How to Ease Stress and Improve Sleep with Hemp Oil
Societal pressures come at us from every angle these days. There isn’t even a time of year that is more stressful than the next, we are expected to juggle everything all the time. Our to-do list can seem neverending, and everything happening in the news is enough in itself to keep us awake at night.
How do we balance? How do we find time to relax and let our bodies recover from the stresses of work, family, society and ourselves? Most of us just don’t. We keep going until we completely burn out. Then we crash and start all over again. This can have long-term impacts on our health and wellbeing.
How often are you trying to relax or sleep and you just can’t because you have SO MUCH on your mind? *raises hand* There are lifestyle changes we can adopt, but there are also supplements that can help us get the most out of our sleep and relaxation time.
Let’s be real, there is a lot of info out there about oils and what they can do for your health. The information can be confusing! What helps what and how? We hear you and we’ve gone to some experts to get the low down on hemp oil and how it can help you ease stress and improve sleep.
Stress and Poor Sleep: A Vicious Cycle
According to the American Psychological Association, stress can have a significant impact on the quality of your sleep. You’ve likely experienced this yourself. After a really stressful day, it’s often difficult to turn your mind off to fall asleep at night.
This decreases the quality of your sleep and your time spent sleeping. So, the next day you wake up feeling groggy and cranky. As a result, you get less done and are more susceptible to stress.
And to make matters worse, countless studies have shown that stress and a lack of sleep will weaken your immune system, cause weight gain, harm your digestive system, and so much more. These effects compound over time, creating a vicious cycle.
Break the Stress-Sleep Cycle with Hemp Oil
When you’re caught in this cycle, behavioral changes like getting more exercise or time management simply don’t work well. Why is that?
The fact is that behavioral changes require time, effort, and motivation. Precious resources you won’t have when stressed and sleep-deprived. This is where hemp oil comes into play.
Hemp oil contains powerful plant-based compounds that can give you the boost you need to break free from the cycle. It biochemically affects the body in a unique way to help relieve stress effects and improve sleep quality. All without taking time-consuming behavioral changes.
By turning stress into relaxation and restless nights into a quality sleep, the cycle can be reversed. When you’re happy and relaxed, you can sleep well. With improved sleep, you will naturally feel better and experience less stress.
This makes a quality hemp oil a simple and effective way to improve the quality of your life.
How Hemp Oil Eases Stress
Whenever you’re feeling stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. It’s the compound that gives you the feeling of overwhelm, unease, and a racing mind—the common characteristics of stress.
In small doses, cortisol is completely harmless. But when you’re caught in the stress-sleep cycle, stress can easily become chronic or constant. This is when it starts having a negative effect on your mind and body.
The good news is, researchers have found that cannabinoids in hemp oil can significantly decrease the levels of cortisol in the body thereby supporting your body’s stress response.
According to Dr. Ethan Russo, a neurologist and medical scientist, hemp oil also stimulate the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in your body. The ECS is a complex system of receptors that play a critical role in stress adaptation—how you cope with stress.
Research also suggests that constant stress can weaken the endocannabinoid system, making you more susceptible to the negative effects of stress. That’s why hemp oil is so effective. It eases stress while also nourishing your body’s ability to become more resilient to stress.
How Hemp Oil Improves Your Sleep
Hemp oil can make a meaningful difference in the quality of your sleep simply by reducing your stress levels. Of course, this isn’t the only way that hemp oil can help you catch more ZZZZ’s. Sleep quality matters too.
Most people assume that getting enough sleep means sleeping for 7-8 hours. But you could get 12 hours of sleep every night and still be sleep deprived if you’re not getting quality sleep. Interestingly, hemp oil is shown to improve both the time you stay asleep at night and the quality of that sleep.
One scientific review, for example, discovered that the CBD found in hemp oil was effective for treating signs of sleeplessness. Specifically, it reduced the time it takes to fall asleep, prevented disrupted sleep, and even improved daytime alertness.
Scientists have also found that the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the REM stage of sleep. This stage of sleep can affect how you react to events throughout the day. If your REM stages of sleep are interrupted, it could decrease your ability to cope with stress.
Since hemp oil is known to stimulate the endocannabinoid system, it’s possible that you could experience improvements in REM sleep, which can bolster your resilience towards stress.
If you live a busy lifestyle, it’s easy to fall prey to the effects of stress and sleep deprivation. Both of which magnify one another, sending you into a cycle of increased stress and sleep deprivation. If you get caught up in this cycle, it can sap you of your motivation and energy.
Over time, it gets increasingly difficult to snap out of the stress-sleep cycle. Hemp oil can help you break free and reset the cycle so you can regain control of your life.
However, not all hemp oils are the same, so consider this guide when choosing a quality oil. When you reset the stress-sleep cycle, you can find the motivation to adopt more healthy habits, become a better version of yourself, and work towards your dreams.