Does CBD Oil make you sleepy?
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
1. Introduction
Sick and tired of being tired? CBD oil is the all-natural way to drift off to the most peaceful sleep of your life!
If you've found your way to this page, then chances are you probably aren't sleeping all that great. Science has shown that on average, you need to be getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night to stay healthy. Anything less than this and your body will suffer both physically and mentally as a result.
If you're not sleeping well you will probably experience a lack of energy throughout the day, grogginess, poor concentration, irritability – the list goes on and on…. But – Does CBD oil make you sleepy?
Furthermore
Worryingly, studies into sleep patterns have found that over 30% of people in the USA reported sleeping less than 7 hours per night. And in the UK, there is a remarkably similar story. Almost a quarter of people are in fact getting less than 5 hours of sleep per night!
So, if you are one of these people, don't worry – you're not alone!
For so many people, poor quality of sleep and insomnia only breeds anxiety about sleeping, and so begins the vicious downward cycle of awful sleep. With the current pandemic, we are seeing more and more worry or anxiety-related sleep problems emerge. People have concerns about their own and their family's health, job security, and finances.
All of this has led to armies of people sleepwalking like zombies through their days, only to find they can't sleep when they really need it the most.
So, what can be done about it?
2. CBD Oil for Sleepless Nights
CBD oil has exploded in popularity in recent years for its astonishing range of benefits. Some people take CBD for pain management, others for its antianxiety effects. But most importantly for this article and likely you, CBD oil has a proven ability to dramatically improve the quality of all-natural sleep.
The evidence for this isn't just anecdotal, either. A review into scientific research on the effect that CBD has on sleep found that it can be used to control insomnia and provide much-needed refreshing, deep REM sleep.
Does CBD oil make you sleepy?
3. The Battle Inside of YOU!
As mentioned before, for most people, poor sleep quality is often due to high levels of anxiety. This could be life worries or even simply worrying about not sleeping.
When you take CBD, it has the effect of blocking the receptors in your brain associated with fear and anxiety. It also has the added bonus of helping your body to better regulate cortisol levels. In case you didn't know, cortisol is the hormone that your body naturally produces specifically to make you feel stressed – thanks very much body!
And the war goes on!
Think of it like this – there are two versions of your body at any one time:
One of them is far too chilled out to be much better for anything. It doesn't want to get out of bed, doesn't want to go to work, look after the kids or pay the bills. It feeds on sleep, and sleeping is all it wants to do. Relaxed yes, but functional – not in the slightest.
The other one is a hyper-stressed maniac. They want to do everything instantly, all the time and if they can't, they freak out massively until the job is done. And to get you to do this, they make you feel like the world is on your shoulders, and you can't rest until you've fixed everything!
In reality, you need both of these guys. But there must be a balance. Neither can function properly on their own.
When you're unable to sleep because you have a million and one worries whizzing around your head, it's because your little stress monster has fully taken control and your relaxed side isn't getting the sleep it needs to calm you back down.
4. CBD Oil and Night Terrors
All this stress, anxiety, and worrying can often mean that when you do finally get to sleep it is interrupted and ruined by nightmares or night-terrors. There's no exact science on dream meanings, but what is known is that increased levels of stress, lead to increased frequency of night-terrors.
These will often wake you up, physically and mentally, in overdrive, and leave you unable to drift peacefully back off to sleep.
5. Which CBD Oil Should I Take for Better Sleep?
Taking any CBD oil will aid your sleep. We always recommend starting with a small dose of a lower strength CBD in order to assess your tolerances and needs. Some people will find they require a very small dose of low strength, whereas others may need more.
There are, however, sleep-specific CBD products available now, such as our own CBD Sleep Solution.
This contains both CBD oil and melatonin.
Melatonin is another sleep hormone that your body produces naturally when it is dark, to regulate your sleep cycles. Basically, it tells your body that it's time to sleep. When your sleep patterns are out of sync, your body's melatonin production usually is, too.
By combining both CBD and melatonin, you'd be giving your body the best chance possible to get your sleep patterns back on the right path.
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8. The Upward Cycle and a Better Tomorrow Morning!
By taking CBD oil, you will be helping your body get its stress hormone levels back under control naturally. By helping to reduce cortisol levels and block anxiety receptors, you can give your body's relaxation systems a fighting chance.
All of this leads to easier and better-quality sleep. And better-quality sleep leads to a clearer mind and more energy to do the things that you need to do in order to feel less stressed. Less stress also means a much lower probability of night-terrors waking you in the middle of the night, ruining your sleep cycles too.
And so begins the positive upward cycle, instead of the downward negative one!
9. Will Taking CBD in the Day Make Me Tired?
Taking sleep-specific CBD with melatonin will most likely make you tired, yes. However, this is because of the effect that melatonin has on your brain, as discussed above.
For this reason, you should aim to only take CBD Sleep Solution before going to bed and not during the daytime. Even if you feel like it would help you get a quick power nap during the day, you should not take it.
Because melatonin is naturally produced when it's dark (at night, and time for sleeping) you may end up spinning your body's natural sleep cycle out of balance if you take it during the day.
You might have heard of seasonal affected disorder (SAD) when people get depressed or tired during the winter months when it's dark more often. This is because your body is producing too much melatonin during the day, when you should be awake and active. This is the last thing you want when you're trying to fix your already broken sleep patterns!
However, by boosting your melatonin levels at night when you should be sleepy, you can help your body to re-balance its own production cycles.
CBD alone, on the other hand, will not make you tired. In fact, people usually report feeling more alert and awake during the day when taking CBD alone. This is usually because of the better-quality sleep experienced from taking it!
So, if you're ready to stop dreaming about better sleep and actually start dreaming for real – check out our range of CBD oils today!
Thank you for reading “Does CBD oil make you sleepy?” If you need guidance or have any questions, feel free to contact us at [email protected]
10. References
Babson KA, Sottile J, Morabito D. Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2017 Apr;19(4):23. doi: 10.1007/s11920-017-0775-9. PMID: 28349316.
Chagas MH, Eckeli AL, Zuardi AW, Pena-Pereira MA, Sobreira-Neto MA, Sobreira ET, Camilo MR, Bergamaschi MM, Schenck CH, Hallak JE, Tumas V, Crippa JA. Cannabidiol can improve complex sleep-related behaviours associated with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder in Parkinson's disease patients: a case series. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2014 Oct;39(5):564-6. doi: 10.1111/jcpt.12179. Epub 2014 May 21. PMID: 24845114.
The Sleep Foundation, How Sleep Works. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/sleep-facts-statistics#:~:text=Statistics%20About%20Insufficient%20Sleep,than%20seven%20hours%20per%20night.
I am a certified expert in Medicinal Cannabis. We are all about giving correct and trustworthy information. We know how important it is to learn about CBD and cannabis, which is why we want to be your go-to source for trustworthy information. We help you improve your health by using our knowledge and experience as a starting point.
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