Given how CBD’s most advertised benefit is its calming properties, it’s easy to understand why some users might expect CBD to make them drowsy. Let’s break down the relationship between CBD and sleep and discuss the science that backs it all up.
Does CBD make you drowsy? It’s not a huge jump in logic to assume that because CBD can help calm you, it may also make you tired—but there’s a lot more to it than you might think.
Let’s break down the science behind CBD and how it affects sleep.
Does CBD help you sleep?
One of the few benefits of CBD that’s currently backed by evidence is that CBD does, in fact, have a positive effect on sleep—particularly in people with sleep disorders and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease.
But if our current field of research is anything to go by, CBD can help you sleep even if you don’t fall into one of these categories.
I personally suffer from a neurological sleep disorder, narcolepsy, and have found CBD to significantly improve my overall quality of sleep at night, which leads to less frequent episodes of excessive daytime sleepiness: one of the Hallmark crippling symptoms of narcolepsy.
How does CBD affect sleep?
So, how does CBD affect sleep? If you consider the purpose of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the body, which is to promote homeostasis (or, a self-regulated internal balance), it makes sense that cannabinoids like CBD would affect these systems. How they affect these systems is where it gets interesting.
Essentially, your ECS governs a host of different processes in the body, from appetite to memory to, yes, sleep. Our sleep schedule is dictated by a number of factors, but is primarily governed by our circadian rhythms.
Without getting overly into the biology of this, your circadian rhythms are essentially what we colloquially refer to as the “body clock.” This clock is the reason we get jet lag from travelling to different time zones, and why most people start to feel drowsy mid-afternoon. It’s also the reason you might wake up or go to the bathroom at the same time every day. Your body’s complex system of routines, which span across so many areas of your everyday life without you ever even noticing, is intrinsically tied to how well you sleep at night.
Because CBD supports the ECS by promoting balance and homeostasis, it makes sense that it would support a healthy sleep cycle. In a case study of Parkinson’s patients with REM sleep behaviour disorders—meaning that these patients had disturbed “deep sleep,” which led to them acting out their dreams, having nightmares, and ultimately having a low quality of sleep—this was the exact result. Researchers saw a significant improvement in symptoms when the patients were given CBD.
To understand how this works, it’s helpful to consider a condition like mine—narcolepsy—which is believed to be caused by a fault in self-regulatory systems in the body.
When I was first diagnosed, the sleep specialist explaining the condition to me said that everyone’s body has an on/off switch, like a light switch, telling them when to be awake and when to sleep. He explained that most people’s switches work on a timer—they go on and off around the same times every day. But when you have narcolepsy, your switch is “on the fritz” and goes on and off at will.
This is why narcoleptics are often severely drowsy during the day and may fall asleep seemingly at random. The most effective treatment for this condition, aside from certain medications designed to relieve symptoms, is to make lifestyle changes (practising “sleep hygiene”) which promote healthy nighttime sleep and establish a daily schedule.
Now, because CBD has a balancing effect on your body clock, it stands to reason that CBD helped me personally by supporting my body’s natural rhythms and helping to establish a routine. In fact, researchers found similar results in narcoleptic rats given CBD.
For me, taking CBD at the same time every evening has helped immensely in establishing a daily routine for my body, which is how I’ve found relief from my condition after so many years of trial and error. Before CBD, I would attempt to keep a regular schedule, to no avail. Since starting a regimen of CBD Oral Drops every evening, I sleep much more soundly and am less drowsy during the day as a result.
So, in essence, CBD helps you sleep by supporting the systems that get you to rest soundly at night, leading to more wakefulness during the day. The CBD itself won’t induce sleep or “knock you out” as other substances do—rather, it promotes feelings of calm, helps to alleviate racing thoughts stemming from anxiety at night, and ultimately supports your body’s natural desire to work around a schedule.
All of this leads to better sleep quality, making you feel more awake during the day.
Will CBD make you drowsy?
While CBD does promote healthy nighttime sleep and may help you fall asleep (and stay asleep), it doesn’t actually make you drowsy.
Strange, right?
It isn’t often that we see a substance that can help you sleep without making you drowsy. Most remedies for sleep—even natural ones like chamomile, lavender, and even Melatonin supplements—work this way, yet CBD doesn’t.
CBD, in average doses, is not known to make people drowsy. It’s only believed to make users tired as an adverse effect when it’s taken in excessive amounts.
Take it from me—a regular CBD user with such a low “drowsy” threshold that I used to fall asleep standing up in the shower—CBD doesn’t make you drowsy if taken correctly.
In fact, CBD is known to promote both wakefulness and sleep, depending on when and how it’s taken. Taking a CBD supplement alongside your morning coffee, for example, will actually boost the positive effects of the caffeine—alertness, focus, and attention—while helping to negate some of its adverse effects, like elevated heart rate, irritability, and anxiety. And taking CBD at night in the form of CBD tinctures or CBD edibles will help support your body’s natural sleep schedule.
Essentially, because CBD supports your body’s self-regulatory systems, it’ll help you feel alert if taken during the day, and it’ll help you sleep if taken at night. That can’t be said for many other substances.
If you’re worried about CBD making you feel drowsy, consider when and how you take the CBD, and ensure that you don’t overdo it on your first try. If you, like me, are prone to feeling drowsy, start off with a low dose (around 10mg) and work your way upward from there until you find your sweet spot. If you start at a low dosage, you’re highly unlikely to experience any drowsiness.
Remember: everyone’s body responds differently to CBD, so you may need a higher or lower dosage depending on a number of factors. There’s no “ideal” dosage when it comes to CBD—it’s simply whatever the lowest dose is that helps you feel the greatest effect.
Can you take CBD during the day?
Because we’ve established that CBD doesn’t make you drowsy, yes, you can absolutely take CBD during the day.
In fact, it’s a common practice among CBD users to take CBD in various forms, such as CBD vapes and CBD drinks, throughout the day to promote focus, attention, and alertness.
As we mentioned before, taking CBD alongside your morning coffee can have positive effects when the CBD and caffeine mix. You can also vape a CBD E-Liquid throughout the day for added relaxation and attention.
The possibilities with CBD in your daily routine are nearly endless, each one with the ability to perk up your daytime routine without making you feel drowsy.
Summary: CBD won’t make you drowsy, but it can help you sleep!
Hopefully now you should be more familiar with how CBD supports your body’s natural systems, including your sleep schedule, to promote healthier sleep. And while this is a primary function of CBD, it’s not known to make users feel drowsy.
Perhaps paradoxically, CBD promotes both wakefulness and sleep. It’s an unusual substance with properties unseen in medicine, and we sorely hope that more research will be done in the near future with regard to how CBD can help those with sleep issues.
Interested in learning more about CBD? Check out our other article, 10 Little-Known Facts About CBD, for some interesting facts you may not have heard before!
