How To Use CBD For Unbelievable Sleep

These days, it is almost impossible for people to “turn off” between constant smartphone connection and rising digital social pressures, rates of insomnia and other sleep-related disorders 

Whether you toss and turn all night, or lay there thinking about the problems of the day, it can be frustrating not getting great sleep, especially if you’ve tried all of the things that are supposed to help:

• Exercising during the day
• “Winding down” an hour before bed
• Not consuming caffeine beverages in the afternoon
• Going to bed at the same time every night, with the same routine
• Stop drinking alcohol
• Creating a super dark room with blackout shades
• Putting in ear plugs
• Turning on the blue-light filter on your phones or putting away your devices completely before bed-time
• And every vitamin, supplement, and herb out there!

The fact is, sometimes you still can’t get a good night’s sleep. It’s not your fault there’s something bigger going on.

If you don’t want to resort to prescription medications, then CBD could be the answer you’ve been waiting for. It does absolutely jaw-dropping things to your sleep because of its many wonderful medicinal properties.

It can stop the racing thoughts, help you calm down and finally get the kind of deep, restorative sleep you’ve been dreaming about for YEARS. In this mega-guide, we’re going to show you how.

So… What EXACTLY Is CBD?

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably already familiar with the fact that CBD is the non-psychoactive part of cannabis plants such as marijuana or hemp, and that it stands for Cannabidiol.

Of course, it’s really the medical aspects of this molecule that make it so exciting.

CBD was first discovered in the 1960s and since then it has been used to treat dozens of symptoms and disorders with encouraging success. These are just a few:

• Pain
• Inflammation
• Anti-anxiety
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Parkinson’s
• Anti-psychotic
• And some types of cancer

The best part is, as of the beginning of 2019, it is legal in all 50 states thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill passed by President Donald Trump. This is because the Farm Bill legalized hemp – a plant of the cannabis family which only contains less than 0.3% THC – yet has a high content of CBD.

Since hemp is legalized in all 50 states, CBD from hemp is also legal. And that’s why it has exploded in popularity over the past year or so.

Additionally, the research into CBD for sleep has been very promising, and it makes perfect sense. After all, as a potent anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medication, it should be able to calm down the racing thoughts keeping us all awake at night, right? 

This Is How CBD Works 

The amazing thing about CBD: it is one of the only molecules that work in almost every system in your body. That’s because it interacts with the endocannabinoid system, a recently-discovered all-encompassing system that plays a role in balancing your mood, appetite, and even sleep.

The endocannabinoid system exists throughout your central nervous system in the form of cannabinoid receptors known as CB1 and CB2. CBD can connect to these receptors, restoring balance to the functions of the body and the brain.

Think about it this way: the endocannabinoid system (ECS for short) is like a gyroscope that maintains the balance in your different bodily systems. It is possible that without cannabinoids like CBD, it can become unbalanced due to a “cannabinoid deficiency”.

This deficiency may be responsible for causing excessive inflammation, mood disorders, and yes – even lack of sleep, out of control anxiety that causes insomnia, and mysterious pains in your body.

Here’s What The Research Says About CBD And Sleep

While those theories certainly are very interesting and could tell us why CBD works, what’s even more impressive are the experiments we have that show how effective CBD is as a sleep aid.

In one such Colorado-based study, a group of people suffering from anxiety and sleeping disorders was given two separate assessments one month apart. 

The dosing used in the study was 25 mg capsules, and the results they achieved were pretty amazing: 79% of the people in the study reported lower anxiety and 66% of the people reported better sleep.

This also suggests the main factor in CBD’s sleep-inducing effect has to do with its ability to stop anxious thoughts which keep people awake. The theory goes that by stopping the anxious thoughts, they are clearing the mind to let the natural sleep mechanisms take over.

But that’s not the only evidence. In addition to many individual stories validating CBD’s use as a sleep aid, Consumer Reports recently held a poll about the subject. 10% of the respondents to the poll said they are using CBD as a sleep aid, and the vast majority of those people say that it works for them.

The bottom line is this: the existing studies have shown us some very promising results, and it would be great to have even better and more well-funded studies into this subject, to show how CBD works as a sleep aid.

Benefits Of CBD Over Prescription Drugs

The most obvious and startling benefit of CBD as a sleep aid may simply be its safety. Prescription sleeping pills like Ambien have recently led to a spike in emergency room visits, and it’s no secret they are notoriously unsafe and very dangerous to take.

Dosages of sleeping pills are very sensitive, as well. Take too much, and you’re in trouble.

Additionally, sleeping pill addiction is on the rise in the US. Many people who begin taking sleeping pills soon find they can’t sleep without them. Then their tolerance begins to go up, leading to larger doses just to sleep.

The end result of a sleeping pill addiction may be an overdose and a visit to the ER.

Compare that to CBD. The “normal” dosage is between 10-50 mg, but it has been demonstrated as safe to take doses as large as 1,500 mg, 3,000 mg, or even 6,000 mg at a time!  That makes it astonishingly safe compared to almost any drug in existence.

And when it comes to addiction, CBD is almost anti-addictive. 

In fact, instead of building a tolerance, the evidence suggests it has a reverse-tolerance effect – in other words, taking CBD often leads to a situation where users need LESS CBD to achieve the same desired result.

And even if there were a tolerance, since there is no known unsafe dosage you need to avoid you’ll be safe anyways. Altogether, CBD is mind-blowingly safe, while prescription sleeping pills are outrageously dangerous. 

How CBD Affects The Phases Of Your Sleep

OK, so by now you’re probably asking yourself: what exactly happens when you take CBD for sleep? From a scientific perspective.

It’s actually very interesting because CBD has a very profound effect on the way your body sleeps and the sleep cycles. Of course, it’s not fully understood at this time but we’ll give you what scientists know about it right now.

In order to understand this, it’s important to know there are two phases of sleep your body goes through. REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. NREM sleep actually has three different stages as well, but CBD has been observed to have an effect on your REM sleep specifically, so that’s where we’ll focus.

REM sleep is extremely important to your brain and helps you solidify experiences from the day into memories.

Normally, your body is paralyzed during REM sleep so you don’t physically act out your dreams. But in REM behavior disorder and Parkinson’s disease, people are actually able to move while they are dreaming, so they sometimes flail around and hurt themselves.

CBD was able to exert an influence on patients suffering from these problems and help them to remain paralyzed during their dreams. This could suggest a similar action in people without these disorders, simply leading to deeper sleep overall, with fewer night-time disturbances.

The Full Entourage Effect For Refreshing Sleep

Another interesting finding is the comparison between CBD isolates and full-spectrum hemp CBD for sleep-promoting effects. 

Full-spectrum hemp CBD is much more than just CBD, it also contains hundreds of other compounds known as “terpenes” which have their own results. When they are all working together with CBD, it is known as the “entourage effect”.

In this case, it’s very interesting because high-CBD strains of hemp (like the pure hemp oil sold in our store) also contain a terpene known as myrcene. 

Myrcene just so happens to be well-documented in animal studies showing its sedative action. In fact, herbalists have been prescribing high-myrcene herbs as a human sleep aid for centuries.

So the sleep-promoting effects of full-spectrum hemp oil could be more effective than CBD isolate due to the addition of this powerful terpene. The combined result of CBD and myrcene used together could be just the combination you need to finally get some high-quality ZZZ’s.

How To Use CBD For Sleep

Now, assuming you’re ready to start trying to get better sleep with CBD after reading all of this, you might be wondering about the best way to take CBD to solve your sleeping issues. 

There are three main ways to take CBD for sleep, each with their own benefits: 

• Tinctures – the most popular way to take CBD involves a pure oil tincture with a dropper cap. You simply use the cap to suction up some oil and then drip a few drops you’re your mouth. You can swallow it, put it in your beverages, or let it absorb underneath your tongue, which leads to the best absorption rates.

• Edibles – may be the most enjoyable way to take CBD, edibles are usually gummy candies that have CBD in them. They taste delicious and give you a dose that absorbs quickly into your system.

• Vapor – Vaping is the second-most popular way to get your CBD, it involves using a vape pen to inhale flavored CBD vapor into your lungs and features an incredible absorption rate with rapid effects.

How Much CBD Should You Take For Sleep?

There is somewhat of an art to dosing and taking the right amount of CBD.

Generally, studies show that a smaller dose of CBD has a stimulating effect. Actually, this can be useful during the day to promote day-time wakefulness.

Taking a nap or feeling groggy in the afternoon can lead to poor night-time sleep, so taking small doses of CBD (between 0-25 mg) throughout the afternoon might help you stay awake and arrive at bed-time fully tired and ready to sleep. 

Conversely, larger doses of CBD have been shown to have a calming, almost “hypnotic effect” (according to one 1977 animal study). Of course, this means a larger dose of CBD (100-200 mg) taken closer to bed-time could have the best effect. 

Doses as large as 600 mg have been shown to have a sedative effect in studies.

Some Final Tips And Tricks For Your Ultimate Slumber

Of course, the best advice we can give you in all of this is to find out what works for you through trying different things and monitoring your results. Use common sense, don’t start out with the maximum dose you can afford – start with a regular dose of 20 mg and see what happens.

Then adjust it from there.

Another trick you might try is to keep a sleep journal every morning to measure your success and find out what’s working. With everything in this article, the key is to find out what works for your body, your routine, and your preferences, so that you can build a healthy habit.

If you are successful in doing that, you may just find you reap the benefits of great sleep! Increased productivity, boosted creativity, less stress and anxiety, getting along better with people, and much more.