t expect to have immediate results.
Research About CBD
With the rise in popularity and usage of CBD products in the last decade, researchers are encouraged to study CBD’s effects.
It’s important to note at the start that even the earliest studies indicate that high dosages of CBD can help improve sleep quality.
Studies are conducted with half of the participants given a placebo and the other half given real CBD. In one particular case, they were given a placebo and 160mg of CBD, and participants who consumed CBD had seen an increase in sleep duration.
Cortisol, the stress hormone, usually peaks in the morning. But, people that have insomnia have cortisol peaks at the night. Also, people who have high levels of cortisol at night have an increased number of nighttime awakenings.
In one of the studies on CBD, researchers found that CBD can significantly decrease cortisol levels when taking 300 or 600 mg of CBD oil. The results of that study show us that CBD can be potentially used as a sedative.
In a more recent study of CBD and sleep, 103 participants had anxiety problems and poor sleep. The researchers studied the effects of other prescribed medications in comparison to CBD.
Dosages in this study ranged from 25mg to 175mg of CBD. This study has shown that 25mg of CBD was the most effective dosage for anxiety and those who have troubled sleep require higher dosages.
That study was 3 months long, and participants were interviewed monthly. After the first month, 66.7% of participants reported an improvement in sleep, while 25% said they had worsened sleep. At the second check-up there was 56.1% of participants improved sleep and 26.8% that worsen their sleep.
Researchers said that CBD might help with sleep in the short term but not everyone can extend that to the long term.
How CBD Can Benefit Sleep
CBD is the second most abundant compound in the cannabis plant, and researchers have done many studies on CBD and they indicate that CBD may indirectly benefit sleep. You shouldn’t associate CBD with getting “high” which is a trait of tetrahydrocannabinol.
CBD might help people with different sleep disorders according to research. Now we are going to go over sleep disorders that CBD can help ease.
Insomnia
The hypothalamus plays a huge role in some sleep-related functions like synchronizing sleep patterns and regulating the temperature of the body. CBD can help with insomnia because it works with the hypothalamus to regulate stress.
Researchers have found that CBD can be more effective than THC in decreasing symptoms of insomnia.
Anxiety
A lot of studies have found CBD to be able to potentially treat anxiety disorders. It’s still in early research but it has shown that CBD can improve sleep and have the ability to decrease anxiety.
CBD acts as the great equalizer of the brain when it comes to anxiety. Anxiety happens when the limbic system is out of equilibrium and intrusive memory leads to anxiety and insomnia.
Chronic Pain
If you are having chronic pain you may also have sleep problems. CBD comes here to help, studies had already shown that CBD has great pain relief potential.
The researchers found that using CBD oil in painful areas can reduce pain and swelling that is often associated with inflammation.
Restless Leg Syndrome
CBD has already shown us that it can calm nerves down and help us sleep by doing so. RLS or restless leg syndrome is a disorder with nerves that CBD can help calm.
Much of the research regarding CBD and RLS is based on patient self-reports, so naturally, we need more testing so that we can be certain about it.
Circadian Rhythm Disorders
This is also known as sleep-wake cycle disorder, this occurs when your body’s internal clock which dictates when you need sleep and when you need to wake up is not in line with the environment.
CBD can improve the quality and quantity of sleep by allowing the body to go through every stage of sleep and REM sleep without interruption.
CBD can also be really helpful for people who work in different shifts like nurses, they experience circadian rhythm disorders all the time due to sleep schedules changing all the time.
Closing Thoughts
Remember to stay on the legal path and purchase your CBD from official dispensaries. If you choose to buy it illegally you can have laws and more importantly, health problems because that cannabis is not regulated and is not up to health regulations.
If you want to try CBD as a replacement for your medication you should talk with your doctor. You should also consult and update your doctor on any and every dosage change you take.
