Does CBD make you sleepy, or not? This is a popular question in the US, mainly because of the staggering amount of people with sleep disorders.
TLDR:
When used all by itself, CBD is rather poor at helping you sleep. While it’s possible, if you suffer from severe insomnia CBD won’t help. Blending CBD and melatonin, however, makes one of the most powerful over the counter sleep aids.
The short answer is: kind of. Let me explain.
Plain CBD Isn’t a Great Sleep Aid
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: plain CBD products that everyone sells are great at several things, but sleep improvement isn’t one of these things.
What do I mean by plain CBD oil products? If a product has only a carrier oil in it (ie: MCT oil), and some type of CBD extract (ie: broad or full spectrums), and that’s it – I consider this plain CBD.
Almost everyone and their mother sells plain CBD oil. It’s literally everywhere. This is a good thing, and also a bad thing.
Before I get into the pros and cons of plain CBD products, I want to make something very clear. Pure CBD has shown to offer a lot of potential health benefits that can be life changing. There is nothing wrong with plain CBD.
That said, you need to be aware of what plain CBD may, or may not, help you with. There are so many people that claim CBD oil can do almost anything (including cure cancer), which is a straight up lie. CBD companies will do anything to get your money, and it’s unfortunate.
Where Does CBD Come From, Anyway?
CBD, or cannabidiol, is a cannabinoid found within the cannabis plant species.
For those who do not know, both industrial hemp and marijuana make up the cannabis plant. The difference between hemp and marijuana is only the THC content – that’s it.
Marijuana has high THC levels, while hemp will have less than 0.3% THC by federal law. A lot of people think that all cannabis gets you high, but this isn’t the case with hemp. There is not enough THC in hemp to get you even remotely high.
CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system (ECS) within our bodies in order to illicit certain responses, like pain reduction or anti-inflammatory effects. The endocannabinoid system is made up of a network of different cells that send signals to each other.
As you can see, they are located all throughout our body. A large portion are found in the central nervous system. CBD interacts with receptors that make up the ECS.
Regardless, this is why CBD can affect our body so well. You can thank your endocannabinoid system.
The Good and the Bad About Plain CBD
There are pro’s and con’s to basic, plain CBD products.
Why is it good?
As long as the plain CBD products carry a genuine CBD extract, it’s good because more people are getting access to it. This product is incredible at helping with things like pain, inflammation, and anxiety management.
Why is it bad?
The typical consumer is still quite uneducated about CBD oil products and what forms of relief they actually aid with. This means companies try to make all sorts of claims about their products that are just not true (like CBD is an excellent at improving sleep quality).
The main takeaway here is…if you are looking to use plain CBD for sleep, you’ll likely be disappointed. Hemp extract (or CBD extract) is NOT effective at improving sleep by itself. To be honest, reports do mention that CBD can be used for sleep, but test subjects took roughly 5-20x the amount of CBD taken in a normal dose. This does NOT mean that CBD oil is a good sleep aid, and it may be dangerous.
When you blend it with other compounds, however, it produces a synergistic effect that results in one of the most powerful over the counter compounds to help get a good night’s sleep.
I’ll get more into this later.
Does CBD Make You Sleepy or Tired?
CBD might make you feel a little more relaxed after taking it, but it really shouldn’t make you sleepy or groggy on it’s own. Unless…you take extremely high doses of it. We’ll get into this subject later on.
Legitimate CBD products can offer a sedative effect on people. This is why consumers report that CBD helps reduce anxiety and other mental issues related to episodes like racing minds.
Why is that?
Cortisol is a hormone our bodies produce that helps us manage stress. This hormone peaks in the morning for most people. Insomniacs aside, having high cortisol levels at night is associated with an increased number of awakenings in the middle of the night.
Interestingly, in one study done taking CBD, scientists discovered that cortisol levels may drop quite a bit when subjects consumed 300 to 600mg of genuine CBD oil.
From the looks of this study, researchers agree CBD may affect cortisol levels in our bodies. This means CBD may act as a sedative.
To put this into perspective, 300 to 600mg of CBD is a LOT OF CBD! I would not recommend anyone take this much CBD in a serving. Our most potent sleep product offers 66mg of a pure, CBD-rich hemp extract per serving. This means these test subjects were taking anywhere from 3.5x to 7x the recommended serving! Wow!
No wonder this CBD made them feel sleepy. That said, does CBD make you tired? According to this study, only if you take WAY too much.
Not only is that a lot of CBD, its financially taxing on the wallet. Using that much CBD oil per night would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars per month.
So, How Can CBD Help With Sleep Issues?
There are a few things worse than sleep disorders. The feeling of never being able to fall asleep, despite everything you tried. Ugh.
There is another way for people to use CBD to make themselves sleepy, though. While plain CBD is effective for things like pain management, inflammation, and anxiety relief, we now know it is not a great when it comes to the need to improve sleep quality.
That is…until you blend CBD with other natural, scientifically studied sleep aids. Researchers use the term ‘synergistic‘ to describe an effect that occurs between two or more substances that work better together than they do alone.
Keep in mind that synergism doesn’t only mean beneficial. For example, carbon tetrachloride and ethanol are both liver toxic on their own. However, taken together they can make a much greater liver injury than the total of their effects on the liver, individually.
A beneficial synergism occurs when mixing melatonin with a CBD-rich hemp extract. CBD interacts with melatonin in a very interesting way. The synergy seems to be incredible.
Next, let’s get into effective sleep aids that use this powerful synergistic approach to sleep management.
Effective CBD for Sleep
New Phase Blends, one of the leading CBD brands in the industry, developed a patent-pending product that revolves around blending melatonin with a CBD-rich hemp extract to help improve sleep quality.
Users of this powerful, CBD-based sleep aid do not need to take an enormous amount of CBD either. New Phase Blends discovered that melatonin (a hormone responsible for regulating our sleep/wake cycle) can work synergistically when taken together.
That means that only a little amount of melatonin (3mg per serving) and CBD (66mg per serving) may put people into the deepest sleep they’ve had in a long time. This is (by FAR) the most effective way for CBD oil to make you feel sleepy or tired.
Users should take this powerful, natural sleep enhancer anywhere from one hour to 30 minutes before their normal bedtime. Although most users report getting better sleep on the first or second night, it can take several nights for this product to make you feel sleepy again.
There’s also a money back guarantee on all products from New Phase Blends. If you don’t like our products, just return them for all of your money back. That’s it!
Conclusion | Does CBD Make You Sleepy?
Does CBD make you tired or sleepy? Is it a good supplement to use to get better sleep?
On it’s own, in recommended dosages – no, it does not. CBD is a poor sleep aid by itself. A vast majority of the time, people only report feeling sleepy after taking plain CBD oil when they take too much of it.
Taking too much of any substance is usually a big no no.
The alternative is to use a CBD and melatonin sleep aid that works synergistically to help you get a deep sleep, without having to take a ton of CBD or melatonin. This is the real key to better sleep.
Whether it’s a full spectrum CBD tincture, or tasty jar of of CBD gummies – we have you covered.
