When the pressure is on, I live by Newton’s 1st Law: an object in motion stays in motion. I’ve learned that if I stop to sit, I may never get up again. So I don’t stop all day, but then it hits me like a freight train at night. That’s when insomnia strikes.
Typically, one or a combination of three things happens. One is that it takes me a long time to fall asleep. Two is I wake up in the middle of the night, and it takes me a long time to fall back to sleep. The third and worst is when I wake up in the middle of the night but NEVER fall back to sleep. As a health coach, I know how important sleep is, which only makes matters worse as I then stay awake because I’m anxious about not sleeping.
This is known as acute insomnia, and it’s typical in times of higher than usual stress. It’s also common after long haul travel to different time zones, especially when red eye flights are involved. Cognitive behavioral therapy has helped to limit these episodes from becoming a chronic issue, but when acute insomnia does strike, I could use some extra help. While spending a weekend together at our family’s lake house, my cousin suggested I try her CBD oil.
When it comes to CBD, I was both an early adopter and a heavy skeptic. After CBD first became legal, I bought some Lord Jones products to try. As CBD became infused into anything and everything, it began to seem gimmicky so the Lord Jones products sat on my shelf for a couple of years.
Fast forward to me trying my cousin’s CBD oil, which was FABCBD. I was impressed by the results and decided to order it for myself. While I waited for that one to arrive, I found the neglected Lord Jones on my shelf and tried that. When that ran out, and the FABCBD still hadn’t come, I found another well-known brand in a local store. Then a friend of mine recommended the brand she uses. At this point, I decided I might as well do an experiment and ordered that one too.
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My CBD Experiment
Here’s a run down of my “experiment”. It’s very scientific, as you will see 😉. The first part was selection. I’m particular about what goes into my body, and CBD is no exception. The companies had to be transparent about quality and sourcing with no funky ingredients. The second part was dosage. The dose had to be the same to make it a fair comparison. I went with 20mg. Finally, I tried each one for three nights to ensure consistent results before giving my opinion.
The five brands I tested were: Lord Jones, FABCBD, Ned, Charlotte’s Web and Highline Wellness. Please note the specific outcome I wanted was for sleep, not general anxiety. My reviews reflect this perspective.
Here are the results from least effective to most effective.
Charlotte’s Web
This brand was highly recommended for its purity. I bought the 1800 mg bottle of the CBD oil in the chocolate mint flavor, which yields 90 servings for a 20mg dose. The price comes to $1.33 per dose, but they offer a 10% subscription discount, and at the time I purchased, they had a 25% off promotion.
Charlotte’s Web took the longest to ship, and relative to the other companies, I felt like there was very little communication from the company. Unfortunately, I also didn’t notice any benefit to sleep. It didn’t help me fall asleep or stay asleep.
Highline Wellness
Many of the influencers I follow on Instagram promote this brand. The quality checked out so I was “influenced” and bought some. At this point, I had wisened up to buy the largest concentration and then dose smaller to get more bang for my buck. I got the 3000mg bottle in the mint flavor. This works out to be only $.87 per serving, the most economical of the bunch. On top of that, they were having a 25% off sale when I bought it. They also have a 10% off welcome discount.
Highline Wellness shipped and arrived super fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t really notice an impact for sleep purposes. I suspect this is because it’s not a full spectrum product and would probably work better for general stress management or to help stay calm throughout the day.
Lord Jones
This is the only brand where I didn’t use an oil but the gumdrops because that’s what I had. The gumdrops each have a serving of 20mg, which made dosing super easy. They’re made with sugar so naturally, this tasted the best out of the bunch. Unfortunately, they’re also made with gelatin so they aren’t vegan. At $45 for 9 gummies, they’re also very pricey at $5 per serving. Due to the ingredients and cost, I wouldn’t repurchase this.
However, if none of those things deter you, I will say the gumdrops worked great to help me fall asleep and stay asleep. I slept deeply and soundly. In terms of effectiveness, they worked great for me, but because of the price and ingredients, Lord Jones drops to 3rd place.
FABCBD
Thanks to my cousin, this was my reintroduction to CBD in my life. I bought the 1200 mg bottle in the mint flavor. Taking a 20mg serving, this yields 60 servings total. At $99 for the bottle, this comes out to $1.65 per serving. I got mine during a Labor Day sale for a 20% discount. At the time I’m writing this, FAB also offers a 15% welcome discount.
This brand worked really well to help me fall asleep, even while at our family’s cabin where I typically have a hard time falling asleep because you can hear everything, and I’m such a light sleeper. Although I did still wake up at night, I went back to sleep easily. FABCBD wound up coming in a very close 2nd place.
Ned
My dear friend and fellow health geek raved about this brand so I had to try it for myself. I purchased the 1500mg bottle, which gives me 75 x 20mg servings. This comes out to $2.11 per serving, though they offer a 15% subscription discount. I want to note that there’s no “flavor” to this one, but I don’t mind. With the exception of Lord Jones, the other flavored ones barely covered up the hemp taste anyway.
This one is my favorite of the bunch. I fall asleep easily, most nights I don’t even wake up at all, but if I do, I fall right back to sleep. On top of that, their customer service is fantastic. For these reasons, Ned is my top choice to help with sleep.
Have you tried CBD? If so, what do you use it for?