CBD & Sleep

In the UK alone one third of the population have reported to having sleep issues (1) and more and more of those people are leaning toward CBD as their sleep solution.

CBD covers a lot of ground while on its therapeutic travels. All types of inflammation, including digestive disorders and arthritis, may be improved through CBD-based therapy. To understand how CBD helps with sleep we need to understand what happens when this powerful plant compound reach’s the system within our body which it interacts with, the endocannabinoid system. It appears the main function of the endocannabinoid system is to maintain bodily homeostasis— the ability to maintain biological stability and harmony despite changes in the world outside. When working properly, the endocannabinoid system helps regulate a wide range of processes including sleep, appetite, mood, digestion, inflammation, pain and many others.

The endocannabinoid system (abbreviated as ECS) is a remarkable network of compounds and receptors and is the is deemed as the central hub in the health and healing of our bodies. This system has the capacity to influence functions in the brain including memory, mood, pain response, appetite, perception, cognition, sleep, emotions, motor function and anti-inflammatory function as well as brain development and protection. The ECS is throughout the body – in the skin, the brain, major organs, connective tissue, glands, immune cells, etc. In each area of the body it carries out different tasks but the goal is always the same – the ECS works tirelessly to maintain the body’s internal balance and physical wellbeing. It creates an internal equilibrium, harmony and peace which resists even the most hostile fluctuations in the external environment. This state is known as homeostasis.

Are you wondering why you have never heard of the endocannabinoid system before? If so, you are far from alone! The science is relatively new. In 1988, in a government-funded study at the St. Louis University School of Medicine, Allyn Howlett and William Devane determined that the brains of mammals have receptor sites that respond to compounds found in cannabis. These receptors, named cannabinoid receptors, turned out to be the most abundant type of neurotransmitter receptor in the brain. It was not until 1992, however, that the endocannabinoid system was discovered by Dr Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was researching the cannabis plant at the time. It is almost unbelievable to think this discovery is just under 30 years old, considering that the ECS is so fundamentally important.