How Good Sleep Can Help Maintain Your Cool: CBD & Parenting

If you’re a parent, you probably know that having children can affect your sleep. But did you know that those sleep changes can in turn impact your parenting? Sleep deprivation can affect cognitive performance, but it can also make us more irritable and increase the risk of depression and accidents, all of which can make it harder to keep your cool when tackling the everyday challenges of parenting. Luckily, there are things you can do to promote better sleep quality and find more balance.

Understanding the Link Between Sleep, Mood and Parenting

How Sleep Affects Mood and Emotions

Few parents would argue the importance of patience when raising children. But a crucial component of emotional regulation and maintaining patience is sleep. Studies have shown that morning mood improves when REM-sleep is uninterrupted but worsens after a night of sleep deprivation.¹ Another study looking at the effects of sleep loss in medical residents found that sleep loss amplified the residents’ negative emotional reactions to disruptive events and reduced their positive emotions to goal-achieving events.²

Additionally, sleep deprivation can elevate stress levels – which can then make it even harder to sleep. In the American Psychological Association’s 2013 Stress in America Study, 21% of adults reported feeling more stressed when they did not get enough sleep and 38% reported feeling irritable after not getting enough sleep.³ In the same study, 52% of adults who slept fewer than eight hours a night reported losing patience or yelling at their children compared to 27% of adults who slept eight hours or more. And 43% of adults reported that stress had caused them to lie awake at night during the past month, with 49% of adults with high stress reporting they did not get enough sleep because their mind was racing.

Sleep’s Role in Cognitive Function

Sleep affects more than just patience and stress; it can affect your cognitive functioning too. One study looking at the effect of inadequate sleep on the ability of adults to do a working memory task found that participants performed worse after insufficient sleep.⁴ Another study found that participants who were restricted to six or fewer hours of sleep each night showed progressively worsening performance on cognitive tasks; after two weeks of this sleep restriction, their cognitive performance was similar to participants who were totally sleep deprived for 24 to 48 hours.⁵

When your cognitive functioning is reduced, it can negatively affect your memory, concentration, reaction time, decision making and problem-solving skills – all things you need when parenting.

Parenting Challenges and Sleep

Even when you know the importance of adequate sleep, actually getting it is easier said than done, especially when you’re a parent. Many parents anticipate sleep disruptions when they have a newborn, needing care throughout the night. But for many parents, sleep disruptions continue well past the newborn phase; young children frequently wake their parents up when they get sick or have a nightmare, and parents of teenagers often find that worries about their children (or their child’s ability to make it home by curfew) keep them awake at night.

But being a parent can impact your sleep in indirect ways too. Many parents use the time after their children have gone to bed to catch up on cleaning and other housework, or even just to watch the television shows they can’t watch in front of young children. With limited child-free hours in the day, it’s easy to feel like you need to take advantage of this window while you have it, but for many parents, doing so means your own bedtime gets pushed even later. Add in getting up early enough to get your kids ready for the day, and many parents find their window to sleep is already shorter, even before any middle-of-the-night interruptions.  

Consequences of Poor Sleep on Parenting

Most parents know the importance of patience when it comes to parenting. Whether it’s answering the same question for the fifteenth time or refereeing multiple upset children, keeping your cool can be a difficult task any day. And, as you’ve already seen, not getting enough sleep can lead to increased irritability, impatience and stress, making it that much harder to stay calm.

But the impact of sleep deprivation on your parenting goes further than that. Some research has shown that parents who are sleep deprived have a harder time expressing joy, with more difficulty showing happy facial expressions, voices that are more monotonic or flat, and faces that can appear sadder.⁶ And these emotional affects can be picked up by your children, especially younger children who are still learning how to communicate and express emotion.

The Role of CBD in Promoting Quality Sleep

You know the importance of getting enough sleep, but making it happen is a whole other thing. Luckily, there are things you can do to promote quality sleep that are more effective than lying in bed and watching the clock tick later and later.

CBD and Sleep: How it Works

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a naturally-occurring, non-intoxicating compound in the hemp plant that shows significant potential for addressing multiple concerns impacting sleep duration and quality.

CBD works by interacting with your body’s endocannabinoid system, or ECS. Your ECS is a network of receptors and messengers that regulate many bodily functions, including mood, stress responses, emotional regulation, memory and more. CBD works by mimicking the messengers your body makes and influencing the receptors in your ECS, supporting the regulatory functions of your ECS and helping these processes find balance.

What does that mean for sleep? One recent systematic review, which critically evaluated 34 studies looking at the effect of CBD on insomnia, suggested that CBD may be beneficial in alleviating symptoms of insomnia, though it also emphasized the need for additional research on the topic.⁷ And in a December 2019 customer survey, 89% of CBD users reported that CBD helped calm their mind, and 89% of CBD users reported that CBD helped them sleep better.

Benefits of CBD for Parenting

Improving Sleep Quality to Enhance Mood Stability

Sleeping poorly can make it harder to keep your cool, but luckily improving sleep quality and quantity can make it easier to stay calm. One meta-analysis, which looked at different controlled trials reporting on the effects of improved sleep on mental health, found that improving sleep led to improved mental health, decreased rumination and decreased stress.⁸

And staying even-tempered is important. Studies have shown that parents’ emotion regulation is directly linked to their children’s emotion regulation⁹ and that regulation may be transmitted from one generation to the next.¹⁰

CBD for Stress and Relaxation

If you feel overwhelmed at times, you aren’t alone. As wonderful as it is, being a parent can also be stressful. Fortunately, CBD can help reduce stress and promote relaxation too. In a blind survey answered by CBDistillery customers, 88% of CBD users reported that CBD helps with mild or temporary anxiety, and 76% of CBD users reported preferring CBD to alcohol for relaxation.

And not only can reducing stress levels help you fall asleep easier, but it can help you be more present in your daily life as well.

Types of CBD Products for Sleep

If you’re thinking about trying CBD to help you sleep, it’s important to consider what product will work best for you. CBD products come in many different forms, including oils, gummies, softgels and topicals. Oil tincturesmake it simple to take the exact serving of CBD or other cannabinoids you want, and many people find that taking it orally (holding it under their tongue for 45-60 seconds before swallowing) results in a quicker onset time than ingesting it. Other people, however, prefer softgels, which offer greater convenience and portability without the need the measure an oil. If you’re looking for a tasty bedtime option, then CBD gummies are for you! Gummies offer consistent serving sizes with tasty flavors. And CBD gummies from CBDistillery are vegan and contain all-natural flavors and colors, organic tapioca syrup and organic cane sugar instead of corn syrup, and no artificial preservatives!

CBD gummies can also be made from full spectrum hemp extract, broad spectrum hemp extract, or CBD Isolate. Full spectrum hemp extract is a full-plant extract containing naturally occurring CBD, as well as other minor cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids and less than 0.3% THC. Full spectrum hemp extract allows you to fully experience the Entourage Effect, the synergistic way that the different plant components in hemp have a greater effect when working together than they do individually. Broad spectrum hemp extract undergoes some processing that maintains the hemp plant’s CBD, minor cannabinoids and terpenes, but removes THC (though trace amounts less than 0.01% may remain). CBD Isolate undergoes additional processing to remove all other molecules, resulting in pure CBD that is THC-free.

Establishing a Healthy Sleep Routine

Combining CBD with Sleep Hygiene Practices

While many people find that CBD helps them sleep better, practicing good sleep hygiene can offer an additional boost. Keeping a consistent sleep schedule and following the same bedtime routine each night helps signal your body that it’s time to start winding down and preparing to sleep. Adding relaxing steps, like a short meditation, sipping herbal tea or taking a warm shower, to your routine can offer an additional chance to unwind from your day and prepare for sleep. Dimming the lights and avoiding phone and television screens can help your mind start to shift to sleep mode as well.

Balancing CBD with Other Sleep Aids

Some people seeking natural ways to sleep better seek out gummies that contain both CBD and other sleep aids, like melatonin, CBN or botanicals like valerian root and ashwagandha. Melatonin helps reset your circadian rhythm, and cannabinol (CBN), another non-intoxicating cannabinoid, helps you stay asleep. CBDistillery’s shhh CBN + CBD Sleep Gummies are made to help you get the rest you need and wake up feeling refreshed, without grogginess. CBDistillery’s CBN Sound Sleep Gummies are a THC-free and melatonin-free way to add CBN to your routine and support your natural sleep cycle.

At CBDistillery, we stand behind our products. Verified third-party testing and Certificates of Analysis for each individual product batch give you confidence in what you’re buying. And if you have questions about which product is right for you, you can check out more than 49,000 verified customer reviews or reach out to our customer service professionals. Please don't hesitate to contact us today with any concerns. As always, if you have medical concerns, please check with your healthcare provider so they can advise you about your specific medical situation.

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