Each human is unique, and so will your dosage for CBD. That’s not the simple answer you were looking for? Of course not, but just like our journey to our best self, or at least better health, nothing is truly a one size fits all approach!
A common misconception is that CBD dosage should be calibrated based on weight. Sorry Pinterest, but all of the succinct info graphics aren’t going to cut it.
Let’s dive into two factors that will influence what dosage (and method) is right for you:
- What are you seeking relief from—localized pain, chronic pain, appetite, digestive complications, stress, insomnia, depression, anxiety, or perhaps something else?
- How are you taking it—topically, ingestion, or inhalation?
Topical is best suited for localized application. Our skin is the biggest organ and ready to absorb healing agents when paired with a carrier that penetrates the epidermis*. With our products we recommend applying twice daily. *Ever wonder why some lotions don’t seem to work hydrating the skin? It’s likely that the top ingredients include molecules too great in size to penetrate the top skin layer, therefore, never actually hydrating the skin. But I digress… We have our CBD salve for that.
Ingestion and Inhalation—our bodies have an endocannabinoid system that helps us monitor and heal. Learn more about this system in an upcoming blog post about the endocannibinoid system. Humans have receptors in the brain, lungs and gut, hence why both ingestion and inhalation are ways to use the cannabis plant effectively. Inhalation is said to provide the most rapid relief and ingestion provides a slightly diluted method of delivering CBD and other minor cannabinoids to the body. A key item to note is that companies selling cannabis-derived products cannot recommend to take products sublingual without risk of fines from the FDA and FTC as only “medicine” (aka products developed by big pharma) should be delivered sublingual. Our Able Hemp Smokes, CBD honey and honey sticks address this.
Ultimately, you’ll need to fine tune for yourself.
A tale about Hatch and Trucks, our trusty farm dogs and best friends—that need very different amounts of CBD that relate nothing to weight!
Trucks is our 11 year old supermutt that we’ll categorize as a shepherd mix for full disclosure; he weighs in at 65 pounds and has a very full life of long runs and chasing voles. He wants nothing more than to live his best life each and every day by my side. He started slowing down at the age of 9, no longer waking me up early every morning to go for a long run, but rather stiff to get up and grumpier by the day. Fast forward two years, Trucks has in my opinion has reversed the aging process and at the age of 11 acts more like he did at 7. How?! He gets 33 mg CBD (1 dropper from our 30ml Hemp Extract) each morning and another 66 mg of CBD (2 droppers) each night with a meal. He keeps up with his younger brother Hatch through the field and grins ear to ear like he once did on our long runs way back when he (and I) were in our prime running trail races.
Hatch is our 2 year old Labrador; he weighs in at 80 pounds, and is boisterous, even among labs. Hatch isn’t experiencing any pain like Trucks, but very occasionally experiences stress when he is left at home even though we inform him that we aren’t going to the field or some epic outdoor adventure, without him. On these rare days, we might give Hatch less than 20 mg of CBD (1/2 dropper). If he were to ingest more, which he has because he’s a lab with an insatiable appetite (he’s no longer allowed to have access to the compost or our processing rooms), he’ll be very, very dopey.
So to sum up, weight isn’t how you should dose your dog for CBD or yourself! Practice mindfulness. How can you most effectively deliver CBD and other minor cannabinoids to the body’s endocannabinoid receptors? And most importantly, be present and pay attention–what’s your body telling you?
Not feeling anything? Double your dosage.
Feeling something? Increase slightly until you reach the desired effect.
KEY to these recommendations is that you are applying these factors across the same product and curator because NOT ALL HEMP is created equal. I’ll share about this more in an upcoming blog post.