Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep and/or inability to stay asleep. The National Institute of Health estimates that nearly 1 out of every 3 people have difficulty sleeping.
What causes insomnia?
Intrinsic causes such as anxiety, depression, pain, inflammation, PTSD. Unhealthy lifestyle such as laptop use at night which emits as “blue light” causing wakefulness, late afternoon naps, sleeping late to “catch up”, eating a heavy meal before bed, and drugs.
How does CBD help you sleep?
CBD works directly on the sleep-wake cycle. It increases the 3rd phase of sleep (deep sleep), thus giving you a deeper sleep and a longer sleep, in other words, a more refreshing sleep.
How does alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes cause insomnia?
Alcohol is a sedative. Initially you fall asleep, then after it’s metabolized you wake up in the middle of the night unable to return to sleep. Caffeine is a stimulant. The effects of caffeine can last up to 8 hours, so drinking at night can result in difficulty falling asleep.
Nicotine is a stimulant, which is why many smokers have a cigarette upon waking. Smoking cigarettes close to bedtime can make it hard to fall asleep and to sleep well through the night.
How does CBD help treat the daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea?
CBD (in small doses) activates the neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and dorsal raphe nuclei. Benefit: increased alertness, and ability to focus & concentrate.
Insomnia is sometimes aggravated by anxiety, PTSD, pain, depression, and arthritis. What role does CBD play in these cases?
CBD inhibits the uptake of anandamide. Benefit: reduces anxiety, PTSD and increases the feelings of bliss. CBD stimulates (and blocks) the vanilloid pain receptors (TRPV-1) & increases the glycine current in the dorsal horn neurons. CBD activates the 5-HT1A serotonin receptor. CBD decreases lipopolysaccharide induced inflammation & tumor necrosis factor-α release.
CBD stimulates and then blocks the vanilloid pain receptors (TRPV-1). CBD increases serotonin release. Benefit: less pain, anxiety, swelling and a deeper sleep.
In Summary
CBD is an excellent agent to assure you a restful sleep. This is accomplished by increasing stage three (deep sleep) and by treating the reasons why sleep is so difficult to obtain – by effectively treating pain, anxiety, PTSD, inflammation, & depression.
[Image Credit: Pixabay]
