Wake up! Who needs sleep anyway? You might consider staying in bed a bit longer, a lack of sleep is a killer. Read on to see how lack of sleep is impacting your health, and how CBD can play a major role. 

Studies have proven a link between a short amount of sleep to an early grave. Not only that, but a lack of sleep has associated problems in: 

• Concentration
• Memory
• Stress
• The immune system
• Hormonal imbalances
• Increased risk of some cancers 
• And … the list goes on. 

In this article, we will explore more about how we all need our sleep, how it is critical to our health, how to fix our sleep preparation and how, and why, CBD oil can help with your sleep routine.

But if you’re sceptical about its lethality, consider this: millions of us, you included, are subject to a global experiment each year that proves it.

The global sleep experiment you’re already a part of

Daylight Saving Time (DST, or British Summer Time in the UK) is when we put the clocks forward one hour in summer with one less hour of sleep. In autumn, we cheerfully reset them back to grab that extra hour in bed. 

Each year, the day after we put the clocks forward in summer, US hospitals report a 24% spike in heart attack victims. The day after we gain the hour back in autumn, US hospitals report the opposite: heart attack admissions fall by 21%.

The reason for this? Prime suspect: cumulative disruption to innate sleep schedules that can take us weeks, if not months, to recover from. 

This sleep disruption is bad enough for those of us suffering the trauma of a big Saturday night out or mild sleep problems, but for those already suffering badly – be that sleep apnea, insomnia or something else – the time shift can tip them over the edge and prove fatal. 

So when we ask the question, who needs sleep anyway? The answer is everyone!

The benefits of a good sleep

Given there are so many negatives from lack of sleep, the benefits are myriad. 

Your brain is sharper, your mood is improved (chronic insomnia can be a gateway for depression) as is your heart health, thanks to a reduction in blood pressure that gives the system a rest. 

Your immune system is stronger and that includes your ability to fight cancer. Potential cancerous cells never get the chance to evolve into something that could kill us thanks to our ability to create cancer-fighting cells. 

Prepare for another shock: after just one night of only 4-5 hours of sleep, these natural killer cells drop by 70%. It’s simple: sleep is your superpower.

Fixing your sleep

We know that 71% of the UK does not get the 7 to 9 hours of sleep recommended by medical professionals, so how do we fix our sleep patterns? 

The basics of improving sleep have been knocking around in general wisdom for a while now and are backed up by numerous studies. Fundamentally, you should think less about “going to bed” and more about “preparing” for it. 

Get a routine together. This can include setting an alarm, in exactly the same way you might use to wake up but to initiate the process of switching off.

And please, do switch off, yourself and all your devices. 

Worm-holing through TikTok or binge-watching an entire season of Netflix’s latest series in bed is ill-advised. This is primarily because the blue light from your devices impairs melatonin production, which is essential in regulating your sleep-wake cycle. (See our previous blog on binge watching and how it affects sleep!)

Get in the bath. Warm water dilates blood vessels which radiate inner heat. This prompts your body to drop its core temperature, which is exactly what you want: to fall asleep, your core temperature needs to drop by about 1C.

How does CBD help with a sleep routine?

As part of a new routine, you could also try using CBD oil to support a restful night’s sleep. We recommend our best-selling CBD Oil Drops in 1200mg or if you need something a little stronger, try our CBD Oil 10,000mg drops. 

CBD works with our Endocannabinoid System (ECS), which is your very own wellbeing engine. This internal regulatory system targets and interacts with specific cannabinoids in your body, to help manage and balance essential functions, including sleep, stress, mood, appetite and including the sleep-wake cycles. 

Perhaps the hardest bit, however: don’t lie there, wide-eyed in the darkness, over-thinking all this. You are by no means alone: two-thirds of adults in developed nations fail to obtain the nightly eight hours of sleep recommended by the World Health Organisation. There are also now more than 100 diagnosed sleep disorders, of which insomnia is the most common. So take your pick.

Incidentally, fewer than half of the world’s countries still participate in Daylight Saving Time. If you really want to change things up, maybe find yourself one of those and finally get some rest.

For more information on CBD, visit the CBD Learning Hub.