Does CBD Work as a Sleep Aid?

Jenna BrownOctober 15, 2019

More than 70 million Americans are affected by sleep disorders. There are more than 80 identified sleep disorders that include conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and circadian rhythm disorders.(1) In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said that insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic.

Getting too few hours of sleep, or poor quality sleep, is linked to a myriad of health issues like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, and inflammation.(2) Conversely, adequate sleep is great for your immune system, allows your body to repair itself, processes emotions and experiences from your day, and helps maintain metabolic function. (3)

It’s no wonder that most of us are obsessed with getting a good night’s sleep! In addition to proper nutrition and exercise, adequate sleep is essential to good health.

CBD Oil and the Endocannabinoid System

With the exploding interest in cannabidiol (CBD) as a potential natural remedy for almost everything, it makes sense that many people have started to turn to CBD, to help them sleep.

CBD is a phytocannabinoid, or, a chemical compound that naturally occurs in cannabis. There are currently over 100 phytocannabinoids in cannabis that have been identified. Cannabinoids interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) to balance pleasure, energy and well-being. A healthy, operating ECS works to gently prod the body back to a healthy state when facing injury or disease.

You can learn more about this by reading our article about the Endocannabinoid System and how CBD works with it.

Studies on CBD as a Sleep Aid

The question is, even though many people are trying CBD products to help them sleep… is it working?

Thorough studies on CBD as a sleep aid are still few and far between, but here are some of the more notable ones:

Cannabidiol in Anxiety and Sleep: A Large Case Series

In this study, CBD was given to 72 adults that were being clinically treated for anxiety and poor sleep. The patients were given 25mg of CBD after dinner. A few patients ended up increasing their CBD dose throughout the trial. After one month, 66.8% of patients reported better sleep, and 79.2% reported a decrease in anxiety symptoms.

Effectiveness of Raw, Natural Medical Cannabis Flower for Treating Insomnia under Naturalistic Conditions

This study looked at the symptoms and cannabis administration of 409 patients with perceived insomnia. This study is not explicitly about CBD, and some patients used cannabis products containing THC. However, the summary states that, “Cannabidiol (CBD) was associated with greater statistically significant symptom relief.” This is a somewhat broad strokes study but does show potential promise.

Effect of cannabidiol on sleep disruption induced by the repeated combination tests consisting of open field and elevated plus-maze in rats

PTSD patients often report insomnia and REM sleep abnormalities. In this study, researchers compared the effects of CBD on sleep in normal rats vs. rats they induced PTSD symptoms in. They confirmed that CBD does have anxiety reducing effects. When given CBD to aid in non-REM and REM sleep, the study showed that CBD helped to improve REM sleep, but not non-REM sleep.

Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature

A review of the available research was summarized to suggest that annabidiol (CBD) may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of insomnia.

In this article by Consumer Reports, Dr. Joseph Maroon, MD suggests that CBD may work more indirectly with sleep by eliminating other factors that may keep you awake. Reducing pain, anxious thoughts or other negative symptoms with CBD oil, may in turn help you to sleep better.

To summarize, CBD may treat many of the root causes of poor sleep, allowing you to sleep better, but may not directly cause you to sleep better.

Customer Testimonials

Even though there isn’t an overwhelming body of evidence to suggest that CBD is a cure-all sleep aid, we do have anecdotal evidence from several customers. Here is what some of our customers have to say:

Customer Sarah F. says, “My hormones have been all over the place since I had ovarian cancer two years ago. The worst part is that it affects my sleep. I tried the tincture, and now I can get to sleep without a problem! Sometimes I wake up at 1 or 2 in the morning, but I just take a little more and fall back to sleep pretty quickly. Thank you!”

Guidelines for Taking CBD for Insomnia & Sleep Issues

Hope Botanicals offers CBD Oil products in tinctures, gel caps and gummies. Most of the studies that we looked at used 25mg-50mg as the dose, and were administered after dinner, or about one hour before bed.

For a more in-depth explanation about how much CBD to take, please read our article.

It is important to note that most people on a CBD regimen report that the positive effects of CBD build up over time, and are not always immediate.

The effectiveness of CBD depends largely on the underlying causes of a sleep disorder, individual factors such as how quickly CBD is metabolized, and the dose.

There are virtually no reported ill effects of CBD, as opposed to many pharmaceuticals that are available to use as sleep aids. Overall, CBD is a very safe and natural supplement that can benefit many people.