“How Much CBD Oil Should I Take” is possibly the question we get asked most often by customers. It makes sense, any time you are taking any new medication, supplement, or product aimed at improving your health it’s one of the first questions that comes to mind.
CBD is no different, but unfortunately, there is not a straightforward answer to this question currently for CBD. The FDA and major medicinal organizations have yet to come out with a recommended dosage leaving many to take advice from friends or people who have done very little research themselves.
The fact is that your dose of CBD depends on the type of product you are taking, your size, weight, and sex, and what you are taking it for. In this article, we will walk through the different factors that affect dosing for CBD oil so you’ll be able to make an educated choice about where to start!
How Much CBD Oil Should I Take
The dosage you’ll want to use largely depends on both you and what you’re taking CBD for. Not only that, but our dosing recommendations will also vary depending on what product you’re taking. There is not really a “one size fits all” dosage.
How CBD affects individuals is based on weight, body chemistry, the severity of the condition, and of course the concentration of CBD in the substance you’re taking.
For example, a 200lbs man treating back pain will almost certainly have different effective dosing than a 140lbs female who uses CBD to help her sleep. Here are some factors to consider:
Weight
Because most forms of CBD enter your bloodstream before they start working with your endocannabinoid system to generate the results you desire, it makes sense that the bigger you are the more CBD you’ll need to take.
Product
Each of the main types of CBD, from edibles, tinctures, vapes, and topicals, has a different absorption and bioavailability rate. Each of these products interacts with the body differently, and thus how the product works and how much you need. This is why CBD Lotions are great for things like muscle pain, but for sleep or anxiety we would recommend something else!
This means that just because you normally take a dropper of 30mg CBD Oil before bed, you shouldn’t necessarily expect the same results from 30mg gummy. We dive much further into this in our article discussing CBD capsules vs CBD Oils.
Overdosing and Side Effects
The good news is that CBD is a non-toxic substance so there is no risk of serious harm or death coming from excessive consumption of CBD. In fact, even the side effects that have been reported using CBD are mild and uncommon.
You also will likely never take enough CBD to have side effects. In lab studies humans have been given dosages as high as 1500mg and even at this concentration the substance was well tolerated by most.
Those who did experience side effects usually only dealt with mild discomfort, including drowsiness, sedation, appetite disruption, and stomach discomfort or diarrhea.
CBD Dosing – Where to Start
There are generally three schools of thought for where to start your dosage of CBD. With all of these methods, you will need to experiment and pay close attention to how you are feeling. When CBD is really working most people report simply feeling ‘better’!
1.By weight
As with many things, the more you weigh the more CBD you’ll probably need to consume. For most people starting off with a dosage that is 1-6mg per 10 pounds of body weight will give a reasonable starting point.
This means that an average male at around 185 lbs should start with 18 – 30mgs of CBD.
2. Start Small
Our biggest problem with this recommendation is defining “What’s small?”. We’ve seen people who advocate this approach recommend starting anywhere from 10mg to 25mg as a “small” starting point.
If you use the “by weight” method, then a 25mg dose is too much for anyone weighing under 150lbs!
If you choose to go this route, we recommend starting VERY small… somewhere around 10mgs, and adjusting after a week or two of observation.
3. Consult a Doctor
Asking a doctor is never a bad idea when dealing with anything related to your health. Just try to find one who specializes in plant-based or natural remedies rather than your run-of-the-mill physician.
Lasting note on Finding your dosage:
Record your results. Write down or pay close attention to how you are feeling at different dosage levels so you can adjust accordingly!
Measuring CBD Dosages from tinctures and vaping
The easiest way to track your dosage while taking CBD is by taking CBD in Pill or Gummy form. The dosage per pill or gummy will be clearly labeled on the package. This makes it very simple to accurately track how much CBD oil you’re taking.
It’s a bit more complicated for CBD Oils, topicals, and Vaping products.
In the case of both oils and vaping products you’ll need to do a little math to find out how much CBD you’ll be getting in each dropper or tank full of e-liquid. To do this simply find out how many ml is in the full bottle, and how large the dropper or tank chamber holds.
A common size for oil is a 30 ml bottle with a 1 ml dropper. Knowing this you can simply divide the total quantity of CBD in the bottle by the 30ml to find your milligrams of CBD per dropper. A similar method can be used for vaping.
You will never be able to get a perfect measurement this way, but it will get you close enough that you can make accurate adjustments to your dosing. A small variation (1-2mgs) won’t matter in most cases!
CBD Dosing – Summary
After finishing this article, I think you’ll agree that the answer to “how much CBD Oil should I take” is fairly complicated. Most people I know have experimented with dosing for a few weeks or even months before finding the “perfect” amount for them.
Thankfully, because the side effects of CBD are quite minimal, testing out dosages are safe. Just to be safe, our advice is always to start small and build up to the dose that is right for you!
