![]() ![]() Shannon and other experts we spoke with say that before turning to CBD for sleep, you should try more proven therapies. And CBD also interacts with another receptor in the brain that researchers have linked to anxiety. At least one of those type of receptors is thought to affect the body's sleep/wake cycle, offering one explanation for how CBD could affect sleep directly. Recent studies have shown that cannabis compounds interact with receptors throughout the body-the so-called endocannabinoid system-including in the brain. Scientists have some biological explanations for how CBD may affect both sleep and anxiety. Collins, Colo., also thinks that some people may have slept better because they "worried less about their sleep issue." But Shannon, who is also founder of the Wholeness Center, an integrative medicine clinic in Ft. Those benefits might be due to the placebo effect, says Scott Shannon, M.D., the study's main author and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado-Children's Hospital in Denver. For those with sleep problems, the results weren't as clear cut, though people did report some improvement in the first month. In a study in the January issue of The Permanente Journal, published by the Kaiser-Permanente health insurance company, Colorado researchers looked at the health records of 72 patients who were treated with CBD for either anxiety or poor sleep.ĭuring the three-month study, anxiety levels did decline, even in people whose main complaint was poor sleep. One way CBD may help with sleep is by easing anxiety. Still, he notes that if you occasionally have difficulty sleeping, CBD is considered a safe, non-habit-forming, natural alternative.įor those looking to try CBD to see whether it helps improve sleep, here's what you need to know. Maroon urges those with insomnia to see their doctor before using any treatment. Maroon says he doesn't see CBD as a treatment for insomnia, but instead as an "alternative natural method to help calm anxious thoughts that often delay or interrupt natural sleep." He points out that next to nothing is known about the safety or effectiveness of CBD in children, pregnant women, or older people when used for sleep or anxiety. But Liz Fuller, age 47, a makeup artist in Boston, says she tried two different CBD brands-spending about $135-to treat her insomnia, and neither worked. For example, Melissa Giovanni, age 32, a licensed dietitian in Nashville, Tenn., takes CBD regularly for sleep and says it often helps. All of that could affect who CBD helps for sleep, and who it doesn't.Īnd how it affects people does seem to be hit or miss. Some other research hints that CBD may also affect sleep directly, by interacting with receptors in the brain that govern the body's daily sleep/wake cycles, according to a 2017 review of sleep and cannabis in the journal Current Psychiatry Reports.īut "many questions still remain as to timing, the amount to take, and route of dosing CBD for sleep," Maroon says. Most notably, he says, it appears to ease anxiety and pain, both of which can make it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep. A study out this month, for example, suggests CBD might help people with short-term sleep problems.Īnd Joseph Maroon, M.D., a clinical professor and neurosurgeon at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who has researched the effect of cannabis on the brain, says that CBD has properties that could help some people sleep better. And many existing treatments, particularly prescription and over-the-counter drugs, are often not very effective-and are risky, too.Ī small but growing body of scientific research provides some support for CBD as a sleep aid. It's easy to understand why people are turning to CBD to help with sleep: Almost 80 percent of Americans say they have trouble sleeping at least once a week, according to another recent nationally representative CR survey of 1,267 U.S.
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