Why is good sleep so important?
A good night's sleep is very important for a healthy brain sleep researchers at. Because when you sleep, your brain, as it were, rinses itself clean. Sleeping well gives your brain time and a chance to cleanse itself. This includes processing emotions from the day before and memories are given a place, so that you remember what you learned that day. Your muscles and organs also get the chance to recover during sleep.
Simply put, we could say that just about our entire body and all processes that are (literally) vital in it recover during sleep. So are you not sleeping long enough or is your sleep of poor quality? Then your body cannot recover properly. And that can lead to a host of health problems, such as:
- An increased risk of overweight, obesity, diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, depression and dementia
- Cognitive problems such as less concentration and poor memory
- Stress, fatigue and irritability
- Behavioral problems
What is CBD and what does it do?
CBD is the abbreviation for cannabidiol. This is a substance from the cannabis plant and is therefore also called a cannabinoid. A cannabis plant contains up to a hundred different cannabinoids, of which THC and CBD are the best known. While THC is known for its psychoactive properties and giving you a 'high', CBD ensures that your body calms down. CBD is usually taken as an oil, but can also be used in the form of capsule beds, skin products or edibles. CBD products (with full spectrum CBD) may contain traces of THC (less than 0,05%). However, you will not notice the THC, so this is completely legal.
When you take CBD, it enters your bloodstream. From there it stimulates the functioning of it endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS was only discovered in the early XNUMXs and much is still unknown. What we do know is that the system is closely linked to the central nervous system and that it plays an important balancing role in regulating appetite, metabolism, memory, sleep, motor control, the immune system, pleasure, pain and temperature regulation, among other things.
The ECS owes its name to the fact that it works with receptors and substances that are almost identical in molecular structure to the substances in the cannabis plant. So these are the body's own (endo in Greek) cannabinoids: endocannabinoids. As a result, the system also recognizes CBD from cannabis as a body's own substance and can make good use of the CBD you take in regulating numerous body processes.
CBD oil and sleep: scientific insights
Given that taking CBD improves the functioning of the ECS, and the ECS plays an important role in regulating sleep, it is not illogical to hypothesize that taking CBD helps to sleep better . In addition, many people indicate that CBD helps them sleep better. However, a logical hypothesis is not yet truth and anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence. That's why it's good to see what some scientific studies on the effects of CBD on sleep show.
Research: Effect of CBD on sleep and anxiety
During the research from 2019 researched whether CBD can improve sleep and reduce anxiety. 72 test subjects received 25 mg CBD in capsule form daily for a month. Of those 72, 47 suffered from anxiety, while 25 subjects had trouble sleeping. After a month, 79 percent of the subjects reported less anxiety and 67 percent reported better sleep.
REM behavior disorder and CBD
REM behavior disorder is common in people who suffer from conditions such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Characteristic of this disorder is that people literally perform (bad) dreams during their REM sleep, sometimes moving wildly and aggressively and cursing. During a study from 2014 four Parkinson's patients with REM behavior disorder were administered CBD. The results were encouraging: While patients initially had symptoms two to seven times a week, by the end of the study this had dropped to zero or once.
Can I sleep better with CBD oil?
In addition to these studies that directly investigated the relationship between sleep and CBD, there are several studies that show that taking CBD has a positive effect on people suffering from depression, stress en chronic pains. These conditions, in turn, often lead to poor sleep, so it is likely that CBD can also improve sleep in this way. However, there is currently no really good research into this.
All in all, we think that sleeping with CBD oil will help many people to rest better at night. As far as we are concerned, whether it also works for you is a matter of trying. At least we hear a lot of good stories about it. Start with a small dose and gradually increase it over time until you notice an improvement in your sleep. The advantage of CBD is also that it has no side effects, unlike many sleep aids that you can get on a doctor's prescription and a hormone such as melatonin. This makes this natural product safe for everyone to use.
