HOW MUCH CBD SHOULD I TAKE?
How Much CBD Should I Take?
There is no exact “right” amount of CBD to take in terms of how many milligrams you should be dosing on a daily basis. There are many factors to take into consideration when deciding what amount is effective. These include:
Age, Weight, Diet, Current symptoms, Method of consuming, CBD Use of a full-spectrum CBD or a CBD isolate, If you are a first time CBD userIf you are a previous cannabis user, Whether or not you have a tolerance built up, amongh others.
In this article, we’ll do our best to set you off on a path to finding an effective CBD dose that works for you. In other words, don’t let the question of ‘how much CBD oil do I take’ be an overly-complicated one. As you’ll see, it’s not all that difficult.
How Much CBD You Take Depends on What TYPE You’re Taking
Generally speaking, there are two main types of CBD oils out there: full-spectrum and CBD isolates.
Full-spectrum CBD oils incorporate the entirety of the raw plant material that the CBD is sourced from. In other words, in addition to containing the active CBD compound, a good full-spectrum oil will have other phytocannabinoids (such as CBG, CBC, CBN, etc), phytonutrients, terpenes, flavonoids, and omega acids included from the raw material.
CBD isolate, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like it is: the active CBD compound all by itself, with no additional compounds. The important question that needs to be addressed is which one is better?
Several studies have emerged in recent years showing that full-spectrum tinctures are generally more effective due to the full effect of cannabinoids. In other words, that CBD seems to be more potent and therapeutically effective when working alongside other natural compounds from the plant.
That being said, CBD isolates definitely have their place in the world of medicinal cannabis. If you’re just starting out using CBD oil and wondering how much to take, it’s typically recommended you start with a full-spectrum product rather than an isolate.
How Many Milligrams of CBD to Take
Once you’ve decided on a good, high-quality full-spectrum CBD oil (like Provida #shamelessplug), it’s time to decide how many milligrams to take. This is where things can get a little bit frustrating, as cannabis extracts can pose difficulties in terms of finding the perfect dose.
Every bottle of CBD oil you get will come with a graduated dropper, as well as general guidelines for dosing. Using a 600mg/30mL bottle of Provida CBD oil as a reference, a single 1 ML dose (40 drops) would equate to 20 mg of CBD.
FAST FACT: 40 drops of CBD oil = 1 mL. Thus, a standard 30 mL bottle containing 600 mg of CBD would contain .5 mg of CBD per single drop.
Generally speaking, if you are just starting out with CBD oil you’ll want to start out with a small dose and work your way up from there. This is because taking an excessive amount could actually be less effective from a therapeutic standpoint, rather than taking just a moderate or small dose.
By “small dose,” we’re talking between 3 mg and 5 mg of CBD to start out with. Again, using a 600mg/30mL bottle as a reference, instead of taking a full 20 drops of oil (which would equal 10 mg), you would want to start off with about six to 10 drops (each drop contains 0.5 mg of CBD, so two drops would equal 1 mg, and four drops would equal 2 mg).
Once you’ve taken this initial dose, wait several hours before taking another dose. Try and listen to your body as closely as possible for potential effects, as the “onset” of CBD is notoriously subtle. It can be beneficial to take multiple low doses of CBD a few times a day, rather than a single large dose.
What if You Don’t Feel Anything?
You’ll be unlikely to notice much (if any) effects from that initial 3 or 5 mg dose. However, you’ll want to stick with it for several days (3-5 days) before increasing your intake.
If you start increasing your dose right away, you’ll have no idea if the compounds are working with your body’s endocannabinoid system or not, and you may run the risk of “overloading” your receptors before they even have a chance to start working.
After several days, if you find that you still have not noticed any effects from the CBD, then try increasing your dose – but only in small increments.
For example, try a 5 mg dose taken two or three times per day (morning, afternoon, evening) if you don’t get anything from the single 3-5 mg dose. Also, as we mentioned earlier, it’s important to spread out your CBD intake over the course of the day in a few small doses, rather than using one large dose.
If you don’t notice anything from the 5 mg dose, then try increasing it to 7.5 mg, then 10 mg, then 12.5 mg, etc — until you start noticing positive effects.
Remember to Spread Out Your Doses!
It is important to spread those doses out over the course of the day; even if you get up to 15 or 20 mg without noticing any effects, keep administering three doses a day (i.e. 20 mg in the morning, 20 mg in the afternoon, 20 mg in the evening).
This not only gives your body time to adjust to the number of cannabinoid receptors it needs to ‘activate,’ but it also allows you to keep a keen eye on whether any effects are taking place or not.
It’s worth mentioning, however, that you may not need to take multiple doses per day – some people find that just a single morning dose will offer plenty of therapy to get them through the day. (Or if you’re taking CBD for sleep issues, that a single evening dose is all that’s needed to get you through the night).
Figuring out how many milligrams of CBD to take is a process that requires time, effort, and the ability to listen to your body. Don’t get frustrated, don’t overdo it, and most importantly of all, be patient.
Other Considerations
One thing about CBD that’s important to understand is that it affects everyone differently. This has to do with the fact that each and every one of us has a unique endocannabinoid system, and a unique makeup of CB-1 and CB-2 receptors throughout our bodies. While one person may experience extraordinary effects for their chronic pain using a 50 mg twice-a-day dose, another person with the same exact symptoms may experience far less.
Unfortunately, there are people who won’t experience any effects at all – no matter how much CBD oil they take. This could be due to the fact that they have no active cannabinoid receptors in the afflicted system or body part that they’re trying to treat. The receptors that are there may also be suffering from some form of dysfunction that’s not allowing them to interact with the CBD compound.
There is still much to be learned in terms of proper dosing for CBD. It is common for people to take doses of CBD much larger than those that we have been mentioning throughout the article.
For instance, while we said earlier that “most” people find decent therapy with doses between 10 and 75 mg (taken once, twice, or three times daily), there are plenty of people who self-treat with doses well over 100 mg (taken multiple times a day).
CBD Oil Mg Conversion
In order to know the dosing/serving size of any bottle of CBD oil, we must know two things: 1) Total CBD content that’s in the bottle (mg), 2) Size of the bottle (mL).
Since there are 40 drops in 1 mL of CBD oil, you can multiply the size of the bottle by 20 in order to get the total number of drops in the whole bottle. For example, a 30 mL bottle would contain 600 total drops (30 x 40 = 1200).
In order to figure out the amount of CBD you’re getting in a single drop, divide the total mg of CBD in the bottle by the total number of drops in the bottle.
For example, say you have a 10 mL bottle of CBD oil that contains 300 mg total CBD. We know that there are 400 total drops in the bottle (10 mL x 40 drops in a single mL = 400 drops total). Then, we divide 300 mg by 400 drops to get 0.75 mg of CBD per single drop.
Final Thoughts
Another thing that most new CBD users don’t realize is that cannabinoids are compounds with biphasic effects. This means that rather than producing effects in a predictable, linear path (i.e. the more CBD you take the stronger the results), low and high doses of the compound actually have opposite effects.
In other words, if you’re taking CBD to help you sleep, you could totally exacerbate your symptoms if you take too small of a dose. Small doses of CBD are known to have stimulating effects, while large doses of CBD are known to have sedative effects.
CBD is a wonderful, safe, therapeutic, 100% natural plant compound that we genuinely hope you can experience the positive effects of. And after all this, if you’re still wondering how many milligrams to take, shoot us a message or leave a comment below and we’ll help you out.