How does sleep affect the endocannabinoid system

The endocannabinoid system is a group of lipids that is responsible for a range of physiological processes in our body, including appetite control and the desire that we feel to eat fat-rich foods with a high energy and calorie content. Science has now shown that cannabinoids (the organic compounds present in cannabis), among them CBD especially, imitate the activity that this system develops.

A study published in the magazine ‘Sleep’ indicates that a night of sleep deficit creates an increase in the chemical compounds created by our body that make food seem more appealing and gratifying. For the investigation, 14 volunteers were encouraged to have four days of very deficient sleep. Following these days, it was possible to show how the levels of these substances increased until they reached much higher concentrations, which led the subjects to snack between meal times or eat in a much unhealthier way.

It was concluded that people who suffer a deficit in their number of hours of sleep or have poor quality sleep over a long period of time are more likely to gain weight. This is a tendency that is also accompanied by greater difficulties when it comes to trying to lose weight or to controlling blood sugar levels.

In this way, the lack of sleep has a direct effect on some aspects of our endocannabinoid system, such as the fact that it causes our feeling of appetite to grow as well as our desire to eat food with a high calorie content.

The study draws alarming conclusions in relation to caring for our health and diet. Especially if one takes into account that changing these bad practises is very difficult in the frenetic environment that we live in. There is an alternative for trying to get the endocannabinoid system to get its correct balance back: the consumption of CBD. This is certainly not the first time that CBD has been pointed out in order to highlight the advantages that the consumption of medical cannabis (with a high content of this cannabinoid) can have on our organism. On this occasion, it seems that it will be responsible for preventing a lack of sleep having harmful effects on the state of our health.