How to Choose a CBD Product Dosage Depending on Your Goals
Since CBD is still a relatively new product, finding a consistent answer to the question of how much CBD to take for a given condition isn’t easy. Recommendations really are all over the place.
Making things more complicated, what studies that have been done on CBD use wildly different doses. Some as low as 2mg, while others have used doses exceeding 1,000mg a day!
What follows is the culmination of my research on the topic of what the right CBD dosage is depending on your goals. While this shouldn’t stand as gospel, it should be enough to set you on the right track to effectively dosing CBD to get the results you’re after.
Choosing Your CBD Dosage
Choosing the right amount of CBD to take varies considerably, depending on a variety of different factors. These include:
- Body Weight: Someone that weighs 200 pounds is going to need more CBD than someone considerably lighter
- Why you’re using it: Research on CBD has found that different doses work better depending on what you’re using it for. For example, when researchers used CBD to treat psychosis, they used doses ranging in the 1,000s of milligrams. On the lower end of the spectrum, The Arthritis Foundation recommends starting with just a few milligrams
- Body chemistry: Certain genetic factors affect how your body processes CBD
- Product type: CBD is available in many different product forms. Each product is absorbed differently by your body, which means you may need to take more of, say, a CBD gummy, to notice similar effects to what’s achieved when using a CBD tincture
- Product strength: CBD products like tinctures and capsules are available in different strengths, further complicating CBD dosing
As you can see, it’s nearly impossible to give a one-size-fits-all answer for how much CBD someone should take. Finding the right dose will take a little trial and error.
The best course of action to find out how much CBD you need is to start with a low dose and then slowly increase it until it starts working for you.
Some general starting points on how much CBD you should take are as follows:
For Pain
Studies that used CBD to treat chronic pain have used doses ranging from 2.5mg all the way up to 600mg per day.
For all-day pain relief, it’s best to space out your CBD dosage, taking 3 equal doses throughout the day. To start, try 10mg 3 times per day. If after a week, your pain hasn’t subsided, try increasing by 5mg per week, until you notice your pain subsides.
For Inflammation
The CBD dose recommendations for reducing inflammation are basically the same as for pain. Taking smaller doses throughout the day, starting at around 10mg each, is a good starting point. Increase from there, weekly, until you notice relief.
For Anxiety
When researchers used CBD to treat anxiety in one study, doses ranged from between 300 and 600mg. From personal testimonies, most people have success with much lower doses.
Daily doses of between 40 and 80mg are more than enough for most people to treat a moderate case of anxiety. Trying splitting your CBD dose into 2 20mg doses per day to start. Increase your dose by 5mg each week, until you notice relief.
For Sleep
Studies on CBD for sleep used doses of between 40mg and 160mg.
It’s recommended that CBD be taken 30 minutes to 2 hours before bed. To start, try 15 to 20mg. If after a week your sleep hasn’t improved, increase the dose by 10mg a week until it does.
Wrapping Up
Figuring out the right dose of CBD depending on your goal is far from an exact science at this point. If there’s one thing to take away from all this, it is that you should start with a low dose of around 10mg, and slowly increase from there until you notice relief. With a little trial and error, CBD has proved effective for many when treating a variety of conditions.