How To Dose CBD For Better Sleep

A Complete Guide To CBD Dosage For Sleep

 

In recent years, we’ve seen an increasing number of scientific studies showing that CBD could relieve many sleep disorders: insomnia, nightmares, difficulties staying asleep, and agitated sleep.

 

The molecule cannabidiol (CBD) is already known for relieving stress and anxiety, both of which play a key role in sleep quality. Further, some new studies show that CBD could help you achieve a deeper sleep state, giving you a much more restorative night of sleep.

 

For many people, taking CBD for sleep isn’t so easy. Finding the right CBD dosage for sleep takes time, as we all have different needs, different bodies, and slightly different endocannabinoid systems. In this article, we’ll guide you through finding a dose of CBD that works well for your body—no matter its current state!

 

Does CBD Help You Sleep?

 

To date, there are a few studies showing that CBD helps people sleep. For example, this 2019 large-case study showed that patients who took CBD over extended periods of time tended to improve not only their stress level, but also their sleep quality.

 

CBD for Sleep and Anxiety

 

It’s no wonder that CBD, a well-established anxiety-relieving molecule, would help people to fall asleep. When our bodies are tense and we suffer from stress, it’s naturally much harder to fall asleep. Stress and anxiety activate the body’s “fight or flight” response system. In essence, it makes our bodies believe that we may be in danger. This creates an increased state of alertness which naturally decreases our ability to find peaceful sleep.

 

Beyond the psychological symptoms of stress and anxiety, these conditions also cause our muscles to tense up. Because CBD is a natural muscle relaxant, it can trick our bodies into thinking that we are feeling relaxed and ready for a good night of sleep.

 

By playing on both the psychological and physical aspects of stress, CBD is a very powerful molecule when it comes to relieving sleep disorders.

 

CBD Improves Sleep Cycles

In a 2014 study, researchers found that CBD had a direct effect on the REM stage of sleep. REM stands for “rapid eye movement”, and it’s the phase of sleeping in which we have intense dreams. Although we spend most of our sleeping time out of REM sleep, this particular phase is crucial. The dream state helps us process our psychological states and stimulates certain areas of the brain associated with emotional regulation and learning.

 

In this 2014 study, scientists observed the effects of CBD on patients who suffer from REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)—what most of us know as “agitated sleep”. CBD was shown to help patients experience fewer nightmares, and stay stiller during REM cycles.

 

As a result, we can assume that taking CBD for sleep could help us experience more restorative nights by improving the quality of our REM cycles.

 

CBD Dosage For Sleep—Help With Finding Your Ideal Dose

 

Now that we’ve answered the question, “does CBD help you sleep?”, let’s take a closer look at how to actually experience these benefits.

 

It’s a common misconception that the dose of CBD you should take depends on the severity of your condition. In actuality, it has so much more to do with your body: how tall you are, how much you weigh, your age, and your familiarity with cannabis products.

 

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that you shouldn’t take too much CBD when you’re first starting out. Studies have shown that CBD only has a few, relatively mild side effects. That being said, taking a lot of CBD for the first time could lead to feeling nauseous, changes in appetite, and occasionally even increased anxiety.

 

When you begin trying to find your ideal CBD dosage for sleep, it’s better to start low and go slow. Here are some good starting point for beginners:

 

CBD Dosage For Sleep — Complete Beginners

 

Under 50kgs: 7mg/day

50 – 75kgs: 10mg/day

75 – 100kgs: 15mg/day

over 100kgs: 20mg or up

 

Once you’ve been taking a “beginner” dose for over a week, you could try increasing it progressively. The goal here is to find a dose that helps you fall asleep—no more and no less. To find that out, we highly recommend keeping a journal, in which you will detail every day:

• How much CBD you took, expressed in milligrams.
• What kind of CBD product you took.
• How you slept.
• How rested you feel in the morning.

 

Keeping that journal over a period of a few weeks will help you determine the point at which you’ve found the right CBD dosage for sleep according to your own needs.

 

How To Take CBD For Sleep: What To Take And When

When it comes to taking CBD for sleep, there are a lot of options open to you. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones.

 

CBD edibles are products like CBD capsules or gummies, which release CBD through the gastrointestinal tract after you’ve ingested them. Because they have relatively low bioavailability, these products don’t necessarily offer the best value for money. They also take a relatively long time to kick in, so you may need to take them about 2 hours before your bedtime. That being said, because they offer a slow release of CBD over the course of many hours, they can be a great option for those who struggle with staying asleep.

 

CBD oil is a very versatile product. You can take it under the tongue, apply it topically, or even mix it in with food to ingest as an edible. CBD oil can offer very good value for money, especially when taken under the tongue, which has relatively high rates of bioavailability.

 

Smoking CBD flower isn’t necessarily a bad option for those who are already regular smokers. It delivers CBD into your system fast, which is ideal for those struggling with insomnia. That being said, it comes with the usual problems associated with smoking any substance.

 

Vaping CBD offers very high rates of bioavailability, which means that CBD vapes for sleep offer terrific value for money. It’s much safer than smoking, and offers the same fast release of the molecule. Compared to smoking CBD, a vape also makes it much easier to track how many milligrams you are taking in, as you’ll know how many milligrams is in each puff.

 

When to Take CBD for Sleep

 

Depending on the consumption method of your choice, take the CBD product straight before bed (for sublingual CBD oil, smoking or vaping CBD), or a few hours before (for CBD edibles). In any case, the time that CBD takes to kick in depends on the person. Again, this is something that you can track using a journal: note down when you take CBD and when you start feeling sleepy. This will give you a good indication of the ideal time for you to consume your CBD product.

 

Final Words

 

We wish we could give you hard and fast rules such as “take 25mg of CBD 30 minutes before bedtime for maximum benefits”. Unfortunately, finding the right CBD dosage for sleep isn’t that easy—it’s all about understanding your body and how it interacts with the molecule. So keep this in mind: give yourself time to experiment, write down your experience, and progressively increase from a small dose in order to find the best dose of CBD for your unique needs.

 

Renact offers a CBD vaping extract that is formulated especially for those with sleep disorders. As well as CBD, it contains helpful cannabinoids and terpenes which are known to relieve anxiety and improve sleep quality. Give it a try and order your first CBD sleep vaping kit today!