In a new study, it was found that using CBD-coated fabric covers improves the sleep of nurses. The study also found that the CBD-coated pillowcases significantly reduced participants’ levels of anxiety. This, researchers believe, likely helped with their sleep.
Report: “The CBD coated pillow cover demonstrated improved sleep quality, mood, anxiety and stress,” says the report, “highlighting it’s potential as a simple non-invasive interventions for shiftworkers.”
The transdermal delivery of CBD allows systemic and localized interactions with cannabinoid receptive sites, as well as affecting sleep and relaxation.
The study, published this month in the journal Healthcare, enrolled 55 duty shift nurses—45 women and 10 men—all of whom initially reported poor sleep quality. Participants slept on CBD-coated pillowcases for three weeks after a baseline week.
The researchers concluded that by providing an alternative CBD consumption method, such as vaping or oral intake, the CBD coated pillow could minimize side effects and still provide therapeutic benefits. This innovative method could be a more efficient and safer way to use CBD for improving sleep, especially in individuals who suffer from insomnia or shift work-related sleep disorders.
Fitbits were used to measure sleep quality. Fitbits showed that participants’ light and deep sleep levels increased slightly over the course of the study. However, the sleep pattern itself did not significantly change.
A CBD-coated cover for a pillow was shown to improve the sleep of healthy people who were experiencing sleep problems. The report concludes that a CBD pillow cover can be incorporated by adults with sleeping problems to improve sleep quality.
There were also differences in the results between those who regularly exercised and those who did not. People without exercise habits experienced more pronounced impacts—both positive and negative—while effects were more muted in those with an exercise routine.
This suggests that CBD’s impact on sleep may be more pronounced in individuals who exercise regularly, while those without a regular exercise routine may have more significant sleep changes.
They added that “CBD intervention appears to be more beneficial for individuals who don’t engage in regular exercise, since the activity itself acts as a regulator of sleep.” “However, Individual responses to CBD can vary depending on metabolism and skin absorption “There are different levels of sleep effectiveness depending on the baseline conditions.”
According to the research, overall, only 7.3% of participants reported “significant improvement” with their sleep. Participants who didn’t exercise showed a slight improvement (36.4%) in their objective sleep patterns after using the CBD-coated pillows. However, 63.6% of participants saw a decline or no change.
A larger sample size may be required to detect more significant effects, the report states. “A longer period of intervention might be required to see more substantive changes in subjective quality of sleep,” it adds.
The paper states that CBD has antidepressive and anxiety-reducing effects.
“Compared to improved sleep quality, the CBD intervention significantly reduced anxiety (p < 0.005),” it notes. As anxiety can interfere with sleep, reducing anxiety could improve the quality of sleep. Reduced depressive symptoms may also improve sleep quality. Depression can negatively impact sleep patterns (e.g. inability to initiate or maintain sleep), so the pillow is an excellent tool for improving sleep and mental health.
A seven-person Taiwanese team, which included China Medical University, TsaoTun Psychiatric Center as well as SONG BEAM International, authored this study.
According to the section on conflicts of interests, SONG BEAM supplied the CBD-coated pillows for the study.
This new study is part of a growing body research that shows cannabinoids may help improve sleep.
Earlier this year, for example, a separate study on the use of medical marijuana by older patients—age 50 and above—concluded that “cannabis seemed to be a safe and effective treatment” for pain and other conditions.
This paper states that, “Most of the patients reported clinically significant improvement in pain, quality-of-life, sleep and comedication, with a reduction in both.” Sleep was improved by about 45 percent.
According to a survey conducted by an industry group, however, only 16 percent (or 61 million) of Americans over 21 use marijuana for sleep. This makes marijuana more common for sleeping than alcohol or prescription sleep aids (both 12 percent). However, it is still less popular than supplements or over-the counter sleep aids (both 19 percent).
Last year, separate studies found that both older medical marijuana patients as well as people with fibromyalgia reported that cannabis improved their sleep.
A different study last year from the retirement group AARP found that marijuana use by older people in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the last three years, with better sleep as among the most frequently cited reasons.
Another industry-backed survey last year found that an oral CBD solution effectively treated mild to moderate anxiety, as well as associated depression and poor sleep quality, with no serious adverse events observed.
A study published last spring, meanwhile, found that using marijuana before sleep has minimal if any effect on a range of performance measures the next day, including simulated driving, cognitive and psychomotor function tasks, subjective effects and mood.
In 2023, a federally funded study found that people with anxiety experienced better quality sleep on days when they used marijuana compared to days when they used alcohol or nothing at all.
Separate studies in 2019, meanwhile, found that fewer people purchased over-the-counter (OTC) sleep medications when they had legal access to cannabis and that many adult-use consumers at the time said they used marijuana for the same reasons medical cannabis patients did: to help with pain and sleep.
A study conducted earlier in the year found that CBD can be added to skin care products to improve their anti-aging, antioxidant and wound healing properties.
The study concluded that CBD has many characteristics which can be used in the development of topical cosmeceutical product, for example, sun protection, hair products, and wound healing.
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