Why CBD Oil Is My Sleep Aid of Choice

I’ve tried Ambien, melatonin, and more. Placebo or not, CBD works wonders.

Hayley MacMillen
Elemental

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Photo by Tiara Leitzman/Unsplash

NName a sleep aid and I can describe the specific type of hangover it gives me. The morning after overdoing melatonin by even five milligrams, I wake up to pressure at my temples and mental fog so thick that conversation is difficult. Post-Benadryl fatigue feels as if each of my cells are begging me to get back in bed. If I take too much Ambien, it’s like I never woke up at all: I float around half-sentient, reanimating just in time for dinner.

Enter cannabidiol, or CBD, one of many chemical compounds produced by cannabis, and the latest darling of the wellness world.

CBD is all the rage right now, with a former Coca-Cola exec declaring it the “new avocado toast” thanks to its popularity among millennials. It’s estimated that the market for CBD products will hit $22 billion in the next four years. Unlike another well-known cannabis compound, tetrahydrocannabinol (better known as THC), CBD is non-psychoactive, meaning it won’t get you high. Many of us use it to calm down, and some of us take it to fall asleep.

I was unmoved by the CBD craze until last year, when a sample of hemp extract oil crossed my desk at work and I started experimenting with a dropperful or two in the evening…

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Hayley MacMillen
Elemental

Health and sexuality writer and law student living in Berkeley, California.