Traveling across time zones may sound exciting, but jet lag can quickly dim that excitement. Sleepless nights, groggy mornings, and out-of-sync body rhythms make even the best trips into exhausting experiences. Like many travelers before me, I sought natural ways to soothe this discomfort – that’s when I discovered CBD’s potential in helping reset my biological clock and provide the restful nights I desperately craved wherever my travels took me.
Understanding Jet Lag: Understanding Why Your Body Is Feeling Off
Jet lag occurs when your internal clock, or circadian rhythm, misaligns with the time zone you are visiting. Flying east can often feel worse as your body adjusts to shorter days; this mismatch usually leads to insomnia at night and sleepiness during the day – your body still thinks it is operating on home time zone time and makes sleeping hard when it should be daytime back there!
Crossing time zones disrupts our natural rhythm, using light and darkness as cues for when to be awake or asleep. Crossing these borders disrupts this natural cycle when sunrise or set occur at times your body was not expecting; symptoms may include trouble sleeping, early awakenings, fatigue, difficulty focusing, mood shifts headaches and even digestive problems; these effects could persist for several days depending on how many time zones were traversed and your response to disruption.
How CBD Supports Sleep Naturally
CBD (cannabidiol) is an intoxicant-free compound found in hemp that interacts with our bodies’ endocannabinoid system to aid sleep, mood regulation, pain management, and immune responses. The system has receptors throughout our bodies; CBD works indirectly with them to create balance and promote well-being.
CBD’s relaxing properties allow many to utilize it to improve sleep quality, creating an ideal environment for falling and staying asleep when their internal clock has been disrupted by travel. By encouraging a calm mind and relaxed body, CBD helps your body transition more easily into restful states, reducing cortisol release as a stress hormone that keeps people awake at bedtime. Thus, CBD creates the ideal conditions to help fall and remain asleep at nighttime.
Why CBD Is an Effective Treatment for Jet Lag
Jet lag affects multiple systems within your body, and CBD is uniquely equipped to address them all simultaneously. Not only does CBD help with sleeping, but it can restore equilibrium when your body feels disoriented.
CBD can influence serotonin levels, which regulate mood and sleep. This can be especially useful if traveling alone or feeling anxious about an impending journey. Its anti-inflammatory properties help ease physical tension from long flights, such as stiff necks or sore backs. All these effects together allow your body to transition more gently into its new time zone.
CBD benefits can be seen in various ways, including:
- Sleep Disorders: Aromatherapy may assist the body’s natural wind-down process and extend total sleeping time.
- Stress and Anxiety: CBD stimulates serotonin receptors, helping you relax more and reducing pre-bedtime racing thoughts.
- Digestive Discomfort: Travel often disrupts eating patterns. CBD may help ease digestive discomfort by reducing inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.
- Body Aches: Sitting for long hours in close quarters can be stressful and cause physical tension and soreness to surface, but CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties can provide much-needed relief from discomfort.
CBD offers an effective remedy for jet lag recovery by treating its physical and psychological repercussions simultaneously.
How I Use CBD to Stay Rested While Traveling
CBD while traveling requires some careful thought. I learned that timing and choice of product matter just as much as dosage. Through trial-and-error, I created a personal routine that works across flights of all lengths and time zones.
Before flying, I take a small CBD dose 30-60 minutes before boarding. This helps me ease any pre-travel anxiety while relaxing my body for any possible naps. On long-haul flights that span multiple time zones, depending on how I feel midway through, I may take another small dose during midflight as needed.
Once I arrive, my goal is to adjust to local time quickly. If it’s evening at my destination, CBD helps my body unwind and prepare for sleep even though it might feel like morning back home. In the mornings, however, I take in natural sunlight for the best results and to help reset my internal clock.
My daily routine looks like this:
- 1 hour before boarding: Take a small dose of CBD to maintain calmness and relaxation.
- During flights of eight or more hours, an optional second small dose may be beneficial if you are experiencing tension or restlessness.
- Evening at destination: Take one standard dose an hour before bedtime to promote restful sleep.
Over time, I discovered that keeping to this schedule enabled me to adapt faster and sleep better in new environments.
What to Consider When Selecting CBD for Travel
Since you’ll be dealing with several factors, including airport security, legal regulations, and physical convenience, it helps to be prepared.
Here is what I suggest taking into consideration:
- Form: Not all CBD products are made the same, and selecting the best CBD for sleeping while traveling takes more thought than grabbing the first option you see. CBD comes in various forms, such as oils, capsules, gummies, and topicals. Oils offer fast-acting and easy dosage; capsules discreetly make travel-friendly dosing; and gummies provide convenience and taste without directly disturbing sleep. Topicals provide targeted pain relief while not directly impacting restful nights’ rest.
- Dosage: For those new to CBD, start small—typically 10-15 mg—and gradually increase. Everyone responds differently, so it’s wise to err on the side of caution when starting out.
- Third-Party Testing: When purchasing CBD products, always opt for those certified by independent labs to ensure they contain the stated amount of CBD and are free from harmful contaminants.
- Legality: CBD laws vary by country and state, so always conduct thorough research before travelling abroad to ascertain if bringing cannabis is allowed by customs authorities and whether this could result in confiscation or additional penalties from customs agents.
By doing your research and planning ahead, you can avoid unpleasant surprises on your trip—no airport delays or ineffective products will keep your attention.
Simple Sleep Strategies to Implement With CBD
CBD plays an integral part in my jet lag strategy, yet I recognize its effectiveness when combined with other sleep-supportive habits. You cannot depend on CBD alone—it must form part of an overall toolbox to aid natural recovery processes within the body.
Here are a few strategies that have proven remarkably successful:
Shift Your Schedule Early: In the days before travel, adapting to your destination’s time zone by shifting sleep and wake times helps lessen any shock to your system and can reduce jetlag symptoms.
Maximize Morning Light: Exposing yourself to natural sunlight early in the day can help reset your circadian rhythm, so take some time outside shortly after awakening for a walk or start your day by visiting an early-bird cafe!
Avoid large meals before bed: As digestion slows during restful sleep, eating late meals can disrupt restful slumber and cause discomfort.
Avoid screens before bed. Blue light from phones or laptops suppresses melatonin production in the body, which helps set you up for restful slumber.
Use sleep tools: Earplugs, sleeping masks, and white noise apps can all be valuable tools for blocking out unfamiliar noises and fostering an ideal sleeping environment.
CBD can be powerful, yet it is not a silver bullet. These adjustments help reinforce the signals your body needs to get back on track.
Conclusion
Travel doesn’t need to come at the cost of jet lag. By adding CBD into my travel routine, I have discovered an effective and natural solution that supports my body while helping me sleep in unfamiliar locations. Combined with simple habits and some forward planning, CBD has helped me feel more energized, alert, and rested no matter the time zone I land in. If jet lag has been slowing you down, consider how your approach could change by choosing something that works with rather than against your body.
