Can CBD Help Me Sleep?

Can CBD help me sleep? Sleep is one of the essential parts of our daily lives, but most of us do not practice healthy sleep habits every day. For adults, doctors recommend getting around 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Nightly sleep will vary depending on your age. Typically, children, teenagers, the elderly, and those with health conditions may require more than 9 hours of sleep a night. Often, our busy lives prevent us from going to sleep at a reasonable time, and various factors can keep us from receiving that quality sleep that we desperately need to live healthy lives.

While you sleep, your body essentially works to rejuvenate itself. Your brain is processing the information you learned during the day and improving your ability to store it. This leads to increased memory and a greater ability to learn new information. Additionally, sleep regulates your mood. Without sleep, your brain cannot properly process emotions and create the right response to those emotions, causing your spirit to be unbalanced the following day. Sleeping also repairs the muscles and tissues in your body while promoting growth in different areas such as your hair, skin, and bones. At the same time, your body is repairing and growing; it is also regulating your immune system to prevent illnesses, keeping your appetite under control, and processing glucose. Without regular, good quality sleep, you put yourself at risk for developing health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity.

So, what could be the cause of a lack of sleep?

Stress/Mental Health Conditions

Lying awake at night thinking about stressors can prevent you from falling asleep. Once you start reminiscing on life problems, it can be hard to concentrate on them instead of sleeping. Mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) may also contribute to being unable to fall asleep.

Medical Conditions

Sleeping while you’re in pain or sick is never easy to do. Perhaps you pulled a muscle during the day or are lying awake at night due to coughing from a cold. A medical condition like sleep apnea where you wake up during the night due to breathing issues may cause inadequate quality sleep during the night.

Bad Environment

Disturbances from your surrounding environment, such as an uncomfortable bed, bright lights, loud noises, or extreme temperatures can keep you tossing and turning at night.

Too Much Caffeine

Drinking caffeinated beverages in the afternoon or at night puts you at risk of not feeling tired when it’s time for bed.

Medications

Some medications (for example, ADHD medication) may cause you to feel more awake at night than tired.

Bad Dreams

Bad dreams are unpleasant, but they can happen at any time. Stress or anxiety may increase your likeliness to have unpleasant dreams.

Inconsistent Sleep Schedule/Jetlag

Having an inconsistent sleep schedule can lead to sleep deprivation. You may be getting little sleep every night or having nights of varied sleep. The more you don’t sleep, the more rest your body needs. It can be hard to catch up on sleep when you are sleep deprived properly. An inconsistent sleep schedule can be caused by factors such as work hours or jetlag from traveling.