I knew CBD [1] was having quite the moment, but I didn't know how much of a moment until I saw CBD being sold at the airport and the grocery store! It's everywhere [2] — in tinctures, drinks, gummies, protein bars, lotions for sore muscles, snacks — and I've tried them all. I've also smoked CBD, so when DaVinci [3] sent me a vaporizer and CBD flower, I was excited to try it.
The Experiment
I wanted to find out how vaping CBD at night would affect both my sleep and my early morning workouts. I vaped CBD every night for a week and this is what happened. Note that I do not take CBD regularly, so this was the first time I'd be taking it for seven days straight.
How Do You Vape CBD?
After grinding the CBD flower, open the vaporizer and carefully tap the grinder so the ground up CBD falls in. Gently use your fingertip to push it into the little hole you can see on the right. Close the lid and press the button five times — this heats up the moisture in the CBD flower, which creates the vapor that you inhale.
You can choose how hot you want it — I did medium heat — and once the lights stop blinking and it vibrates, you know it's ready. Then you press your lips against the end with the hole and suck in slowly. When you exhale, you'll see vapor come out. I did about three to five inhales, depending on how I felt.
How Did Vaping CBD Affect My Sleep?
What I like about vaping versus ingesting CBD (like a tincture or a gummy) is that you experience the effects right away. I immediately felt a very subtle sense of calmness, nothing overwhelming like when I vape marijuana. Subtle is the key word here.
I vaped about 20 minutes before getting in bed, read for a little bit, and then turned off the lights and snuggled under the covers. My body felt relaxed and ready to fall asleep, which happened very quickly — faster than it normally takes me to fall asleep. I slept well, but I don't have issues sleeping, so I didn't notice any difference.
How Did Vaping CBD Affect My Workouts?
Since I work out early in the morning between 5:30 and 9 a.m., I was curious to see how I'd feel after a night of vaping CBD. For comparison, when I've vaped marijuana before bed (which isn't very often; about once or twice a month), I've woken up a little groggy and slow-moving. But after vaping CBD, I felt as awake and energized as I normally feel, so my workouts were unaffected. I was still ready to kick ass at CrossFit, balance in yoga, and had endurance for runs.
Will I Continue Vaping CBD Before Bed?
Although I enjoyed the experience, I don't plan on vaping before bed every night. I will use it if I ever have trouble sleeping as it really did help me fall asleep faster, but it definitely won't be an every night kind of thing.
To be honest, I'm actually still a little nervous about the effects of vaping [4] on my lungs and body, as I used to suffer from asthma in my 20s. But I'm also a very clean-cut person when it's comes to this kind of thing. I rarely drink (a few drinks a year, maybe), I've never smoked a cigarette in my life, and as I mentioned before, I use marijuana maybe once or twice a month, but that's only because it's now legal here in Vermont.
I will say that I preferred vaping CBD over ingesting it, so if you're looking for a faster result, and you enjoy vaping for the experience, I would definitley try it yourself.