Last Updated on 27th August 2020

CBD Oil – How Long Does CBD Oil Take To Work?

CBD oil has been gaining popularity in recent years and has become popular among consumers in the United Kingdom. CBD is short for cannabidiol. It’s one of the cannabinoids – a family of molecules found mostly in the plant species Cannabis sativa and its subspecies and cultivars.

What Is CBD Oil?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a component of the cannabis plant that has a wealth of proposed health benefits currently under clinical research study, being studied in many countries around the world. Since CBD oil has blown up in the media like it has, it has been an exciting time not only cannabis advocates, but for medical science.

However, how much you consume, what products you are consuming and when you consume CBD has a huge factor upon the bioavailability as well as how long the CBD will stay active in your body whether it be CBD tinctures the UK loves or vaping it in a CBD vape pen.

So, if you were wondering how long your CBD product will last for or whether you should be taking it in the morning, noon or night time to obtain the desired effects, then in this article we will guide you through the different types of CBD-laden goodies available and discuss how they will interact with your body.

How Long Does CBD Oil Stay In Your Body?

Due to the historically controversial nature of the plant from which it comes, taking CBD oil for the first time can be a concern for newcomers, especially those who undergo regular mandatory drug tests. Others are just curious as to how long the beneficial effects of CBD oil will last, and how long CBD will stay in their system.

The effects of CBD oil are said to last from three to four hours in the human body. This means that CBD will be acting on your endocannabinoid system within this time frame. CBD oil will be interacting with the C1 and C2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain and at sites all around the body, exerting the effects it has been taken for.

The length of time that CBD oil (and almost all substances) stay in your body depends upon the initial dose of consumption and whether you engage in continued use. This is because chemicals have something called a biological elimination half-life: –

“The biological half-life of a substance is the time it takes for half of the substance to be removed via biological processes”

For CBD oil the biological elimination half-life is between 18-32 hours. So as a result, if you were to take 12mg of CBD (assuming 100% bioavailability), then it would take between 18-32 hours for that to reduce to 6mg, then the same amount of time again to reduce to 3mg, and so on. It does get a bit more complicated than this and will vary from person to person depending on factors such as metabolism.

Furthermore, just because there are still remnants of CBD floating around in your bloodstream, doesn’t mean that it is always having a strong biological effect. If you based it purely from anecdotal evidence you hear that people who consume CBD oil find that the effects start after 10-40 minutes and they will feel the effects for a further 6-24 hours depending on the dose taken, and then the effects would stop and they would require more. This is because that CBD is removed from your bloodstream as it enters different parts of your body and absorbed by the receptors of the endocannabinoid system, causing its effect.

On average, most casual users of CBD would find that it takes about 4-5 days for all traces of CBD to be removed from their system, with the biological effects stopping after 12 hours. Meaning that a dosage morning and night would suffice for it to always be biologically active.

How Long Does It Take For CBD Oil To Work?

Although it is well-known that CBD only acts on the cannabinoid receptors for three to four hours, a number of studies have been carried out to check the length of time that CBD stays in the system as a whole. Some users also wish to know the length of time that CBD will be detectable, even in trace amounts, in the human system.

One study determined that cannabidiol stays detectable in the system for three to four days. The CBD is not as biologically active at this point but if specifically tested for, it will appear in the results. CBD, as it is non-psychotropic, is not generally tested for. Using large chronic doses over a long period, another study demonstrated that the CBD stayed in the system for up to five days.

Bearing in mind, this was with extremely high doses of CBD – most practitioners will recommend around 300 mg daily, for most problems. The study illustrated used 700 mg doses daily, over six weeks, to see how the system responds to large chronic doses. It is generally accepted, therefore, that CBD will stay in the system for no more than a week, and this is at a very high dosage rate.

Does CBD Show Up On A Drugs Test and How long does CBD stay in urine?

CBD shouldn’t show up on a drugs test, however it is still possible. Why is it still possible? Many CBD products will contain trace amounts of THC, the main active ingredient in cannabis. If enough THC is present, it will be flagged on a drugs test.

The best way to avoid failing a drugs test when taking CBD oil is to use CBD products that are of both high quality and composition. Knowing what to look for when buying CBD oil can help prevent failing a drugs test.

What CBD Products Are Available?

CBD is a cannabinoid predominantly found within the buds of the cannabis plant. It is found in both marijuana and hemp, where the difference differs from country to country, however in the UK they are defined as:

Hemp – Cannabis which contains less than 0.2% THC.

– Cannabis which contains less than 0.2% THC. Marijuana – Cannabis which contains more than 0.2% THC.

Where THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the psychoactive component of cannabis associated with the feelings of being ‘high’. You will find that in the UK, most CBD products will have the CBD obtained from the hemp plant to comply with the law, but this isn’t always the case around the world. So CBD and THC don’t always go together.

So, we know that CBD is in hemp buds, but this can also be extracted into oils, as well as CBD isolates, CBD gummies, CBD edibles, CBD creams, CBD balms and multiple other CBD infused cosmetic items.

Each of these different CBD based products has a different way of interacting with your body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). For example, a CBD cream that you rub on your skin will only interact with cannabinoid receptors directly where it is applied and will provide localised relief. Whereas, a substance you ingest will have CBD enter the bloodstream where it can be transported all around the body. Even the different ways in which you can ingest CBD have different mechanisms of how they enter the bloodstream, which affects their bioavailability. This means that 10mg of CBD ingested via one method may be much more effective than 10mg of CBD ingested by another.

We will look at how long CBD stays in your body and then look further into some of the more popular ways of consuming CBD as discuss how bioavailable they are.

Which Method Of Taking CBD Oil Provides The Best Bioavailability?

Before using CBD oil for the first time, it’s always a good idea to define why you want to use CBD. By defining what your needs are it then allows you to choose the best CBD product that offers you the best bioavailability.

Smoking CBD – Combusting the hemp buds and inhaling the smoke results in the CBD being carried via the smoke into the lungs where it is subsequently absorbed into the bloodstream. The bioavailability of smoking is about 15-50%.

– Combusting the hemp buds and inhaling the smoke results in the CBD being carried via the smoke into the lungs where it is subsequently absorbed into the bloodstream. The bioavailability of smoking is about 15-50%. Vaping CBD – You can heat the CBD buds up more gently, using a CBD vape pen, so the plant material doesn’t combust, but atomises into a vapor and then inhale that vapor. You can also extract the CBD into e-liquids that can be vaporised. The bioavailability of vaping CBD is 50-90%.

– You can heat the CBD buds up more gently, using a CBD vape pen, so the plant material doesn’t combust, but atomises into a vapor and then inhale that vapor. You can also extract the CBD into e-liquids that can be vaporised. The bioavailability of vaping CBD is 50-90%. CBD Edibles – CBD can be extracted from the flower and place into a foodstuff that can then be eaten. The bioavailability of edibles is 5-20%. This is because once they enter the digestive system and are almost immediately processed by the liver with very little absorption.

– CBD can be extracted from the flower and place into a foodstuff that can then be eaten. The bioavailability of edibles is 5-20%. This is because once they enter the digestive system and are almost immediately processed by the liver with very little absorption. CBD Oil Drops – CBD that is extracted from the buds can be placed into a carrier oil. These can be consumed sublingually (placed under the tongue). This has a bioavailability of around 75-85%.

– CBD that is extracted from the buds can be placed into a carrier oil. These can be consumed sublingually (placed under the tongue). This has a bioavailability of around 75-85%. CBD Balms & CBD Creams – These work by being applyed locally to the skin. They don’t have an associated bioavailability because they don’t enter the body as such but will affect the skin by reacting with the cannabinoid receptors on the skin’s surface.

The bioavailability means that of the original CBD percentage stated on the CBD product, only a percentage of that will make it into your bloodstream.

QUICK MATHS – So if you had 1g of buds with 10% CBD, it contains 100mg of CBD. If you then consume it via a process with a 50% bioavailability, then 50mg of CBD will enter your bloodstream.

How Long Do The Effects Of CBD Last?

Hopefully this guide has answered your questions in regards to how long does CBD oil stay in your system, will CBD make you fail a drugs test and we which method of CBD consumption is better for you.

The top two methods are to consume CBD oil sublingually once in the morning and once before going to bed or to vape either CBD e-liquids or to atomise CBD flower regularly throughout the day.

One thing to consider is that different sources of CBD oil cost different amounts. So, if you are concerned about how much CBD oil you have entering your bloodstream per how much money has been spent, then it might be worth getting the calculator out just to protect your pocket.

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