Well hello, fellow insomniacs!
It’s so nice to meet you. My name is Dege and I’m the founder of TribeTokes. I am a night owl and have had issues with sleeping since college. My breed of insomnia is difficulty falling asleep – whereas my husband falls asleep in 5 minutes but struggles with staying asleep throughout the night. As you can imagine, we’ve had plenty of opportunity to experiment with CBD for sleep – and this article shares anecdotal tips, and a bit of science we’ve learned along the way.
Does CBD help you fall asleep, stay asleep or both? How might CBD help support your natural sleep cycle?
If you’re curious about any of these questions, read on sister.
When Counting Sheep Doesn’t Cut It
If you have trouble sleeping, you know that it’s the worst. Staring at the ceiling, your phone or a TV, with no end in sight as to when you’ll be tired. OR, you may fall asleep easily and wake up what feels like 18 times throughout the night, or wake up and not be able to go back to sleep. Sometimes, this might be at 5AM and you decide, at this point I might as well just get up.
And then you feel like a sluggish sausage for the rest of the day. Your brain is fuzzy, you have low energy, every empty surface you see you think “could I nap on that?” It can effect your work performance, your desire to exercise and socialize – your entire personality. If this is you, you know that you’d try pretty much anything to fix it.
What Are The Causes Of Insomnia?
There are a wide range of issues that may be causing your insomnia:
- Anxiety and stress
- Disruptions in circadian rhythm, such as jet lag or job shift changes
- Environmental noise
- Female hormones – particularly in the days leading up to your period, or from menopause
- Sleep apnea
- Muscle tension or pain
Why Night Owls Should Consider CBD
All of our bodies are different, and we each have our own unique endocannabinoid system. Therefore, everyone may react differently to all types of cannabis products, including CBD. One of my best friends swears that when she takes CBD, she passes out shortly after. My husband claims that when he takes it, he only wakes up once during the night vs 3-4x otherwise. Some people claim it does nothing. So, the only way to know where you stand is to try it out for yourself.
For me, of the hardcore 3AM insomniac breed, it helps me relax into my night time routine – I hit my Granddaddy Purp CBD Vape 3x, then take 1/2 of a Delta 8 THC Gummy, 1 full CBN gummy, then read nerdy non-fiction books (typically about neuroscience or biology on my kindle) until I pass out. This routine has replaced ambien, which is amazing tbh but potentially addictive (whereas CBD is non-habit forming). Plus, it's unclear whether ambien has long term effects – some clinicians fear a correlation between long term ambien use and dementia – which is not proven but the thought was scary enough to make me turn to more natural remedies.
The cannabinoid CBN is really helpful, because it has sedative properties without getting you high. I find combining CBN, CBD and D8 really does the trick!
What’s The Science Behind This?
THE biggest factor in helping sleep quality is that CBD promotes a healthy response to anxiety by helping to regulate cortisol, a stress hormone that can have a SIGNIFICANT effect on your REM cycle. In addition, it supports muscle relaxation, and can relieve temporary pain caused by exercise or a strenuous activity – which can for sure keep you up at night. So these are both psychological AND physical issues at play that can interfere with your beauty rest.
CBD affects physiological processes by interacting with receptors throughout the body known as the endocannabinoid system, which has an effect on hormone levels, our immune system and pain receptors. This is why the effects of CBD may vary based on each person’s individual biology and tolerance.
Should You Only Take CBD At Night Then?
Here’s something beautiful about CBD that is weird but true – it has a DUAL effect depending on the time of day it is administered. This is because it regulates the body’s sleep/wake cycles, helping to promote wakefulness during daytime and relaxation at night. So taking CBD during daylight hours can help promote alertness (check out our CBD coffee!) and taking it in the evening can help you ease into sleep or help have a more restful sleep. Our bodies are strange miracles.
How long you should take CBD before bedtime depends which method you take it:
- Vapes hit you within 2-3 minutes
- Tinctures enter your bloodstream within 15 minutes through your mouth / when held sublingually
- Ingestables such as gummies, or if you just swallow a tincture or put it in your drink, can take up to an hour
Personally, I like to vape for immediate relief and do a tincture that will then come around ~20 mins later.
