Stress can keep you up at night, but it doesn’t have to—learn how CBD can help you chill out enough to get some rest.

You need to get 7 hours of sleep per night for your health and wellbeing, but when’s the last time you actually managed that without sleeping until noon on a Sunday?

The Problems

1. According to the CDC,over 37%of American adults <54 years of age sleep less than 7 hours per night.
2. According to SleepCycle, the average "wake-up mood" for American adults is57/100. Yikes!
3. According to Sleep Foundation, women have a lifetime risk of insomnia that is as much as40% higherthan that of men.

It’s easy enough to watch a video about sleep hygiene, turn your thermostat down, and go to bed early. But if you have insomnia or just get poor sleep every night, you probably know what comes next...

Is This You?

Step 1: You lie awake, dutifully keeping your eyes shut and not even looking at your phone until what seems like an eternity has passed (in reality, it’s only been 20 minutes.)

Step 2: you finally peep at the clock, but you’re so discouraged that you don’t even want to keep trying.

Step 3: you lose a couple more hours texting & scrolling on social media until you finally pass out.

The problem with that bedtime routine is that you'll never wake up refreshed and energized. When you wake up, your eyes seem like they're full of sand, and your head is throbbing. The only answer? Your daily caffeine-crux.

If all that gives you some serious déjà vu, then you might benefit from adding CBD to your daily sleep routine.

What the research says about CBD for sleep

The scientific community has plenty of interest in studying CBD’s effects on sleep. The cannabis plant has a reputation for helping folks relax and unwind, but without THC (delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, the plant's seriously psychoactive component), does it have the same effect?

Some recent conclusions about CBD and sleep include:

• A2014 literature reviewconcluded that “CBD may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of insomnia.”
• The same review also speculated that “CBD may hold promise for REM sleep behavior disorder and excessive daytime sleepiness.”
• A 2019 study found that CBD improved the sleep scores of66% of the patientswho took it for poor sleep complaints within the first month.

CBD can help you chill—but sleep hygiene is essential

There's a reason incorporating CBD into one's bedtime routine is a growing trend —but, don’t just pop a gummy and expect to fall asleep in 10 seconds.

Instead, try incorporating your nightly dose of CBD with your evening wind-down routine. Take CBD 20-30 minutes before bedtime w/ your vitamins or cup of chamomile tea.

Of course, a consistent bedtime routine isn’t the only sleep hygiene you need to be practicing. There are changes you can make all day long that will boost your sleep quality at night.

Top 7 recommendations for better sleep

1. Avoid eating: try to avoid snacking 2 hours before you go to sleep since digestion can spike your blood sugar and leave you staring at your ceiling (that's never been dusted).

2. Drink less caffeine in the afternoon: don't drink that 5-Hour Energy at 3pm....

3. "Move" every day: a 30-minute walk around the block or a 20-minute at-home stretching session is good enough.

4. Be consistent: during the week, pick a consistent sleep time + wake time so your body can have some expectations. That means watching 1 episode, not 4.

5. Install blackout curtains: these are game-changers.

6. Ban electronics from the bedroom: blue-light from laptops & phones prior to bed messes up your circadian rhythm (Harvard agrees).

7. Introduce CBD to your routine 20 minutes before bed: what have you got to lose?

How to choose a CBD product for sleep

Everyone's got their own CBD sleep elixir of choice. Maybe you can't resist a sweet little sugar bear, or perhaps you love the quick-acting effect of tinctures.

CBD is individual, so the perfect sleep product for you won't be the ideal sleep product for everyone. Just choose a product that you'll find easy to use every night!

Your options include:

• CBD Oil tinctures:usually contain less sugar than gummies
• CBD Gummies:easy to incorporate into nightly vitamin routine
• CBD Candy:easy to replace sweet snacks w/ an actual benefit

What to look for when buying CBD

The most important components when looking for CBD sleep products are:

• Brand Trustability:have you ever heard of the brand before? Have they been featured in reputable media placements or did you only hear about them through a random display ad? Pro tip: Google them.
• Product Quality:the product's CBD should always be sourced from the USA, ideally from USDA organic farms.
• 3rd Party COAs:COA stands for Certificates of Analysis and is confirmation that a 3rd party lab has tested the final products that you'll be ingesting. Each product should have its own COA on its product page. COAs will confirm CBD concentration and that the product doesn't contain: heavy metals, mycotoxins, pesticides, residual solvents & microbials. (Yes, we check all those boxes)
  
  

*Article Updated August 2022 by Sunday Scaries® Quality Assurance Team