You can use CBD for bedtime as it helps to fight insomnia and other sleep disorders. Many people suffer from sleep disorders caused by stress, anxiety, and bad life habits. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention one in three adults don’t get enough sleep.
Before CBD was used in the treatment of insomnia and anxiety, sleeping disorders were predominantly treated with sleeping pills. However, opiates can cause tolerance and higher risks of overdosing. For instance, the US has suffered an opioid overdose crisis. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “2018 data shows that every day, 128 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids”.
CBD and Sleeping Disorders
Most of sleeping disorders are cause by other underlying conditions such as environmental factors, mental disorders, medications and/or physical pain. CBD helps in the treatment of anxiety and hence it helps to fall asleep and also to stay asleep. In other words, CBD helps to have a constant and invigorating sleep.
In addition, certain conditions such as Parkinson’s disease can affect sleep. There are some preliminary studies focusing on CBD as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
There are many conditions that can cause a sleep disorder. Therefore, to understand whether CBD can help to manage insomnia, we need to know more about the underlying conditions that are causing the sleep disorder. It could be caused by:
- A mental health disorder such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression.
- Certain medicines can cause insomnia.
- Caffeine and other substances.
- Environmental factors such as noise pollution, light pollution, weather, etc.
Studies on CBD are still in a preliminary stage, however, there are some promising studies about CBD for insomnia.
We may divide insomnia into two categories, according to Webmd: primary insomnia and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia means that insomnia is not linked to any other underlying condition. Secondary insomnia, on the other hand, means that other conditions, such as pain, drugs, cancer, asthma, and many other health conditions, cause insomnia.
CBD for Insomnia: How can it help?
Firstly, cannabis helps to relieve both pain and anxiety and both pain and anxiety can cause insomnia. In addition, CBD is not the only useful cannabinoid in the treatment of anxiety and insomnia. For instance, THC is also useful to treat anxiety. However, you need to control the doses as THC is psychoactive. In other words, high THC doses may cause serious side effects such as psychosis.
On the other hand, CBD is not psychoactive, which means you can treat both anxiety and insomnia without side effects.
As a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, CBD is very useful in the treatment of both insomnia and anxiety. Furthermore, it has been used by many athletes to reduce pain and inflammation (both are underlying conditions that may cause insomnia).
In a study on 72 adults, doses of 25 mg/d to 175 mg/d were given to them. According to this study 57 patients reported a decrease in anxiety within the first month (79.2%). In addition, 48 patients reported improvements in their sleep (66.7%). Moreover, all patients except for three patients reported good CBD tolerance.
CBD and Insomnia: How Does it Work?
Our endocannabinoid system plays an important role in keeping and maintaining body functions. CBD binds with our CB2 receptors that are found in the brain and central nervous system.
According to some scientific theories, CBD may interact with these receptors and hence affect and influence our sleep and wake cycle. Nonetheless, despite there are many studies about CBD for insomnia and anxiety, results are yet inconclusive, and we need further studies to fully understand CBD and its health benefits.