Best CBD oils for sleep 2021 – according to an expert

Longing for better quality sleep? You’re not alone. According to the Sleep Foundation, one in three people suffer from at least mild insomnia. Plus, approximately 10 per cent have associated symptoms of daytime functional impairment that ties in with sleep deprivation. So, it’s no surprise that one of the most common reasons people want to try CBD is to get a better night’s sleep.

The anecdotal evidence is certainly strong, with plenty of CBD users swearing by their daily dose to deliver longer, restorative sleep. But what does the science say? And how exactly does CBD work to support sleep?

In a clinical trial on back pain, published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, 24 adults were treated with 30 minutes of massage therapy, twice a week for five weeks. As well as experiencing less pain, depression, anxiety, and improved sleep, the results also showed that all participants had raised serotonin and dopamine levels.

But how does this relate to CBD oil? Well, in short, the CBD molecule directly activates your serotonin receptors, therefore elevating the serotonin in your body. Without appropriate levels of serotonin, which can also be supported by regular exercise, sunlight, probiotics and massage, your body cannot create melatonin – a natural hormone that is produced by the pineal gland and released into the bloodstream to regulate your sleep-wake cycle. By giving your body what it needs to make melatonin, you may find that sleep starts to come more naturally.

Anxiety is often connected to sleep problems. Other than stressful thoughts preventing you from relaxing mentally, it can also provoke tense muscles, rapid breathing and heartbeat, sweating, trembling and gastrointestinal distress. None of which are going to help you drop off! What’s more, common sleep conditions, such as sleep apnoea and restless legs syndrome can activate the fight or flight response. This floods your body with adrenaline and cortisol to wake it up in times of emergency.

Taking CBD oil regularly can help keep the anxiety cascade in check, and stop it from being an issue both at bedtime and during the day. In addition to those lifted serotonin levels, CBD oil also helps support your own endocannabinoid system. This regulates all bodily functions with the help of your endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-AG. By inhibiting the enzyme, which ordinarily breaks these chemicals down, the CBD oil encourages an abundance of endocannabinoids. Your body can then use these when needed.

One action of anandamide is that it helps control the fight or flight response. This aids the brain in knowing when it’s inappropriate to trigger the process – and when it’s not. And reacting accordingly. In a full or broad-spectrum CBD product, which contains a wider range of cannabinoids and terpenes from hemp, you may also get the benefits from other compounds, such as CBG, which activates the endocannabinoid system, meaning it can stand in for your naturally-produced endocannabinoids if needed.

Any sort of pain can prevent you from sleeping and without sleep, pain is often exacerbated. It’s a vicious cycle, but one CBD oil can help with. Again, the activation of serotonin receptors and the endocannabinoid system play important roles here – both in terms of pain perception and contributing to reduced inflammation. But CBD also directly activates your vanilloid receptors, which impacts pain transmission in a positive way.

The whole hemp plant works wonders for the sleep deprived, so it’s worth adding a couple of tablespoons of organic, cold-pressed hemp seed oil (or whole hemp seeds) to your diet each day, in addition to CBD oil. Here’s why: