After a while, all you can do is accept it: Insomnia is here to stay, and a good night’s sleep can seem like it’s weeks away. You’ve tried everything, but you’re still tired during the day, and you’re wondering how sleep deprivation might be affecting your health. Even though you don’t get high from this cannabinoid, CBD flower might be able to help.
Why CBD flower?
Maybe you’ve tried CBD for sleep before. Have you tried inhaling it, though? You might not know it, but your liver filters out almost all of the CBD you ingest orally. Taking CBD orally also offers longer effects, but you’ll need something a little bit stronger for that final push into lala land.
Like anything else you inhale, the CBD in those dank, low-THC buds you scored speeds straight to your central nervous system (CNS) the moment it enters your lungs. Your brain needs more oxygen than almost any other organ, so there are large, fast arteries that connect your lung lining directly to your cerebrum.
For CBD users, inhaling this cannabinoid makes the most sense if you want rapid, intense effects. While the effects of inhaled CBD only last about an hour, you’ll be asleep before you notice them dissipate.
What about CBD vape cartridges?
If the idea of smoking in bed doesn’t seem like good sleep hygiene, you’re not alone. When you’re in the throes of an insomnia attack, grinding up some non-intoxicating herb and sticking it in your smoking implement of choice might wake you up even more.
Like many other CBD users in the LA area, you might rather keep a tiny, USB-powered CBD vape pen in your bedside drawer. In most cases, these next-generation vaping implements activate when you inhale, so all it takes is a puff, puff… pass-out.
Take a look around, and you’ll find that there are plenty of CBD vape cartridges out there that offer the same quality as top-shelf CBD (or even THC) flower.
Indica vs. sativa for sleep
Indica isn’t just for rolling down the streets sipping gin and juice. CBD strains that are indica-dominant contain special plant oils called terpenes that induce a relaxing effect.
The relaxation associated with indica strains has nothing to do with the dominant cannabinoid. Both CBD and THC flower can be indica-dominant, and whether your cannabis is intoxicating or not, it’s still either indica-dominant, sativa-dominant, or a hybrid.
No one is quite sure why, but the special blend of terpenes and flavonoids (another type of beneficial plant oil) in indica strains offers a relaxing effect that you may have already tried for sleep. If you’re currently using sativa cannabis to get to bed at night, however, you should probably stop.
As the opposite of indica cannabis, sativa-dominant CBD flower provides an uplifting, energetic effect that’s perfect for going out for a jog or crunching numbers on your laptop—both of which are things you’d rather not be doing at 3 AM. Save the CBD-rich sativa bud for the daytime, and indulge in your non-intoxicating indica stash when the hour is late but getting high is the last thing on your mind.
CBD indica flower vs. THC indica flower
In California, it’s already easy to get all the recreational weed you want (within reason). The current status of recreational marijuana in the Golden State, however, is far from where we’d like it to be.
It’s still too hard to verify the quality of cannabis you buy in recreational shops, and you’re often beholden to fluctuating supply and inefficient logistics. A strain you fell in love with at your favorite dispensary last week might be gone the next never to return.
It’s inherently absurd to limit an industry to a single state in the age of instant, mobile eCommerce. Everything about the California recreational weed industry is archaic—from cash payments to draconian regulatory schemes that rob consumers with ludicrously high taxation.
Is THC even good for sleep?
It’s natural for Californians to want an alternative to recreational marijuana based on convenience alone, but that’s before we look at the all too real side effects of THC that everyone somehow manages to sweep under the rug.
First, THC-rich cannabis can cause paranoia, anxiety, and other mental states that you’d assumedly want to avoid while trying to sleep. If your insomnia is part of an underlying psychological disorder, you should also know that THC can make psychosis work.
The worst part? THC is addictive. You might start using THC-rich weed just to get to sleep at night, but it’s common to experience a slow, sinister creep of dependency as pot starts to take a bigger role in your life.
Let’s all chill out for a second. We aren’t saying you should never use THC. This cannabinoid should, however, be used with caution. Carefully consider whether intoxication is the right way to beat your insomnia once and for all.
What about CBD?
According to all the available research, CBD is not habit-forming. It’s also non-intoxicating, which means it won’t make you feel anxious, paranoid, or high.
At the same time, CBD offers many of the same benefits as THC. This cannabinoid is a potent antioxidant, for instance, and it provides a systemwide, relaxing effect.
In many ways, CBD is like THC’s gentler, more stable older brother. While THC is still running around, wrecking things, and blaming mom, CBD has settled down and gotten serious about life. Which cannabinoid sounds like the better friend to keep by your bedside?
Best indica CBD flower for sleep
You can buy all the indica CBD flower for sleep that you want online. The 2018 Farm Bill made it possible to ship CBD flower across state lines, and at least one manufacturer is already producing CBD-rich flower that rivals the best top-shelf Cali weed in terms of quality.
There’s also a lot of low-quality CBD flower on the market, though, which is why it’s important to learn the difference. You can’t trust product pictures to show exactly how your non-intoxicating cannabis will look when it arrives, but you can use third-party lab reports and customer reviews instead.
The more reviews, the merrier. Companies that have lots of reviews are clearly doing something right, but CBD flower brands with few or no reviews probably don’t have the cash flow to make great products.
All reputable CBD flower companies provide batch-specific, independent lab reports that verify the potency and quality of their bud. It’s even possible to find organic, pesticide-free CBD bud if you look in the right places.
Best indica CBD vape for sleep
Cannabis vape cartridges have gotten a bad rap in recent years. A few bad apples started producing THC-rich vape pens with vitamin E acetate, a known cause of pneumonia, and people started getting sick. Lost in translation, however, was the fact that cannabinoids weren’t actually hurting people—it was the disgusting, low-quality ingredients that were included to reduce costs.
The truth is that there’s nothing inherently dangerous about vape cartridges. You get out what you put in, so if you use low-quality extract, you’ll get a low-quality vape pen. The opposite is also true, however—if you use organic, CO2-extracted, live resin distillate in your cartridges, for instance, you’ll get the best vape pen experience that CBD can offer.
Using indica CBD vape for sleep is quick and convenient to the extent that we’re tempted to call this cannabidiol product formulation ideal. Make sure your vape battery is charged before bed, and then whenever the urge strikes, reach out, put your pen in your mouth, and inhale. If you choose live resin CBD cartridges, you’ll also be treated to a delicious terpene-rich flavor whenever sleep is hard to come by and you need a quick, natural solution.
Build up your CBD sleep stash
Once you start using CBD for sleep, you won’t be able to stop. No, this cannabinoid isn’t addictive, but it’s so useful that you’ll want to have plenty on hand for sleep, stress, depression, and other purposes.
One of the best things about CBD flower is the endless product variation offered by all the different CBD-rich cannabis strains breeders have developed in recent years. Each phenotype has different attributes, and you might find that the particular terpene profiles in certain strains are useful for different purposes.
Since there’s no legal limit on how much CBD-rich cannabis you can possess, feel free to build out your stash to endure trying times. Whenever it’s time to re-up, just pull out your phone and reorder online. It’s that easy.
Snooze the night away with CBD
Ditch the weed in your medicine cabinet, and order some CBD flower online. You’ll notice the difference the first time an insomnia attack hits—while smoking weed might transform your work worries into psychedelic nightmares, CBD flower wraps you up in a big, soothing hug. The next morning, you won’t experience any cravings for more sticky stuff, but you’ll know that your high-grade, CBD-rich cannabis flower is waiting for you the next time sleep is hard to find.
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