It’s early Monday morning. The sun just begins to leak in through the blinds in your bedroom window, when suddenly, you’re sonically assaulted by the blaring cacophony of an alarm clock. It’s already time to start your day, and you’ve had another sleepless night.
Does this sound familiar to you? If so, you’re not alone. According to the CDC, roughly 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems. Beyond just being groggy on the way to your coffee, not getting enough sleep can lead to serious health problems.
Insomnia can cause drastic weight fluctuation, contribute to mental illness, and increase your risk for a workplace or driving accident.
Sleeping pills can quickly get addicting and often come with side effects that are worse than insomnia itself. But what if there was a safer, more natural way to help ensure you get a good night’s sleep? What about over-the-counter and alternative remedies like melatonin supplements or CBD? Do they actually work?
What Is Melatonin?
It’s likely that you’ve seen bottles of melatonin at your local drug store or pharmacy since it’s one of the most used supplements in the whole United States, but did you know that it’s a hormone that your brain already naturally produces?
Our bodies are designed to work in congress with the forces of nature, like sunlight. When the sun sets, the human brain begins to increase the melatonin levels, which signals to the rest of the body that it’s time to go to sleep.
The reverse of this occurs in the AM when the sun rises. The light lets our brain know to decrease melatonin levels, which encourages the body to wake up. However, with the proliferation of artificial light sources and the blue light emitted from our many screens, this process can get thrown out of whack.
That’s where melatonin supplements come in. Taking external melatonin in the form of a capsule or a melatonin inhalant can potentially increase your overall level of melatonin and help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
Using CBD To Promote Healthier Sleep
Aside from Epidiolex, a pharmaceutical-grade CBD used to treat seizures, the FDA hasn’t approved CBD products for medicinal use. However, tons of people are using cannabinoids to help combat insomnia and promote better sleep patterns. It’s not just anecdotal either; preliminary research strongly suggests that CBD could help treat several different sleep-related health issues, including Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Disorder, Insomnia, and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.
CBD may help consumers fall asleep easier in a more indirect but potentially more important way as well—by reducing stress and anxiety. Nothing is worse than lying in bed, tossing and turning while overcome with anxiety. By helping to temper our stress responses, CBD can make falling asleep easier.
Melatonin Mixed With CBD
On their own, both melatonin and CBD each have the potential to be powerful sleep aids without the large potential for dependency and severe side effects that come with traditional pharmaceutical options. It stands to reason that combining both remedies could increase their individual efficacy, but is it safe to take CBD and melatonin together?
Both melatonin and CBD are considered safe, non-toxic compounds. Taking either of them doesn’t produce any sort of health problem that professionals are aware of, and combining the two together won’t change that as they don’t have any negative interaction. In fact, thanks to companies like Vitaldiol, you can now purchase capsules that contain melatonin mixed with CBD to make combining these two natural cures easier than ever before.
Like with all supplements, it’s a good idea to check with your physician before starting a regimen of CBD, melatonin, or a combination of the two, as they may interact with other medicines you’re currently taking.
