The Importance of Sleep for Overall Health and Vitality

We all know that sleep is vital for good health, yet many of us still struggle to consistently get a good night’s rest.  

A combination of increasing screen time, longer working hours and the all too common ‘work hard, sleep later’ attitude has led to a global sleep crisis, with more than 1 in 3 American adults reporting not achieving the recommended daily hours of sleep.  

In the past, going without sleep in favor of working was seen as a sign of passion, hard work and motivation. But now it's increasingly being recognized for the damaging and harmful practice that it is.  

This month we want to help you optimize your sleep, and we’ve come up with a list of science-backed techniques to achieve this.  

1. The right duration

The number of hours you sleep each night strongly influences your cognitive function and mental health, as well as your physical health and longevity. More hours are not necessarily better, and can in fact be just as harmful as not enough sleep. Research has shown that 7 hours of sleep appears to be optimal for cognitive function and mental health.

2. Consistent timings

How much sleep you get is crucial, but when you sleep has a strong impact too. Going to bed and getting up at consistent times lowers your risk of chronic disease, and later sleep timing is associated with more harmful health effects. Being consistent with your bedtime is strongly linked to good cognitive performance.

3. Making the hours count

Not all sleep is created equal! Drinking alcohol or sleeping outside of your normal circadian rhythm, for example, will make your sleep far less restorative.

There are a range of metrics that can be used to gauge sleep quality, from the amount of time you spend in REM or deep sleep (the more the better), to how restless you are and how many times you wake up in the night (which you should aim to minimize).

Another factor which can reduce the restorative nature of your sleep is the amount of ambient light reaching your eyes each night. Studies have found that sleeping with even slightly elevated levels of light can disrupt your sleep and negatively impact physical and cognitive health. Achieving complete darkness in your bedroom is challenging, so we recommend using a sleep mask.

4. The 10-3-2-1 rule

• No caffeine 10 hours before sleep
• No food or alcohol 3 hours before sleep
• No more work (or water) 2 hours before sleep
• No screens 1 hour before sleep

CBDistillery and Sleep

What we love most about CBD is that it supports your natural sleep cycle. This means that you are still experiencing the full range of light to deep REM sleep all throughout the night, allowing you to wake up rested and energized rather than groggy or hungover like with other sleep aids.

Our sleep products also contain cannabinol, or CBN, alongside the CBD. CBN is a minor cannabinoid naturally occurring in the hemp plant that is known to promote restful sleep.

Our sleep products will put you to sleep and keep you asleep all night! According to participants in a 2021 study we conducted, our Shhh Distilled range of products have been shown to help consistent users achieve an extra hour of sleep per night on average.