For something so essential for a good life, health and wellbeing, a good night’s sleep for a lot of us, is something that eludes us. Many of us live in noisy areas, sleep on lumpy beds. Some of us are on medications that have insomnia as a side-effect or are dealing with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety that make getting a decent night of shut-eye almost impossible.
There are a lot of remedies on the market, but they can come with a huge number of side-effects. Melatonin is often touted as a ‘natural’ way to induce and increase the quality of sleep, but it can seriously mess with circadian rhythm and other sleeping pills can lead to a restless night and a groggy wake-up that takes a long time to shake. So what about CBD?
CBD is short for ‘cannabidiol’ which is one of around 100 other ‘cannabinoids’, chemicals found in the stems and leaves of the cannabis Sativa plant. Unlike THC, it does not make you ‘stoned’ and has no psychoactive effects, but it has other powerful attributes that could help you on your way to that elusive good night of shuteye.
It all depends on the specific reason behind your insomnia, but CBD can work in a variety of ways to improve sleep. CBD is used by many people as a natural way to improve anxiety, PTSD and OCD and other similar disorders. If anxiety and racing thoughts are what’s behind your inability to fall and stay asleep, naturally, CBD can help that. Likewise, with aches and pains that keep us awake, CBD helps many with chronic pain, with the advantage of it being gentle on the body with minimal side effects and the fact that it’s non-addictive.
CBD can be taken in a variety of ways. Some smoke, but CBD can be absorbed under the tongue as a tincture, rubbed on the skin or taken as an ‘edible’, an alternative to swallowing pills.
And, interestingly, CBD is being investigated for enhancing ‘wakefulness’ during the daytime, though how or why is still being researched. We also know from the little research done, that for most people, CBD takes around a week to work, so persistence is key, but they pay off can be immense. Why not start your CBD journey now?
