How Long Does It Take for CBD Oil to Work?

Have you ever felt like your CBD was taking too long to kick in? What did you do? Some people in this situation claim that CBD doesn’t work for them. Others re-dose and end up taking too much.

Even though you can’t overdose on CBD and it won’t get you high, there really can be too much of a good thing. If you overindulge, you might experience some unpleasant side effects like diarrhea, fatigue, and changes in your appetite.

So, before you jump to conclusions, and assuming there’s something wrong with your CBD or taking another dose, let’s set some expectations about how long it takes for CBD oil to work.

What Affects Your Response Time to CBD?

How CBD affects us and how long it takes to feel the effects vary based on the individual. We’ve identified a handful of circumstances that can influence the body’s response to CBD. We’ll discuss each of them briefly but focus primarily on how you consume CBD— the delivery method.

The way that you consume CBD tends to have the most dramatic effect on its effectiveness timeline.

Dosage

If you’re new to CBD, it’s recommended that you start with a small dose. This helps you ease into the experience and get a feel for what effect CBD has on your body. However, if you’re too conservative with your dose, you might not feel anything at all.

Concentration

Higher concentration CBD products tend to produce more dramatic results. Again, beginners should start with either low concentrations, or stick with a low dose if you’re consuming a higher concentration CBD product. We offer three potency levels. With Royal CBD products, you can easily step-up your dosage over time.

Individual Biological Factors

Your gender, weight, health, metabolism, and experience levels can all influence how you respond to CBD and how long it takes for it to work.

Method of Consumption

While things like dosages and concentration influence how dramatically you experience CBD, your method of consumption will dictate how long it takes before you feel anything.

Knowing what to expect here is especially beneficial because it will help you determine if you should take another dose or wait longer for CBD to be metabolized. We’ll give you some rough guidelines, so you’ll be prepared the next time you consume CBD.

There are four ways to consume CBD, and each has a different rate of absorption:

1. Inhalation: This method is the fastest, and you’ll typically feel the effects within moments. Smoking or vaporizing CBD causes it to go straight to your bloodstream through the lungs.The inhalation method can be controversial.
2. Topical: Applying CBD to the skin or a localized area can produce immediate effects for some situations. If you’re using CBD to help with something like stress, then a topical application could take longer and not have the desired result.
3. Sublingual Application: This method involves applying a tincture or spray directly under the tongue. Many feel the effects almost right away, but it could take anywhere from 15-60 minutes.
   1. This method is one of the most preferred ways to take CBD for both the speed and effect. The reason is that there is a vast network of capillaries (tiny blood vessels) under your tongue that helps the compounds get absorbed quickly into your bloodstream.
4. Orally: If you swallow a capsule or consume an edible like a gummy, chocolate, or isolate, expect it to take about 90 minutes for the CBD oil to work. The reason this method takes longer than any other method is that it has to go through your digestive system before it can be absorbed into your bloodstream. Though this takes the longest to take effect, it tends to last the longest. You can speed up the effect by taking CBD on an empty stomach. Expect to feel something within 30 minutes. However, if you’re taking CBD with food, especially a large meal, it could be one, or even two hours, before you feel anything.

Though oral administration takes the longest to work, it’s also known for being the longest lasting. Taking CBD orally could extend the effects for a total of six hours, while a sublingual administration may last only about four hours.

CBD Hacks

Over the years, we’ve amassed some helpful tips that can improve your experience with CBD.

• If you don’t feel anything right away, wait the appropriate amount of time before re-dosing. Knowing how long it takes for CBD oil to work based on different consumption methods is helpful. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to decide if you should have another dose or wait until what you’ve already consumed to kick in.
• Be patient with CBD, especially if you’re seeking a long-term solution. CBD affects the endocannabinoid system, helping to bring homeostasis (balance) back to your body. The effects aren’t always immediate, and instead can be cumulative.
• Make sure you’re careful when sourcing CBD. Because CBD doesn’t require lab testing before being sold, you won’t know for certain what you’re getting unless you buy from a company that gets its products tested—like ours. Royal CBD follows a rigorous third-party testing policy.

CBD labs test for a variety of items, including the presence of THC, the cannabinoid concentration and profile, the presence of pesticides and foreign materials, and more. Implementing consistent lab testing is our way of upholding our commitment to producing the highest-quality CBD products on our market.

A Few Final Notes

As a disclaimer, we should add that we are not making health claims about CBD treating any conditions. These guidelines are meant to give you a general idea of how long you can expect it to take before you start feeling any effect from CBD, such as a calming effect or reduction in stress.

The timeframes presented in this article are a reflection of both anecdotal evidence and biological standards about the absorption of chemicals and substances when consumed in different ways. Your results and experiences may differ, but at the very least, you’ll have a frame of reference for how long CBD oil takes to work based on the factors we outlined in this article.