CBD and Sleep: Can CBD Cause Nightmares?
Due to the popularity of CBD products, people are increasingly using them to improve overall health. One of the most common reasons people turn to this hemp medicinal substance is improving sleep. However, many cannabis users have discovered that CBD can trigger nightmares. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how CBD might affect sleep and dreaming, and how you can use CBD for peaceful sleep.
Why Do We Dream?
There's no clear answer to why we dream, but the most common theory is that our brain processes and consolidates information and memories. Other theories suggest that dreams function as internal therapists in our subconscious, helping us overcome emotional dramas in our lives.
Many people believe dreams are merely fictional and random stories. However, scientists have found that only about 10% fall into this category, and the rest have a direct connection to reality. Dreams are often a combination of various reactions, fears, emotions, and pleasures that people experience in real life.
5 Stages of Sleep
To understand how CBD and other cannabinoids can affect sleep, it's necessary to briefly break down the individual sleep stages. The human sleep cycle is naturally divided into the following stages:
First Stage: Light Sleep
The first stage of sleep occurs when you're just beginning to fall asleep. It's the weakest phase, lasting only a few minutes. CBD can help with relaxation and reducing anxiety, which can facilitate falling asleep and transitioning to the next phase. CBD can contribute to improving the first sleep stage by reducing the likelihood of interrupted sleep or nighttime awakenings.
During this phase, so-called hypnic jerks can occur - sudden muscle twitches that cause leg movements when falling asleep or waking up. It has been proven that CBD helps people achieve calm sleep during this phase.
Second Stage
The second stage is deeper sleep, although still considered a light sleep phase. In the second stage, the likelihood of waking up is much lower than in the first phase and lasts approximately 25 minutes. Eyes are closed, heart rate slows, body temperature slightly drops, and brain frequencies weaken. In this phase, no dreams occur, but thanks to CBD, one might feel like floating on clouds. The second sleep stage is an important part of the sleep cycle and influences memory strengthening, brain plasticity, and organism regeneration. CBD can improve the quality of the second sleep stage by reducing nighttime awakenings.
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