So, Can CBD Keep You Awake? It’s a serious question as everyone knows the production of CBD oil is based on marijuana lifts the control of your senses from you. Let’s find out whether CBD can keep you awake or not in a detailed manner.
CBD or also known as Cannabidiol is a famous health product widely used probably in 50+ states and to our amazement, although it’s a traditionally used compound but it still is gaining a lot of momentum in today’s time.
People are using CBD compounds in many product forms like oil, gummies, tinctures, vape, capsules, topical creams, ointments and whatnot, to support their bodies to fight with their ailments or unstable body conditions.
CBD was primarily extracted from the marijuana plant but this extract was found to have high amounts of TCH – another member of cannabin family that causes psycho-suppression and makes user high. So nowadays, CBD is extracted from the hemp plant which results in a CBD extract with potentially low amounts or traces of TCH.
Thus, this CBD, extracted from the hemp plant is quite safe and doesn’t make you high or sedative. For hundreds of years, CBD is proving it’s worth in treating a lot of body conditions including all kinds of pains even migraine and arthritis pain, depression, epilepsy especially childhood epilepsy, heart diseases, a lot of skin conditions and whatnot.
To completely understand the scenarios whether a CBD will keep you awake or will improve your sleep cycle, let’s first understand how it works.
How CBD Works:
CBD is a magical compound that has the capability of maintaining normal body functioning or in other words, it maintains homeostasis of the body.
CBD interacts with the Endocannabinoid System or ECS of the human body which plays its part in controlling many body functions including sleep, appetite, mood, memory and arousal.
Our body produces natural phytocannabinoids that attach to the receptors of ECS and maintain normal body functioning. But due to underlying ailments and disturbances, when body-produced phytocannabinoids are just not enough to get the work done, CBD and THC works as phytocannabinoids and hence help in maintaining normal body functioning.
Can CBD keep you awake?
CBD is both, a wide spectrum and widely used drug, which is completely safe to use and contains nonintoxicating properties. Hence we can say that people take different doses of CBD up to an amount which their bodies can easily adapt to. Probably this does difference along with the time of intake is the main factor that produces both sleep-inducing and awakening effects out of the same CBD product.
What researchers have to say:
- According to a recent survey, 10% of respondents were found to use CBD as a sleeping aid. Most of them said CBD helps them in sleeping better but there is no scientific evidence or back to this concept. So it’s hard to tell whether a CBD on its own can produce sleep or not.
- High-CBD strains usually have myrcene in their composition. Myrcene is also a terpene that is previously known to be sedating or sleep-inducing. So it can be assumpted that maybe Myrcene-induced sleep is being misjudged by CBD-induced sleep.
- Isolated CBD or purer form of CBD has little to no evidence or review as a sleep aid. Instead, in a 2017’s extensive literature review entitled Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep, it was found that CBD and THC were indeed the two cannabinoids most often cited as sleep-inducing aids.
Most of the CBD products are not made up of standards and relatively inexpensive CBD forms come at an expense of quality. These low-quality CBD are the ones probably having high traces of THC that shouldn’t be there. And this THC has a proven profile of being sedative and intoxicating. Thus we can assume that maybe THC present in a low-quality CBD product is the root cause behind the sleep-inducing effect.
- Dustin Sulak explains that maybe CBD acts as a sleep-inducer by reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety that ultimately allows the person to relax, hence their natural sleep mechanism takes over and sleep is induced.
- Another study supports Dr. Sulak’s opinion in which a group of psychiatric patients having sleep complaints were given with CBD as a test study. Results revealed that not only their mental health, but also sleep cycles were improved.
But the confusion is still the same and we don’t know if CBD is directly responsible for this sleep-inducing effect or something else is at the foundation and what exactly is CBD working on to produce the effect? These are the questions, to which we probably have no authentic answers, and they make the water even muddier.
As Dr. Sulak has countered over 8,000 patients in its career, he supports the cause by explaining that ‘sleep is fundamental and if the sleep cycle is successively targeted to improve, a lot of other body ailments like pains and anxiety can get treated automatically’. And to improve sleep, Dr. Sulak has rarely used a CBD or its derived product; instead he surely always uses THC with a sedating terpene profile for this therapeutic line.
The dosing dilemma about CBD:
As described earlier, probably, which explains ‘can CBD keeps you awake’ or ‘can CBD induce a better good-night sleep’.
Because there is very little published study regarding dose, it’s impossible to say anything sharp and clear in this regard. But many research studies indicate that at higher doses, CBD produces a calming effect whereas, at lower doses, CBD has a stimulating effect.
This means, if a higher dose is taken, it can put you to sleep and will help in improving the body’s natural sleep cycle too. On the other hand, if a low dose is administered, it will produce a stimulating effect that will keep you active and awake during your daily routines.
So, can CBD keep you awake?
Of course it will, if used at the right time and in low dose, it’ll keep you active and awake and will not interrupt with your natural sleep cycle.
Every person’s body is a unique masterpiece created by nature, and hence, the effects of CBD are highly specified.
The final answer to the stated question will be a description of your personal experience with CBD dosing and timing and you’ll be the one who will answer how CBD works for you. Either it improved your sleep disturbance or kept you active and awake.
Also, CBD is highly safe and completely non-intoxicating so it’s always worth it to try how your body reacts to a CBD dose and what methods you should adapt specifically for your body to get the maximum benefit out of the CBD.