Cannabis has its fair share of attention, especially in recreationally legal states. A vast majority of the focus on cannabis research seems to center around the use of THC in marijuana. In recent years, though, THC’s cousin compound, CBD, has also been growing in notoriety. And today, we’re going to explore one of CBD’s many potential uses. Can you use CBD for energy?
THC is the compound associated with getting high. It’s what marijuana is traditionally harvested for and it’s how cannabis gained its popularity to the general public. But this is only a single aspect of a plant that has a variety of applications.
On the other hand, CBD’s a cannabis compound often found in hemp and doesn’t provide the user with a high. Instead, it interacts with the brain to produce effects that, categorically, is on the opposite side of the spectrum.
With these differences, you might find yourself asking, “If THC can make someone sleepy, can you use CBD for energy?”
It’s a question that professional researchers, as well as users, are hoping to answer through rigorous new studies. And even though CBD is relatively new to the field, the results we see forming look beyond promising.
Can You Use CBD for Energy Directly?
This is what most people are interested in. The human brain is capable of using a wide variety of chemical compounds as a source of fuel. But is CBD one of them?
Naturally, protein and carbs provide all-day energy. They act as the main fuel we need to function.
Caffeine, natural sugar, and other similar substances already have an established history of giving you an energy boost. At least, sometimes. Everyone is different, so some people find these energy-boosting substances have the opposite effect. Ever get sleepy even though you just had a full cup of coffee? It may not perk you up like you think it does! Fortunately, it looks like CBD might be a different contender.
Other things interact with our system in a way that suppresses the chemical signals that make us feel tired or sleepy without actually producing new energy. These let us go longer without real revitalizing effects and we still feel tired at the end of its impact.
Looking at the Facts
Research regarding the full array of CBD’s effects on the human body is still a growing field. As such, there’s yet to be a definitive guide on what all cannabidiol is capable of. However, the research we do have shows a lot of potential for the cannabinoid.
For example, a 2014 study supports the hypothesis that CBD can work as a wake-promoting agent.
Essentially, CBD acts as a dopamine-increasing agent. Dopamine affects things like mood, heart rate, the ability to learn, and even motivation.
Let’s say you have naturally low levels of dopamine. By using CBD for energy, the increase in dopamine helps you feel more alert and focused throughout the day.
While this won’t replace something like the effects of coffee outright, it may help with sustained energy nonetheless!
CBD works throughout our endocannabinoid system to help us achieve homeostasis. The balancing out of low levels of dopamine may be the main leading cause of how it can make you feel more awake throughout the day.
Doesn’t CBD Help You Sleep?
This is where confusion can happen for people that want to utilize the potential benefits of CBD for wakefulness. CBD is often touted as a sleep aid that promotes a cozy, drowsy effect. This is also true.
The overlap is the central focus of a large amount of research surrounding the effects of CBD on the brain. These effects seem to be dose-dependent, which means the amount you use can change its effect.
Low doses of CBD, around the 15mg mark, have been found to have an energizing effect. Meanwhile, larger doses promote sleepiness in users.
How CBD potentially provides energy isn’t limited to the idea that your body metabolizes it as fuel. The benefits being researched are actually much more nuanced.
So, Then — How Can You Use CBD for Energy?
As mentioned previously, using CBD for energy is a nuanced and new subject. Research is ever-growing and the wider picture of how CBD interacts with the body is constantly finding new connections.
Some of these connections have to do with the potential widespread impact CBD has on certain health issues. Since some of these health issues are known to drain energy or impact your wakefulness, they go hand in hand.
Not all wakeful benefits come from a direct input, such as eating or getting a sugar rush.
Wakefulness and feeling alert can also come from mitigating the negative effects of underlying health issues.
Things like anxiety, poor sleep, inflammation, and pain are all culprits for sapping the motivation and vitality out of someone.
More often than not, these issues directly correspond with our inability to stay focused or feel motivated.
This is where CBD comes in and truly shines. Studies about CBD’s effect on our sleep and wake cycle, restful sleep, and regulating neurochemical imbalances are gaining ground daily. Each of these aspects affects an individual’s overall performance every day.
Let’s look at how you can use CBD for energy to get the most out of your day.
More Focus
Work burnout is one of the most highly cited reasons most people feel exhausted. Sluggish response times and brain fog are both notable side effects of the stress associated with burnout.
CBD is observed as a natural calming agent. Research on the subject helps reinforce this idea.
This holds the potential in mitigating the negative effects of intense workdays. Free up the brain to focus on the task at hand instead of using up valuable energy on overthinking in the background.
Less Anxiety
Anxiety is an all too common problem for a large segment of the population today. Anxiety by itself is responsible for a multitude of negative effects on the body. These can include digestive issues, joint pain, nausea, feelings of unease, fatigue, and lightheadedness among many others.
But according to the research conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), CBD has shown promising results in combating the effects of anxiety. Study subjects exhibited lower levels of anxiety-based behavior. Effects on their body were observed to have been reduced as well, such as a lessening of rapid heart rate.
While more studies need to be done on human subjects and generalized anxiety disorder, CBD is proving to be a powerhouse in regulating the body stress that anxiety causes. With this as a factor, those suffering anxiety may find themselves more relaxed and energetic without the impact of anxiety causing fatigue.
Improved Mood
Mood instability can cause a massive drain on anyone. With highs and lows peaking at irregular moments, the after-effects can leave those experiencing it exhausted and drowsy. Much like our fight-or-flight response, it takes a lot of energy to fluctuate up and down emotionally.
Individuals dealing with this can find themselves completely worn out, even when only moderate activity has been happening. This is due to the deregulation of serotonin and dopamine in the brain.
A study published in 2018 suggested that CBD doesn’t impact how much serotonin was present in the subject, but instead appeared to positively affect- how the brain was responding to the serotonin already there. This could level out the mood of someone suffering the effects of mood swings or depression.
A separate study in the same year showed CBD to have a “ clear anti-stress effect” under observation. This leads researchers to believe CBD is a strong candidate for reducing stress levels that come with anxiety and depression.
So, in conclusion, one way you’re using CBD for energy is by using it to help improve your overall mood. When you feel better each day, you stop wasting energy on the up-and-down of your mood.
Better Sleep
Between June 2016 and May 2018, a study was conducted on cannabis and its effect on sleep insomnia. The study consisted of 409 participants who rated their insomnia on a scale of 1 to 10 with a median score of 6.6. 
The study covered multiple types of cannabis use including vape, pipe, and rolled. At the conclusion of the study the participants were again asked to rate their insomnia symptoms and what was found was a decrease in the average score from 6.6 to 2.2.
This 4.5 score decrease was an astonishing example of how cannabis holds the potential to help regulate the sleep cycle, even in people who are extremely affected by sleep-disturbing symptoms.
A separate study published in The Permanente Journal focused on 72 participants. These individuals suffered from poor sleep and anxiety symptoms. Each participant took a 25mg CBD capsule in the evening for sleep issues. Those who focused on anxiety took one in the morning.
Of those with problems sleeping, an astounding 66% were cited as having better sleep with fewer disturbances thanks to CBD. This suggests that CBD decreased sleep difficulties in many of the people participating.
With better sleep comes better energy for the day and less fatigue. Use CBD for sleep to, in turn, use CBD for energy.
One of the many potential benefits of CBD is that it could help users feel better rested and more energized with regular use. By mitigating sleep abnormalities, sleep problems can become a thing of the past!
Pain Relief
When it comes to pain, most people only think about the immediately noticeable aspects. How it feels, how it affects movement or interaction, and how to mitigate it. However, the impact of pain runs much deeper than that.
How pain feels is only the surface level. In the background, your body attempts to deal with whatever underlying issue is causing the pain. As a result, you get an increased heart rate, white blood cell aggregation, and inflammation, among other things.
This accumulation of damage and repair puts stress on the entire body. As such, it often leaves people irritable, tired, lethargic, or just all around fatigued.
One study looked at the inflammation-reducing properties CBD might have. The results indicate a correlation between CBD treatment and the reduction of inflammation through its interaction with the endocannabinoid system.
Reducing inflammation and pain opens up the body to use those energy reserves on the more important day-to-day tasks. CBD for energy can absolutely come in the form of lessening your bodily pain.
What Can You Combine with CBD for Energy?
This is an important question. CBD by itself doesn’t produce energy, but does it play well with compounds that do? The short answer is yes. CBD works in tandem with a secondary compound found in cannabis.
One of the most notable combinations is CBD and CBG. CBG is another compound found in cannabis. Although naturally found in small quantities, the amount needed to produce a noticeable effect requires concentration.
CBG and CBD: Together in Perfect Harmony
CBG itself is a cannabinoid found in low-THC-yielding, CBD-heavy strains (AKA hemp). This particular compound is non-psychoactive and actually acts as a buffer to THC. In some users, it can potentially alleviate the feeling of paranoia sometimes caused by higher levels of THC use.
Since CBG is much less of a priority in research, conclusive data is limited. What we do know is there seems to be a connection between CBG and users feeling more energetic and focused.
There are endless testimonials from people who have used CBG products and full-spectrum hemp items that utilize the entourage effect. This entourage effect comes from grouping cannabinoids together, like CBG and THC or CBG and CBD.
Among these testimonials are people claiming that they:
- Feel more energy throughout the day
- Get better rest at night
- Have less brain fog, and
- Possess less of a dependence on things like caffeine to get them through the daily routine
CBG and CBD activate the same receptors in the brain, so they often work together to promote mutually beneficial responses. Both being found naturally in the same plant mitigates the chances of a negative response between the two.
So, if CBD for energy isn’t working by itself for you, you might try adding in another cannabinoid, like CBG! The combination of CBD+CBG can be found in multiple forms, but our favorite is our full-spectrum CBD+CBG oil.
Wrapping Up: Can You use CBD for Energy?
In this guide, we learned that CBD may be used as a wake-promoting agent. In simpler terms, we might be able to use CBD for energy. Combining it with other stimulants, such as CBG or even caffeine, may help stimulate energy further.
Overall, everyone is different. You’ll need to try it out for yourself to see if you can use CBD for energy. Our best recommendation is to incorporate it into your daily routine. By taking CBD every day, at the same time each day, you can optimize its effects. Likewise, you’ll increase the chances that it improves your energy and provides other benefits.
We recommend taking no more than 15mg CBD per serving. It’s wise to take it in the morning since you’re using it for energy and wakefulness. However, it may work better taken in the afternoon as the lethargy after lunch hits you.
Keep in mind, it can take up to 4 weeks before you notice the more impactful effects CBD can provide. Give it time, be patient, and enjoy!