Daylight Savings – Can CBD Make the Transition Easier?
Spring ahead, fall back…The change of seasons means another major transition is coming: the clocks will change for the end of daylight savings time at 2 am on November 1st giving us an extra hour in our day. But, did you know daylight savings time can cause an array of issues regarding your health and wellbeing including sleep deprivation, mental health issues, increased risk for cardiovascular conditions and workplace injuries? We at Green Therapy are all about wellness and recognize the importance of making sure you don’t throw yourself off schedule in the days and weeks after the time change. Therefore, we thought it would be a great idea to do a bit of research on whether or not CBD can help adjusting to gaining or losing that hour of sleep a bit easier. Today’s blog will cover how daylight savings time affects your circadian rhythm, tips for a better night’s rest, how CBD can help and tips for taking CBD before bed! If you’re interested in learning more, keep reading.
How Daylight Savings Time Affects Your Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats on each rotation of the Earth roughly every 24 hours. Love or hate it, we all know about springing ahead one hour in March and falling back an hour in November (aka daylight savings time). And, you may be thinking: one hour can’t make much of a difference, can it? The truth is, even that miniscule change can throw off your sleep schedule, causing you to experience a multitude of side effects that can last for several days.
An article published by Northwestern Medicine states, “Your circadian rhythm controls the release of your body’s hormones that affect mood, hunger and sleep. When these rhythms shift, as they do with time change, your body notices the difference.”
- Some individuals may experience headaches that last for days or weeks.
- Lack of sleep can cause an increase in one’s appetite.
- Sunlight boosts serotonin levels which regulates mood, memory and numerous other psychological functions. Lack of sunlight reduces serotonin levels, which plays a part in the development of seasonal affective disorder.
Tips for A Better Night’s Rest
- Reduce screen time during the evening
- Keep caffeine consumption for the morning
- Reduce long naps
- Try to keep a consistent sleep schedule
- Limit alcohol consumption
- Limit heavy meals before bed
- Sleep in a cool, dark and quiet room
How CBD Can Help
Once you have set the foundation for a good night’s rest by implementing the steps listed above, CBD can be a beneficial addition to your nighttime routine, especially during daylight savings. CBD interacts with your endocannabinoid system (ECS) which helps regulate many bodily functions including sleep. The ECS is responsible for helping your body maintain homeostasis, the ability to maintain a relatively stable internal state that persists despite changes in the outside world. And because CBD has been praised for its mood boosting, sleep enhancing and inflammation reducing benefits it only makes sense it’s a beneficial aid in making the daylight savings adjustment a bit easier.
Take CBD To Balance Your Circadian Rhythm
The route of administration of CBD is personal preference and differs from person to person. However, the onset of action, which is generally 1-6 hours, is dependent on the route of administration you choose.
- Edibles/Oral administration: Either taking an edible or quickly swallowing CBD oil will prevent the compound from immediately entering the bloodstream, sending it through the digestive tract and eventually to the liver before reaching the bloodstream. And, because of this, it may take 30-90 minutes before feeling the effects so note that if this is your method of choice, ingest the CBD product about 30-40 minutes before getting some shut eye.
- Inhalation (vape, pre-roll, CBD flower) or sublingual administration: These two methods are best if you’re quickly trying to wind down after a long day. Reason being, both inhalation and sublingual administration (under the tongue) allows the CBD to be directly absorbed into your bloodstream, typically producing effects within 15 minutes.
- Topical administration: This method of administration is great if you struggle falling or staying asleep due to pain. Topical CBD is applied directly to the skin and can be absorbed through the surface of the skin to interact with localized cannabinoid receptors. Effects often peak around 90 minutes.
Final Thoughts
Although you may think that turning the clocks back one hour will not affect your sleep-wake cycle, evidence has shown that even this minute change can put us at risk for an array of undesirable health risks. CBD helps you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and enhance your nightly rest, so to boost your overall wellness and avoid these complications, add a dose of CBD to your nighttime routine.
To learn more, read our blog posts ‘CBD and sleep’ and ‘The best forms of CBD for sleep’ that detail topics relating to the one discussed today.
Sources:
https://trilogia.com/blogs/stories/how-cbd-and-terpenes-help-you-survive-daylight-saving
https://www.campwander.com/blogs/camp-wander/daylight-savings-time-hack-with-cbd
https://blog.thecbdistillery.com/daylight-saving-time-and-cbd/
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