Balancing Work and Family Life: The Role of CBD in Achieving Harmony

Working parents often feel like they're walking a tightrope stretched between two equally important aspects of their lives. With every step along that highwire, you're striving to excel in the career you rely on for your professional and financial stability while also tending to the physical and emotional needs of your family. It's a tough, often stressful balancing act. Your need to accommodate unexpected wobbles in one area of your life requires making adjustments and sacrifices in the other. 

Over time, the physical, mental, and emotional strain of this balancing act can leave you feeling like you're living in a continuous state of dissonance and discord. As your stress levels rise and sleep quality declines, you'll likely feel increasingly overworked, overwhelmed, and unfocused. What can you do to help restore balance and harmony? Consider adding CBD to your wellness routine – a plant element with the potential to help calm your mind, ease your tension, and get the rest you need for optimal resiliency. 

Why Balance Is Essential for Parental Health and Emotional Well-Being  

There are only 24 hours in a day. In an ideal world, that timeframe is easily divided between work, caring for your family, and your need for sleep. But that breakdown doesn't account for the time spent getting children ready for school, commuting to and from the office, or the downtime you need to recharge your batteries. Since most parents don't have the luxury of adapting their workweek to accommodate the complexities of family life, they sacrifice sleep and self-care.¹ Sound familiar? 

The end result is counterproductive. In a recent survey, 57% of working parents report feeling overwhelmed, emotionally detached from family life, and physically exhausted – symptoms suggesting stress-induced parental burnout.² No matter what they're doing, their minds are hyper-focused on what's not getting done.¹ That ongoing internal conflict can compound stress, impair productivity, and leave far too many parents feeling tense and irritable for hours, days, and weeks at a time.   

Why Parents Are Turning to CBD to Help Promote Essential Balance  

CBD (cannabidiol) is the most abundant of the many plant-sourced cannabinoids in hemp flower extract. According to decades of research, the active plant element interacts with more than 65 molecular targets, including the receptors of the serotonin, dopamine, and amma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) systems.³ Although GABA, serotonin, and dopamine play a vital role in mitigating and managing stress responses,⁴ most cannabis experts credit CBD's interaction with the endocannabinoid system (ECS) receptors for its impressive list of possible benefits for parents feeling overwhelmed. 

The interaction between your ECS messengers and their corresponding receptors helps regulate nearly every crucial component of physical health, cognitive function, and emotional well-being – everything from your mood, emotions, and stress responses to sleep cycle regulation, executive function, and the perception of pleasure and pain.⁵ Most experts believe supporting ECS function with CBD helps promote homeostasis.6 When internal and external stressors threaten essential balance, it's the processes of homeostasis that restore equilibrium. Parents struggling with work-life balance are taking notice – and reporting impressive results. 

CBD 101: Practical Tips for Integrating the Cannabinoid into Your Daily Life  

With little effort, you'll find numerous articles stressing the importance of work-life balance and multiple suggestions for achieving that goal. Some highlight the importance of prioritizing sleep and physical activity for de-escalating stress responses and suggest meditating to silence focus-impairing internal chatter. Others provide practical tips that include task delegation, various methods of improving organization, and creating clear boundaries between work responsibilities and home life.⁷ Although the advice itself is sound, it takes time to establish a consistent routine and for gradual changes to have a positive effect. That's where CBD factors into the equation. 

According to the results of a 2019 CBDistillery survey of 1,900 customers, 89% of our respondents report that CBD helps calm their minds. In fact, 82% prefer the effects of their favorite CBD oil tinctures, topicals, softgels, and gummies over meditation and 79% over yoga to relax and unwind. An impressive 88% report positive effects for mild or temporary anxiety, and 89% say CBD improves sleep. The versatility of hemp flower extract makes it easy to use throughout the day for optimal support. 

Starting Your Day with CBD  

The key to making CBD part of a stress-busting, focus-boosting routine is consistency. The easiest way to stay consistent is to make CBD part of your morning routine. CBD softgels might be your best bet if you're already in the habit of starting your morning with supplements. CBD oil tinctures, on the other hand, can be stirred into your morning coffee or a high-protein shake. For fuss-free administration, hold a serving beneath your tongue for 45-60 seconds, then swallow.  

Keeping the Effects Going Mid-Day 

Although individual results can vary depending on factors that include overall body composition and metabolism, most CBD users can expect the effects of their morning serving to last 6-8 hours. When you want to keep the impact of your morning CBD going strong, consider adding a second serving mid-day – maybe something portable like naturally flavored CBD gummies. You get a precise, premeasured amount of CBD in every fruit-flavored hemp supplement.   

Adding CBD to Your Nightly Routine   

If day-to-day stress keeps you from getting the restorative sleep you need to wake feeling refreshed and revitalized, try adding a serving of CBD into your nightly routine. If your sleep difficulties are compounded by discomfort after physical activity, consider pairing a CBD oil tincture or gummies with a liberal application of a CBD topical. Since the CBD does not absorb deeply enough to circulate in your bloodstream, topicals can be used alongside any other hemp-derived product you enjoy. 

Product Types: Choosing the Best Fit for Your Wellness Routine  

When using CBD to support your efforts to achieve work-life balance, the quality of the products in your wellness routine is infinitely more important than their form or flavor. Since hemp is an efficient, effective phytoremediator, choosing products that have been third-party batch-tested for heavy metals, pesticides, extraction residue, mold, mildew, and bacteria should be non-negotiable. 

Whether you're ordering online or shopping locally, don't buy any product without verifying every claim of third-party testing. Look for a Certificate of Analysis (COA). Although 75% of CBD brands claim their products are third-party tested, only about 13% batch test at least 90%.⁸ After confirming that you've found high-quality, third-party tested CBD, look for products made with the type of extract you want to try. You'll have three options to choose from. 

Full spectrum CBD Products  

Full spectrum CBD gives you hemp's many additional minor cannabinoids, terpenes, and other phytonutrients in the same ratio's nature intended, including a small amount of THC. The CBD to THC ratio minimizes the risk of intoxication, and the full array of cannabinoids and terpenes contributes to the potency-maximizing "entourage" effect cannabis plants are known for.⁹ 

Broad Spectrum CBD Products  

Broad Spectrum CBD products give you many of the same cannabinoids and terpenes as their full spectrum counterparts – with one important exception. The THC is reduced to non-detectable levels. Although broad spectrum products have the cannabinoids and terpenes needed to initiate an entourage effect, some (not all) CBD users feel that removing the cannabinoid diminishes its impact.¹⁰  

CBD Isolate Products  

CBD isolate powder is flavorless, odorless, and has 0% THC. While products made with the highly refined powder don't have the cannabinoids and terpenes needed to initiate an entourage effect, there's no reason to believe they won't have the impact you're looking for. Researchers publishing a 2020 report specified that most of the data used in their analysis reflected the effects of the "pure form" of CBD.¹¹ 

Discover How CBD Could Provide the Support You Need for Balance and Harmony 

Hemp-derived CBD is safe for most adults and is not habit-forming. The World Health Organization reports "no evidence of public health-related problems."12 But like any other plant oil or extract, side effects are possible. Some CBD users report dry mouth, nausea, diarrhea, unexpected fatigue, or appetite changes.¹³ The best way to minimize your risk is to start with a partial serving. Then, increase the amount you're using gradually in small increments. 

When you choose CBDistillery® products to help calm your mind, ease your tension, reclaim your focus, and feel more resilient, you can shop with confidence. Our products are non-GMO, naturally cultivated, made with 100% clean ingredients, and quality assured. You'll find a QR code linked to a downloadable Certificate of Analysis printed on every label. If you're leaning towards trying CBD but not quite sure where to begin, consider scheduling a personal consultation. 

References 

1. Cooks-Campbell A. (2023) How to Have a Good Work-Life Balance. BetterUp. 

2. Kaplan K. (2024) Q&A: Parental Burnout is Real. Here's What You Can Do About It. Los Angeles Times. 

3. Elsaid S, Foll B. (2020) The Complexity of Pharmacology of Cannabidiol (CBD) and Its Implications in the Treatment of Brain Disorders. 45 Neuropsychopharmacol 229-30 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-019-0518-1 

4. Berry J. (2024) What Are Neurotransmitters? Medical News Today. 

5. Mouslech Z, Valla V. (2009) Endocannabinoid System: An Overview of Its Potential in Current Medical Practice. 30(2) Neuro Endocrinol Lett 153-79. PDF 

6. Sallaberry C, Astern L. (2018) The Endocannabinoid System, Our Universal Regulator. 34(6) JYI 48-55. https://www.jyi.org/2018-june/2018/6/1/the-endocannabinoid-system-our-universal-regulator 

7. Birt J. (2023) 10 Tips for a Better Work-Life Balance. Indeed. 

8. Harrington A. (2021) 25% of CBD Products Are Not Tested for Purity. Forbes. 

9. Nahler G, Jones T, et al. (2019) Cannabidiol and Contributions of Major Hemp Phytocompounds to the "Entourage Effect"; Possible Mechanisms. J Altern Complement Integr Med 70(5) PDF download 

10. Wilkins T. (2022) What Is the Entourage Effect? How This Enhances CBD Effects. Marijuana Takers. 

11. Larsen C, Shahinas S. (2020) Dosage, Efficacy and Safety of Cannabidiol Administration in Adults: A Systematic Review of Human Trials. 12(3) J Clin Med Res 129-41 doi: 10.14740/jocmr4090 

12. World Health Organization. (2020) Cannabidiol (CBD) Critical Review Report. PDF https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/controlled-substances/whocbdreportmay2018-2.pdf?sfvrsn=f78db177_2 

13. Bergamaschi M, Mateus R, et al. (2011) Safety and Side Effect of Cannabidiol, a Cannabis Sativa Constituent. 6(4) Curr Drug Saf 237-49. https://doi.org/10.2174/157488611798280924