A common question that comes up regarding CBD is whether or not it makes you tired. CBD products are often used to improve sleep patterns, reduce stress, and, generally speaking, relax your body and mind, and therefore get associated with drowsiness/being mellow. The reality is that a lot of consumers don't know what to expect from hemp products and even tend to think they have an intoxicating effect like Xanax and other similar prescription medications.

Recent data has been showing that the CBD in hemp extracts is not what makes you tired. Instead, there is another cannabinoid, CBN, responsible for this drowsy effect . If taken in abnormally large doses, CBD has been linked to sedative effects, but this is thought to be as an indirect result stemming from the other impacts CBD has. In other words, your CBD routine can have a major impact on how you feel depending on things like frequency of application and dosage sizes. 

Other than dosing frequency and size, CBD oil effects can be influenced by the type of product that you're using. Incorporating other cannabinoids in various ratios allows for more targeted remedies. For example, Sivan CBD sells full-spectrum oils specifically designed to target pain relief, stress reduction, and sleep improvement by sourcing the highest quality ingredients and incorporating them into their proprietary cannabinoid blends. 

In this article, we will discuss whether CBD oil will make you tired, and what you can expect from it. 

 

Are CBD products good as sleeping aids?

Oftentimes, hemp-derived CBD is advertised as a compound that can be used for chronic pain relief, inflammation, anxiety, and other medical issues. While CBD may not be the right solution for everybody, we cannot overlook the millions of people who have benefited from it and who time and again stand by the hemp plant to help them.

Whether we’re talking about CBD vapes, CBD gummies, CBD capsules, or any other method of application, all these products work under a similar principle: they all feature CBD oil derived from hemp plants. Even within hemp, though, there are different strains that have different cannabinoid compositions which can in turn affect a product’s desired outcome. That’s why not all oils are created equal and why certain company’s products may help you and others won't.

CBD oil is often referred to as hemp extract as well. No matter what type of product you're using, it will fall into one of three classifications for medical hemp oils: full-spectrum hemp oil, broad-spectrum hemp oil, and cannabinoid isolates (or pure CBD oil and often in powder form).  

The main difference between these classifications is their cannabinoid composition and whether they have trace amounts of THC or not. THC is most notorious for its psychoactive effects, but also offers potent therapeutic benefits, one example being an aid for sleep. Scientists think that THC is responsible for the so-called "couch-lock" effect, which describes the sluggish, heavy feeling experienced by some  individuals.

By integrating other cannabinoids like CBN and trace amounts of THC into hemp oils, CBD products can be optimized for sleep-related issues. Look for items that contain these compounds the next time you’re shopping for a CBD product to help with sleep.

On the scientific level: the way hemp supplements make you tired or drowsy is by interacting with endocannabinoid receptors. When ingesting cannabidiol (CBD), it will interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors, two biological sensors in your body that are a part of the larger endocannabinoid system. This system is responsible for regulating numerous internal processes such as stress management, pain management, sleep, muscle regeneration and protection, etc... When you take hemp products, the featured cannabinoids will interact with your endocannabinoid system and based on what's present will help you to regulate these processes. So, if you feel drowsiness or tiredness, it might be due to your products containing CBN and/or THC to help bind to the receptors that signal for sleep.

 

Will CBD oil cause psychedelic effects?

As previously mentioned, psychoactive effects only occur when ingesting higher quantities of THC. If using a properly regulated, hemp derived CBD product, you are unlikely to get high when consuming it as according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

According to US law, a hemp product cannot have more than 0.3% THC. This is regarded as a safe threshold for activating the endocannabinoid system without having to experience any psychoactive effects. To put it in perspective: Inorder to initiate any psychoactive response, a new user will need to consume at least 5mg of THC in one sitting. A typical 1500mg tincture will have anywhere from .8 - 1.5mg of THC per serving. It would take at least 4 doses to potentially feel anything psychoactive at all. 

 

Will CBD oil make you tired or sleepy?

According to the data we have thus far, cannabidiol works by slowing the breakdown of anandamide. This substance has a major impact on our sleep cycles, and having high levels of it within the body makes us feel more relaxed. 

It is hard to say what kind of impact you can expect from a specific product. Some hemp products can make you feel sleepy and some can make you feel focused and energetic. If you want to use products to help you sleep, look for ones that say they contain cannabinol (CBN) as this is the cannabinoid responsible for drowsiness.

Some experts believe that CBD will not actually put you to bed, rather it can improve sleep indirectly by regulating your sleep patterns. That is, once you consume CBD-rich products, it will help you achieve a deeper, more satisfying night of sleep. The CBD will prevent overnight anxiety, pain, and other issues that might cause you to wake up or interrupt your body’s natural healing process.

 

How does CBD oil affect alertness? 

Scientists think that CBD does increase focus, alertness, and energy levels. They attribute this to how CBD affects your adenosine levels. Adenosine's main purpose is to make you feel sleepy and help prepare you for going to bed. This chemical tends to be released by the body at the end of the day, however, research has shown that cannabinoids, Cannabidiol in particular, can prevent the synthesis of the substance, thus increasing alertness and halting drowsiness. 

CBD also interacts with the 5-HT1A serotonin receptor which is responsible for helping to regulate mood and anxiety. By stimulating this receptor, CBD can cause a spike in serotonin levels which in this case increases alertness. 

 

How to determine the right dosage and what kind of benefits to expect?

There are a lot of factors that go into determining the optimal CBD dosage for you. Besides physical differences like size, anatomy, and genetic differences, there are also personal factors like how severe your problem is or how you prefer to take your CBD. In order to determine what dose works best for you, you need to experiment around. We recommend starting somewhere in the middle, around 50mg,  and increasing or decreasing as you see fit.

As for what kind of benefits to expect, CBD is touted as a remedy most commonly for pain management, stress management, and sleep management, but what you may experience is reliant on dosage size among other uncontrollable things as well. Generally, the higher the dosage, the more likely one is to experience a relaxing effect. The most effective way to ensure you’re getting your desired effects is to look for companies that properly incorporate the other active cannabinoids: cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), and cannabichromene (CBC), in their products. This allows hemp products to have a tailored response and eliminate some of the variability between user experiences.

 

How do CBD products affect the quality of sleep?

There are two reasons people utilize CBD for sleep: to relax the mind and body before going to bed and to have an uninterrupted sleep. As mentioned before, CBD among other cannabinoids interacts with the body’s internal endocannabinoid system in order to help regulate a lot of necessary processes, one of which being sleep. It can also help alleviate some of the more indirect causes for lack of sleep such as lack of sleep due to anxiety, pain, or other underlying problem.

 

What is the best CBD oil for sleep? 

While it may be hard to find an effective hemp product for sleep, there are a few tricks you can use to make the process a little easier:

• Items with trace levels of THC might work better for sleep. We cannot recommend marijuana-based products or products with levels higher than 0.3% THC as they have psychoactive effects that can actually fight against sleep and cause more anxiety as well as still illegal in most states.
• Some products specialize in sleep benefits. A great example is Sivan CBD's full-spectrum sleep oil. It is formulated with other cannabinoids like CBN to maximize desired effects and also has a delicious peppermint flavor that makes it just feel like bedtime.
• If you’re looking at broadspectrum oils or isolates, look for a higher dosage product as lower doses of CBD can have an energising effect on the body while higher doses create a more mellow effect.

 

What kind of side effects can you expect?

While cannabidiol is a natural product that is regarded as safe, that is not to say that some individuals won’t experience any side effects. Reported side effects, however, are minor and have been described as  instances of lowered blood pressure, loss of appetite, dizziness, and dry mouth, all of which were temporary and went away after an hour or two.

 

References:

Maroon, J., Bost, J., (2018), Review of the neurological benefits of phytocannabinoids, Surgical neurology international, Mumbai, India

Outline: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938896/

Babson, K., Sottile, J., Morabito, D., (2017), Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature, Sleep Disorders

Outline: https://www.med.upenn.edu/cbti/assets/user-content/documents/s11920-017-0775-9.pdf