Sleep is very important for keeping up your good health and maintaining a perfectly balanced lifestyle. While sleep may come naturally for some people, others have to toss and turn in their bed for hours just to find sleep. People that experience trouble sleeping do not get enough sleep before it is time to wake again.
Many things can cause insomnia for an individual. For instance, stress, lifestyle, overfeeding, and other illnesses (anxiety, sleep apnea, addiction, and mental disorder) all contribute to sleeping problems. At the end of the day, everything boils down to the brain's functionality.
Your brain controls how you think, react, combat illnesses, and aids in regulating your sleep. For this reason, any potential alleviation for mild or chronic sleep disorders, like insomnia, must target the brain directly to boost functionality and reduce stress at the same time to fight off other illnesses that may contribute to the sleep disorder.
This is why the use of CBD for sleep is so popular. It turns out that CBD has the potential to influence one system in the body called the Endocannabinoid system. When CBD triggers this particular system, it can alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress. CBD can also put insomnia and other sleep-related disorders to rest. For more info, see this study.
Does CBD Work?
Studies have shown that CBD can work!
The Endocannabinoid system (ECS) is comprised of cannabinoids (yes, the body has its cannabinoids too) and it has two main cannabinoid receptors, the CB1, and CB2 receptors. The CB1 receptor is present in areas of the brain, that deals with energy homeostasis, motivation, emotion, and motor skills.
The CB1 receptor is readily available throughout the body's network, in fatty tissue (adipose), heart, muscles, GI tract, pancreas, liver, and in the reproductive organs. The CB2 receptor is present in areas associated with the immune system and it helps regulate immune response at the cellular level and in the different tissues.
CBD can also act as a FAAH inhibitor. The FAAH enzymes are present in the ECS as well. The inhibition of this particular enzyme modulates waking up and can help you sleep better.
When you use CBD for sleep disorders or insomnia, CBD triggers the Endocannabinoid System. It promotes the actions of the cannabinoids and inhibits the FAAH enzymes. As a result, you could be able to sleep better, and your insomnia condition can improve.
In a study published by the Permanente Journal, the results showed that CBD can alleviate sleep disorders. The study was conducted to prove the potency of Cannabidiol (CBD) in alleviating anxiety and sleep. 72 adults with sleep disorders or anxiety were analyzed.
Within the first month of treating the patients with 25 -75 mg of CBD, they noticed a major improvement in patients diagnosed with insomnia. The conditions of 48 of the 72 patients improved significantly. The patients claimed they slept better.