How to Take CBD Oil 101: How to figure out your ideal CBD oil dosage, how to use CBD oil
How to Take CBD Oil 101: if you’ve ever wondered how to take CBD oil from the right dosage to what to do with it in your mouth
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Did you just buy CBD oil and realize there’s no dosage instructions for how to take CBD oil on the package? How do you know how much CBD oil to take? How do you even take it? Here’s the information you wish was included with the product. This post will help you answer:
How do you figure out the proper dosage of CBD oil? How many milligrams of CBD should I take?
How do you take CBD oil?
It’s funny how the market is flooded with CBD options, but so few take the time to educate on dosage and exactly how to consume it. Whether it’s assumptions that consumers know how to use the product or a measure of leaving it up to each consumer to ‘choose their own adventure’, many people’s first experience with CBD oil is one of annoyance and confusion. Especially after spending so much money.
Why don’t some CBD companies list a dosage? Why is it just telling me how many milligrams of CBD are in the container?
Because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no official Recommended Daily Intake value (RDI- you’ll recognize this acronym from the back of some packages for items like Vitamin C or Iron). Therefore…there’s no official regulated serving size for CBD.
How do I know how much CBD oil to take? What’s a dosage?
Some companies list a recommended dosage. It could say ‘take two droppers’ or ‘take one teaspoon’. From here you can calculate how many milligrams are in the recommended serving from the company.
Take the total CBD milligrams listed on the bottle and divide by total milliliters in the bottle. Since most droppers hold 1 milliliter of fluid, you can assume the resulting number will tell you how many milligrams are in each dropper.
Example: 300 mg CBD bottle divided by 30 mL= 10 milligrams per dropper
But in general, a dosage, whatever it might be, might not be right for you. Or it might be right for you, but not your friend and therein lies the confusion. CBD works differently for everyone depending on weight, what your focus is for usage (anxiety, sleep, pain, etc), your gender and just how your body reacts to things. It’s going to take trial and error to find the right dosage, and to be honest, that might make people jump ship before they’ve figured out their CBD sweet spot. Even then, throughout your entire life, your dosage needs may shift (hormones change, needs change etc).
As a starting point, start low and adjust incrementally. Don’t move from a CBD dosage of 15 milligrams to 60 milligrams overnight. Take your time to find out what’s just right. Keep going. Keep records. You can definitely figure this out.
The general starting point recommendation for CBD dosages is between 1-6 milligrams of CBD per 10 pounds of body weight and taking into account pain level or other ailment severity.
Example: a 160 pound person might start at a dosage of 16 milligrams but could need 96 milligrams.
That’s a pretty big range, right? No two people are the same. Your dosage is for you.
How can I tell if I’m taking the right amount of CBD?
Not to be cheesy, but the more you know yourself, the more CBD will work for you. If you’re aware on a daily level, how your body feels, how your mood feels, how you’re sleeping, you’ll be able to tell more finite changes than someone else. If you’re in touch with your body, you’ll figure this out faster.
Keep a log of your dosage each day and how it affects your mood, pain, sleep etc. In fact, we kind of thought this was so important we made this for you to download: get the Finding Your CBD Dosage Sweet Spot worksheet.
It’s important to remember over the span of your life, your CBD needs may change. Your endocannabinoid system receptors change as you age, so what worked for you at 25, might not be right for you at 45.
print your CBD Dosing Worksheet
Can I take too much CBD? Can I overdose on CBD?
Too much of anything is no longer a good thing. Taking too much CBD is expensive, and studies show once you pass a certain threshold for symptoms like anxiety, a dosage of CBD beyond that point no longer helps.
To answer your actual question, studies found that chronic high doses up to 1,500 mg/day (seriously) were tolerated by humans but it did have side effects (inhibited hepatic drug metabolism for example). Available clinical data suggests that CBD, a big range of CBD dosages, is safe for humans.
This is study is not a green light to go ham on a bottle of CBD.
There are also studies that show you don’t build up a tolerance to CBD, requiring you to take more and more.
Got it. So do I swallow CBD oil? How do I use it?
Sublingual. Under the tongue.
Because the area under your tongue is packed with areas of access to your bloodstream, it means CBD can be absorbed more efficiently. You’re not just digesting it. It’s estimated that sublingual CBD oil has higher actual bioavailability absorption rates compared to other methods (edibles).
Shake your CBD container, fill the dropper with your desired CBD amount, and drop the liquid under your tongue, ensuring it does not touch your mouth (sanitary reasons- you don’t want your saliva going back in the bottle).
Keep it under your tongue for around 60-90 seconds. Swallow residual product.
How long does it take CBD oil to take effect?
Sublingual CBD oil will work between 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on your body and the quality of the product. We’ve tried multiple CBD brands and while some take 10 minutes others easily take double that amount of time. The annoying answer? “It depends”.
But what about CBD edibles? How about my CBD gummies or chocolate?
Great question. There are SO MANY different products on the market it would be foolish of me to try and cover this within this article. But, you can extrapolate what you saw here: is the CBD nanoliposomal (better bioavailability), what’s the dosage per ‘serving size’ of the food product? With that said, the absorption rate of CBD within edibles is different than a sublingual dosage.
The time it takes to ‘work’, the time it stays in your body…both different than with a sublingual CBD.
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