The 2018 Farm Bill has led to an explosion in the marketing and distribution of CBD or cannabidiol products.
While the FDA has only approved one medication that is based on CBD, an anti-seizure medication, anecdotal evidence of current users indicates that CBD use can lessen the impact of insomnia and anxious thoughts.
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CBD and Sleep
One of the key considerations to using CBD is the dosage. If you are planning to use CBD to help you fall asleep, you will need a full dose. To determine your dose, start with one mg per ten pounds of body weight.
Be aware that absorption rates are different at a sublingual dose than with an edible. If you are using 10mg CBD capsules for sleep, be aware that it may take more time to have an impact on your ability to fall asleep.
A sublingual dose can help you fall asleep, while an edible or a capsule will help you stay asleep.
How Can CBD Help With Insomnia?
Current research indicates that CBD binds to receptors in your nervous system and stops or slows the cycling of anxious thoughts.
If you struggle to fall asleep because your brain goes over and over negative events and experiences, you may find that a CBD dose gives you relief from that thought pattern.
How Does CBD Affect Sleep?
Many people use CBD products to manage nerve pain.
If you find that pain wakes you in the night, using a sublingual dose of CBD before bed to help you fall asleep and an edible, such as a gummy or a capsule at the same time can extend the benefits. Because edibles need to be digested for best results, this will extend the dosage release.
There is also data that indicates that CBD can help to manage serotonin. This neurotransmitter is critical to sleep, so getting it back into balance can easily improve the quality of your sleep.
CBD and Nightmares
For those who struggle to sleep because of anxious thoughts, the risk of nightmares is likely stronger than for those who do not have anxious thoughts.
For those who have struggled with sleeplessness for a long time, your ability to drop into deep REM sleep may have been so limited that you do not remember your dreams.
While some CBD users find that their dreams are more vivid, the risk of CBD causing nightmares is minimal. If, however, your life is so anxiety-ridden that sleep is impossible without CBD, your dreams could well be very bad once you do finally get to sleep.
For those who have struggled to sleep well for a long time, the end result of nightmares is most unfair. Make sure that you are monitoring your sleep hygiene and study up on rewriting the script of your nightmares.
Sleep is critical for brain and heart health. There are also indications that poor sleep can increase your risk of developing some forms of cancer. If you cannot sleep consistently, deeply, and well, a CBD supplement can help.
