It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that many of us are suffering from sleepless nights right now. There’s nothing quite like a global pandemic to make you lie awake at night thinking about everything that could go wrong. Or maybe everything that is already going wrong. Routines are all over the place still and many people that are working from home find it hard to switch off at the end of the work day. Or even to make that clear distinction between work time and down time.
Understandably, more and more people are trying to find ways to sleep better. They can’t necessarily remove the things that are causing the sleepless nights in the first place, but instead looking for ways to minimise their impact on sleep.
How can CDB help?
Many of us have heard of CBD – or Cannabidiol to give it its fully title – but how many of us have looked at CBD for sleep? In recent years the public have become more and more interested in the benefits of CDB and as a result more and more research is taking place to actually show what those benefits are.
The use of CBD to control pain and to help with seizures and and anxiety is now relatively well known. Research has also now taken place to look at the impact of CBD on anxiety and sleep, with some encouraging results.
Different dose of CBD helped some study participants fall asleep in the first place, whilst others increased their sleep duration. The results also suggested that CBD can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. People who suffer from insomnia often have higher than normal levels of cortisol at night-time, and these high levels often correlate to increased awakenings during the night.
Further research has also shown the effects of CDB on the sleep cycle. People with Parkinsons’ disease who also suffer from REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) saw improvements in their symptoms when taking CDB. RBD is a disorder in which people act out their dreams and is commonly associated with poor sleep and nightmares.
How to use CDB for sleep
There are four main ways to take CDB:
- oils
- tablet or capsule form
- edibles, like gummies
- vaping
Because of the other health risks associated with vaping, not as much research has been done on ingesting CDB that way – although it is though to be the quickest way to get it into your system. Vaping obviously has respiratory risks associated with it.
How much CBD you need for it to have a positive affect on your sleep can vary from person to person and will take into account factors like weight, severity of sleep problems and just the differences between different human bodies. The advice is to start with a low dose and work up.
One thing that all the research does agree on though is that it can take time for CBD to start having an effect. One particular study suggested at least a month, so please don’t be disheartened if you don’t see immediate results.
There’s nothing stopping you from using other techniques try to help you sleep whilst trying to be patient. Simple steps like cutting down on caffeine later in the day and having a no-screens at bedtime rule can also help you relax at night-time.
Sleep well!
Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash.
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