Cannabidiol and Sleep

Nice sleep is a necessary requirement for a person's general health and well-being.  Researchers advise people to have almost nine hours of sleep every night.

An effective sleep ensures that a person feels well in terms of rest and has some energy for the following day. Regular sleep with rest is one of the hygienic styles of life. When you properly sleep, you actually rest, making a lot of advancement in the formation of memory, growing and repairing of cells and muscles, and preventing any illness. However, some individuals find it hard to fall or stay asleep. Remedies to sleep difficulties vary so much among people. To curb this problem involves practicing hygiene observation, sleep assistance prescriptions, and practicing natural sleep assists.

How CBD May Be Beneficial to Sleep

Among the many remedies to sleeping is the popular cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from the cannabis plant. Compared to THC, CBD has no higher feelings than the one associated with THC. CBD is believed to have a calming impact on the endocannabinoid system. It can also affect mood changes by its effects on the serotonin system. However, its effects may not be the same depending on different people, the type of the product, and the dosage quantity.

According to Zhang et al. (2020), CBD may aid individuals from sleep disorders such as insomnia, REM sleep disorder, too much daytime sleep disorder, leg symptoms of restlessness, and other conditions that may interfere with sleep. For instance, CBD can relax individuals with pain and anxiety. These two conditions are the sources of lack of sleep to people.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a condition that results due to reactions to overstress that go down to a feeling of having a resting duration as a person tries to work on trauma consciousness.

A section of the brain known as the hypothalamus works to come up with remedies to this condition. According to Oyola et al. (2019), the hypothalamus controls several sleep-related conditions, such as body temperature moderators, and manipulates various sleep patterns. Therefore, CBD functions with the hypothalamus and can assist people with insomnia. It interferes with the cycle of the hormone responsible for sleep by counteracting it through over-activating it and equalizing the rhythmic nature of both sleep and wake.

Too Much Daytime Sleep Disorder

Individuals with excessive sleep disorders tend to force themselves to remain awake during the day. CBD can induce sleep mainly in animals since it acts as a drug that causes wakefulness. It also works as a sedative drug.

Generally, studies on the effects of CBD as far as sleep is concerned are at their initial stage. Due to the recent study on people treated oversleep with CBD, there is unseen evidence if they usually recover better due to pain relief or if they are affected by CBD.

CBD and Anxiety

Though not a sleep problem, anxiety may have greater involvement in contributing to poor sleep quality, disorders resulting from sleep, and less sleep.

Schrot & Hubbard (2016) explained that CBD might calm the nervous system. Therefore, it may heal disorders related to anxiety in people with the conditions. To properly regulate sleep, CBD may be consumed in several methods. CBD products can be delivered through topical, inhalation, transnasal, or sublingual. Either of these methods may affect the time it will enter the bloodstream and, consequently, its feelings to be felt. Major categories of CBD products to be consumed through this method include;

• Vape pen juices.
• Nose and mouth spray
• Tablets and capsules
• Under tongue oils and sprays
• Patches, lotions, and topical oils
• Edibles such as beverages, gummies

REM Behavior Disorder and CBD

This is a condition in which one becomes verbal and begins making complex motions without noticing while the eyes are moving quickly. It is a major condition mostly found among older people suffering from neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

One who has Parkinson's disease can be managed by taking CBD-related products. According to Crippa et al. (2018), if a person under CBD medication fails to take it for an extended time, they can experience the symptoms at least two to seven times weekly. However, once the patient consumes CBD as instructed, the experiences are low to about once a week. This evidence suggests that CBD may cure REM sleep behavior though more research is required.

However, studies on the effects of CBD on sleep are at the initial stage. Still, sufferers consuming CBD to alleviate long-term pain have promising information as they usually enjoy their sleep. CBD also greatly supports sleep.

CBD Side Effects and Risks

There is still ongoing research on CBD's side effects since its mild side effects are associated. CBD is better tolerated. However, most people usually report sedation of their mental and other fatigue issues when subjected to CBD usage. But it is believed to have been caused by the dose they might have consumed. Also, an amount above 800mg CBD is a high quantity. It may bring about poor cognitive ability among people who have schizophrenia. However, when combined with THC, cognition may be modified.

Other severe effects of CBD may include:

• Drug metabolism inhibition in the liver.
• Changes in the viability of the cell as per the research performed on cultured cells.
• Reduction in the capacity to fertilize.

Once the above effects hinder the metabolism of drugs and their transportation are identified, CBSD, therefore, can interfere with medications. However, a lot is required to confirm this.

Conclusion

Patients with insomnia should observe changes in behavior with the prescribed drug combination. Other people tend to medicate themselves using CBD once they realize they have sleeping abnormalities. It is an effective method of regulating sleep, but there are limited details on its effects. Also, determining the most appropriate manner of taking CBD and the correct amount to facilitate sleep is still under research. Most people have, on many occasions, used the cannabis plant for medicine or recreation. The cannabinoid compounds in this plant are responsible for the brain effects. The main available cannabis plants are cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). These two components have psychoactive effects though affecting the brain differently. Unlike THC, CBD is said to be non-impairing.

References

Crippa, J. A., Guimarães, F. S., Campos, A. C., & Zuardi, A. W. (2018). Translational investigation of the therapeutic potential of cannabidiol (CBD): toward a new age. Frontiers in immunology, 9, 2009.

Oyola, M. G., Shupe, E. A., Soltis, A. R., Sukumar, G., Paez-Pereda, M., Larco, D. O., ... & Wu, T. J. (2019). Sleep deprivation alters the pituitary stress transcriptome in male and female mice. Frontiers in endocrinology, 10, 676.

Schrot, R. J., & Hubbard, J. R. (2016). Cannabinoids: medical implications. Annals of medicine, 48(3), 128-141.

Zhang, F., Niu, L., Liu, X., Liu, Y., Li, S., Yu, H., & Le, W. (2020). Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and neurodegenerative diseases: an update. Aging and disease, 11(2), 315.