CBD may improve your sleep

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the major cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. These chemicals interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system, which helps it maintain a state of balance, or homeostasis.

CBD is naturally non-psychoactive, meaning it does not cause the intoxicating “high” sensations commonly associated with cannabis. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the cannabinoid in cannabis which is responsible for its mind-altering effects.

Rather, CBD has been shown to provide benefit to people with a wide range of conditions, such as reducing pain and relieving anxiety.

Recent studies and anecdotal evidence point to the ability of CBD to help improve sleep. Read on to learn more.

Research results on CBD and sleep

What causes poor sleep? According to the Mayo Clinic, some causes of insomnia include:

• Stress
• Travel or work schedule
• Poor sleep habits
• Eating too much in the late evening

Additional common causes of insomnia include:

• Mental health disorders
• Medication
• Medical conditions
• Sleep-related disorders
• Caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol

Insomnia becomes more common with age, with older people possibly experiencing:

• Changes in sleep patterns
• Changes in activity levels
• Changes in health
• More medications

Sleep is one of the most important things for your health because it allows the body to go through its natural restoration process. If you feel you are not getting enough sleep, CBD may be able to help.

One study to determine whether CBD improves sleep and anxiety showed that patients with anxiety disorder and poor sleep who were given 25mg of CBD daily showed significant improvement, with 79% of patients reporting lower anxiety and 67% reporting better sleep at the end of one month.

Another leading cause of sleep issues is pain, which can also be helped by CBD. A Frontiers in Pharmacology study found that there is significant evidence supporting the claim that CBD relieves pain, and adds that using CBD to reduce chronic pain can improve sleep.

One more study found that patients with Parkinson’s disease who used CBD had their symptoms of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) improved. RBD symptoms include poor sleep and experiencing nightmares. This research points to the possibility that CBD can improve the sleep cycle.

Additionally, a review published in 2017 found that CBD may be an effective treatment for RBD and that it can improve excessive daytime drowsiness.  

Another review showed that CBD may reduce grogginess, a common symptom of insomnia, by promoting a balance of the sleep-wake cycle. More research is required, since the exact mechanisms are not fully understood at this time.

How CBD improves sleep

Most of the studies regarding CBD and insomnia mention that more research is needed on the exact mechanisms to fully understand how it improves our sleep.

Many researchers say that CBD improves sleep because it relieves some of the major causes of insomnia.

When more research is performed on CBD, we will gain more understanding on how CBD helps us sleep and how to best integrate it with conventional sleep therapies.

Dosage

If you want to try CBD for your anxiety, talk to your doctor to help figure out a starting dosage that’s right for you. Several factors contribute to how much CBD you should take, including:

• The severity of your condition
• Your body mass
• Your individual metabolism

A good rule of thumb is to start low and gradually increase your dosage until you feel relief. For example, you might start with 20mg per day for a week, and increase this amount by 5mg per week, continuing until you feel the desired effect.

CBD side effects

CBD is generally well tolerated and is considered safe; however, it may cause adverse reactions in some people.

The most commonly experienced side effects in studies include:

• Tiredness
• Diarrhea
• Changes in appetite and weight

CBD has drug interactions with some medications. Speak to your medical practitioner about CBD safety prior to starting any treatment.

One mice study showed that CBD-rich cannabis extracts may possibly cause acute liver toxicity. However, some the mice in the study were ministered extremely large doses of the extract.

Summary Although CBD is generally considered safe, it may cause adverse side effects like tiredness and diarrhea in some people. It may also interact with certain medications.

How to buy CBD

CBD has become a popular treatment for insomnia and it is available in many outlets and online. It is important to know that your CBD is contaminant-free from and that the chemicals involved in the extraction process are not present.

It is best to purchase CBD that uses hemp grown in a reputable location and was extracted using a clean method such as CO2. Also check the product’s certificate of analysis (COA) from a reputable third-party laboratory to be sure your CBD is contaminant-free.

Wellness Garden Medicinals offers a CBD sublingual tincture in three concentrations and two flavors which has been shown to be very effective at treating insomnia through anecdotal evidence.

Additionally, we offer a CBD topical salve which is all-natural and contains 14 powerful essential oils and botanical extracts from powerful plants such as kava kava root, passion flower, ylang ylang, and Melissa leaf which complement CBD’s antianxiety and pro-sleep effects.

Our customers report reduced stress and anxiety as well as much improved sleep when the topical salve is applied to the chest, temples, and bottoms of the feet. For severe anxiety or insomnia, our customers use a combination of sublingual tincture and topical salve which provides CBD to the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) through two separate vectors, sublingually and transdermal.