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Are you a regular coffee drinker? The concept of mixing CBD oil into a cup of joe in the morning has become pretty popular—but is there science to back up the potentially synergistic relationship between CBD and caffeine? Sit tight, because we're covering everything you need to know about the benefits of CBD and coffee—and if they’re worth mixing to boost productivity and focus.
CBD & Caffeine Interactions
Evidence suggests that CBD and caffeine could have a synergistic relationship.¹ Caffeine is an active ingredient found in coffee and is best known for its stimulating effect. In fact it’s one of the most popular stimulants on the planet. According to one estimate, approximately 1.4 billion cups of coffee are enjoyed around the world every single day.²
In our society, it's easy to be obsessed with productivity. Whether you're propelling through the old nine-to-five or making your way to a lecture at 8 AM, coffee helps to feel more productive by raising alertness and concentration. Studies show that caffeine stimulates by increasing activity in your brain and nervous system.³ It also helps circulate cortisol and adrenaline—which alters your perception, and can cause you to feel more focused and alert in small doses.
But that's not to say that caffeine is perfect. In small doses, it may help you feel more refreshed, focused, and able to concentrate for longer periods of time.⁴ That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own pesky side effects. For some, the caffeine in coffee can make them feel jittery, anxious, nauseous, or sweaty. It may also have you racing to the bathroom several times a day, asit's a diuretic.
Such side effects may actually make it harder for us to feel focused and productive. Luckily, this is where CBD comes into play. CBD is a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in hemp that won't cause you to feel high. Rather, it interacts with the endocannabinoid system (or ECS) and may help manage a few natural processes in the body that help you feel and function at your best.⁵ More importantly, CBD may counteract some of caffeine’s adverse effects—allowing it to work its magic without making you feel sick.
CBD & Coffee For Productivity
As mentioned, the caffeine in coffee makes us feel energized, focused, and alert. Sometimes, though, the bad outweighs the good. (Especially if you drink a little too much espresso.) When you ingest too much caffeine, you may experience frequent sweating and urinating, which may dehydrate you and amplify some of the uglier side effects of caffeine (such as jitters, nausea, or anxiety).
People may include CBD in their morning cup of coffee to help offset the potential for negative side effects from caffeine—especially if they know they're sensitive to caffeine.
CBD binds to receptors in the ECS that can help it optimize some of our natural processes. The ECS is a network of receptors responsible for keeping us in balance while ensuring our immune system, sleep-wake cycle, mood, appetite, and pain responses are functioning optimally—or at homeostatic levels. CBD may work with the ECS to keep you feeling level, but it comes with a few potential effects of its own.
Some studies suggest CBD has a calming effect on the ECS and may help with the anxiety you feel when you drink too much coffee.⁶ Another study concluded that CBD's interactions with the CB1 receptors in the central nervous system help to slow down the chemical signals that cause muscle spasms—which may help some of the shakiness, cramping, and jitters associated with too much caffeine.⁷ Lastly, evidence shows that CBD's balancing effect on the ECS may make coming down from caffeine a bit smoother. CBD can have a calming effect on the ECS, which might make it easier for you to get rest after drinking too much caffeine during your day.⁸
CBD & Coffee: The Benefits
With all that in mind, there might be a few benefits to explore if you want to mix CBD with coffee to boost productivity, energy levels, and concentration. We've laid out a few of these below.
CBD & Coffee May Increase Mental Awareness
Some evidence suggests that CBD may amplify caffeine's alertness-boosting effects, since they both interact with the same neurotransmitters. Adenosine neurotransmitters are one example.
As the body produces more adenosine, the neurons in our brain start to slow down on sending messages—which can result in feeling tired, sluggish, and foggy. The body naturally produces adenosine to help us start winding down so we can get a good night’s sleep.
Caffeine is known to bind to these adenosine receptors, which prevents them from doing their job.⁹ That's a large part of why people drink regular coffee or various other caffeinated drinks when tired—to keep them from succumbing to those sleepy feelings.
CBD also interacts with your adenosine receptors. However, instead of blocking their effects, it may modulate them instead. That just means CBD may improve how effective those adenosine receptors are.¹⁰ CBD could help increase or decrease the adenosine receptors' functionality as a natural response to keep your ECS balanced.
Caffeine helps you feel more energized and less tired—while CBD products may help keep your body functioning at its best. This is helpful when you need to enjoy the energy-boosting effects of caffeine, but still want to get some rest when the day is done.
Furthermore, CBD may have stimulating effects of its own. When it comes to CBD and mental health, one study found that CBD may interact with serotonin receptors and boost their function in the same way it interacts with adenosine receptors.¹¹ It may increase serotonin levels, which may lead to a greater sense of motivation and well-being.
CBD May Help Offset Caffeine’s Anxious Side Effects
Before adding CBD to your coffee, you may be asking—can CBD make me anxious? One of the most popular therapeutic benefits of CBD products is their potential to help alleviate our anxiety. Studies show that CBD utilizes several mechanisms that could help manage anxiety, including:
- relaxing muscles: A study found that CBD may have relaxed anxiety-induced tension.
- reducing brain inflammation: Another study found that CBD may reduce inflammation in the brain—which often leads to anxiety.¹²
- increasing GABA activity: Research found CBD may amplify some of the calming effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).¹³ GABA is a neurotransmitter that’s in control of hyperactivity in cells that could cause anxiety, fear, or stress.
- regulating stress responses: Studies also found CBD may help with restraining stress responses by regulating the function of the hypothalamus.¹⁴
When these potential effects of CBD all come together, they could promote a strong anti-anxiety effect to balance out some of the anxious effects caused by caffeine. Learn more about when to take CBD gummies for anxiety if you’re looking to balance out side effects from your cup of joe in the morning.
CBD & Coffee May Encourage Sustained Benefits
Some evidence suggests that taking CBD and caffeine together may help both the caffeine and CBD to last longer. Everything you ingest must be processed in your liver with special enzymes designed to break down drugs, cell byproducts, and other natural compounds in your blood.
Caffeine and CBD each share a similar structure, and need to be broken down by the same liver enzymes.¹⁵ However, just like an influx of cars slows traffic down during rush hour, the amount of caffeine and CBD you add to your system may affect how quickly the body can break it down. With a limited supply of special enzymes, it may take your body longer to process the CBD and caffeine when taken together. Keeping that in mind, you might experience longer-lasting effects from CBD and caffeine when taken together.
Mixing CBD & Coffee: Final Thoughts
There are plenty of good reasons you may enjoy CBD in your morning coffee. To summarize, caffeine and CBD may be synergistic—working together to raise your energy levels, alertness, and concentration—thus allowing you to go about your day feeling more productive. CBD might also counteract some of the anxiety episodes, jitteriness, shaking, and muscle cramps that you may experience after you drink too much coffee.
If you want to enjoy CBD with your daily coffee, consider using a full spectrum CBD oil or CBD tincture in your regular or cold-brewed coffee. CBD is a sensitive compound that might become less effective if heated—so pouring it into a scalding cup of joe could make it less effective. But if hot coffee is non-negotiable, opt for Lazarus Naturals energizing, full spectrum CBD gummies to take with your morning brew.
Our CBD Energy Gummies are enhanced with natural caffeine sourced from green coffee beans and further enriched with B12 and functional ingredients that help encourage sustained focused and energy levels—minus the caffeine crash or jitters.
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Sources:
¹https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joim.12737
³https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/caffeine
⁴https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/
⁵https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569
⁶https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4604171/
⁸https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-aids/cbd-for-sleep
¹⁰https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096999610900309X
¹¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6319597/
¹²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3386505/
¹³https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30758329/
¹⁴https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.618184/full
¹⁵https://www.leafly.com/news/health/cannabis-and-coffee-how-do-they-affect-your-body
So, I’m intrigued by the idea of combining CBD and coffee. But how much CBD should you add to a cup of coffee?
So, I’m intrigued by the idea of combining CBD and coffee. But how much CBD should you add to a cup of coffee?