CBD and Sleep: The Latest Science and the Benefits of Cannabinoid Balance Sleep+

As we all know, getting good sleep and enough good sleep is one of the most important things for our health and well-being. Poor sleep can result in an inability to focus or concentrate, drowsiness during the day, lack of energy and motivation, worse memory, mood changes, and more. Unfortunately, many people struggle to get a good night’s rest consistently—or ever. Thankfully, many have found relief with CBD. 

Acclaimed for its benefits in support of other symptoms and conditions, CBD has also been found to help support people’s sleep patterns. The science behind CBD’s effect on sleep has been slow to keep up, but there are recent additions that continue to underline just how helpful it can be. 

What the research says

The body’s endocannabinoid system is one of the systems that directly affects our natural sleep-wake cycles through specific endocannabinoid receptors, linking our circadian regulation systems and the associated behavioral and physiological processes. The cannabidiol compound interacts with these receptors, helping keep the sleep-wake rhythms balanced and, thus, providing the potential for significant aid in those whose sleep-wake rhythms are out of whack.

Research started showing the promise of CBD as a sleep aid as early as 2012, when one study looking at its effects on a range of symptoms and conditions found that an oral dosage of CBD of 150mg per day potentially helped patients stay asleep for longer periods of time. 

But what about when you can’t fall asleep to begin with, much less stay asleep? Well, CBD has also been found to have a beneficial effect on people experiencing insomnia. For those with insomnia, levels of the stress hormone cortisol can increase at night. The endocannabinoid system is neuromodulatory in that it affects the activity of neurons, ramping them up or turning them down. Considering that CBD helps decrease cortisol levels (as found in a 2019 study), it also, therefore, can help reduce symptoms of insomnia and help bring about better sleep. 

The same study additionally measured the length of time for which CBD may be helpful as a sleep aid, finding that the majority of participating patients had improved sleep for the first month of the three-month trial, but that in the second and third months, sleep scores varied again. The researchers ultimately determined that the compound may be particularly helpful and effective in the short-term but not in the long-term.

In 2018, the journal Medicines published findings from a study run from 2016 to 2018 on the use of cannabinoids in general—both THC and CBD—from the cannabis flower on a group of 409 people with insomnia. While the majority of the findings were focused on cannabis itself, the report did call out cannabidiol as having “greater statistically significant symptom relief than tetrahydrocannabinol.”

And in the Permanente Journal in 2019, results from a study conducted on 72 adults with poor sleep as a result of anxiety showed significantly decreased scores on anxiety assessments and increased scores in sleep quality after taking 25mg of CBD in capsules over the course of three months. The greatest improvements were seen after the first month, when anxiety scores dropped by 79 percent and sleep scores increased by over 66 percent. After the first month, the scores for anxiety continued to drop, however, the sleep scores fluctuated beyond that point, again suggesting that CBD for sleep could be particularly useful in the short-term (but continuously useful in the longer-term for anxiety).

There was one study, however, from 2018 that was less confident of CBD’s benefits for those with sleep issues. That study examined the anxiolytic effects of CBD on people with normal sleep-wake cycle functionality and determined that it did not affect those with normal sleep-wake patterns in any significant way, positive or negative. 

The benefits of Cannabinoid Balance Sleep+

Cannabinoid Balance Sleep+ is a tincture combining high-quality, broad spectrum hemp, melatonin, and NanoZorb™ technology for increased solubility and bioavailability. This sleep aid helps recalibrate your body’s endocannabinoid and nervous systems in support of your natural sleep cycle, boosting your ability to wind down properly as well as to overcome symptoms of insomnia, stress, anxiety, and arthritis, among other conditions. Our Cannabinoid Balance Sleep+ tincture is mint-flavored, made from organic hemp oil, NanoZorb™-optimized melatonin, coconut MCT oil, and Stevia, and comes in 1,000 mg bottles. Visit the product page to learn more.

Talk to your doc

If you have trouble sleeping, suffer from insomnia, or experience difficulty falling or staying asleep as a symptom of a different condition, talk to your doctor about taking Cannabinoid Balance Sleep+. This is particularly important for those taking other medications, as your doctor will need to determine if there could be the potential for drug interactions. 

Interested in more Cannabinoid Balance products? Learn more about each in our earlier post here.