How Long Does CBD Oil Last?
CBD oil is a rapidly emerging supplement that’s shown early promise promoting many health benefits, including helping you relax and helping you thrive. It promotes more restful sleep, balanced health, and supports overall mental health. If you’re looking to best leverage these benefits, you need to know how long CBD will last in your body. This can help you determine how much you should take, when you should take it and how many doses per day you’ll need.
After you’ve taken a single low dose of CBD, it can completely leave your system over 48 hours, though different people will metabolize it differently, and your consumption method will also have an impact. If you’ve been using CBD for a very long time, it could be a couple of weeks before all the CBD leaves your body. Many variables ultimately contribute to how long it takes CBD to completely leave your body.
How Long Does CBD Oil Stay In Your System?
There is no simple answer for how long CBD oil will stay in your system. There are a lot of factors at play. All of our bodies are unique, and CBD comes in many different concentrations and forms. The amount of CBD you used, the way you used the CBD, and the way your body works will all play a role in determining how long CBD oil stays in your system.
Concentration of CBD and Frequency of Use
If you take a very small dose of CBD one time, it’s going to leave your body much sooner than it would if you used large doses daily. If you use CBD regularly, it will build up in your body. CBD is fat-soluble, and you may be storing some in your body fat.
The Way Your Body Works
This doesn’t refer to the way the typical human body is designed to work. It refers to the way your unique body works. Everyone is built a little differently. Some people have more water in their body, or a higher body fat percentage. Some people have slower metabolisms, and other people have highly efficient metabolisms.
Your digestive system and how full your stomach is will also play a role. If you have an empty stomach and a quick digestive system, you’ll begin to metabolize CBD as soon as you take it. If you just ate a big dinner and your digestive system is a little sluggish, then CBD is going to be hanging around for a little while.
The Forms of CBD You Take
CBD that you eat, like in the form of functional foods or CBD capsules, will take longer to be processed. Fully digesting it, using it, and removing its byproducts is a long process though oil fat dense products like peanut butter will be more bioavailable. CBD you put under your tongue before swallowing, like CBD tinctures, will get to work both quickly and longer lasting effects for the parts that are swallowed.
When Do CBD’s Effects Kick In and How Long Do They Last?
CBD will begin to work at different times, depending on the form of CBD you take. CBD you ingest takes a little while to kick in — you have to metabolize it. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours for ingested CBD to work, especially if it was taken with a large meal or on a full stomach. If you’re eating something like CBD-infused peanut butter, it will gradually kick in as your healthy snack begins to fuel your body.
Sublingual CBD tinctures will begin to work quickly, taking effect in less than an hour while also having a longer term effect as well due to its dual pronged approach of putting it under the tongue and then swallowing.
The effects will linger for between two and six hours, depending on the concentration of CBD you take and how quickly your body metabolizes it.
Can CBD Show Up On a Drug Test?
Employers may use drug tests to check for THC, the intoxicating compound of cannabis. Although CBD doesn’t intoxicate you, full-spectrum CBD products do contain trace amounts of THC. In almost all cases the amount of CBD you use isn’t what matters for drug testing, it’s the amount of THC that your CBD products contain per serving.
The law requires that all hemp plants and finished products contain no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight. Therefore, all CBD products shouldn’t contain more than that amount. The only way to know for sure how much CBD your full spectrum or broad-spectrum CBD product contains is to look at a third-party lab report.
Reputable CBD companies have their products tested by an independent lab every time they produce a batch. The lab will report the presence of cannabinoids, as well as the presence of THC. Full spectrum products should not exceed the maximum allowable. Broad spectrum products contain non-detectable levels of THC and may be a better option if this is a concern, though we recommend you closely review the lab test to ensure the level of detectability is actually low so it truly represents a very minute to no THC in your product. This can be difficult if you’re new to CBD, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.
If you take a lot of CBD regularly, this may impact the outcome of a drug test. With frequent use, full spectrum CBD oil and everything it contains can build up in the body. This build-up is normal and harmless, but it may give the appearance that there’s a larger amount of THC in your body which can very possibly cause a positive drug test. This is especially true if the threshold on the drug test is very low. If you have concerns, bring up your CBD use with your employer.
No one can guarantee you that CBD oil will not cause you to fail a drug test. Be wary of any company that tries to make a promise that bold. It may be unlikely that you’ll fail, but there’s a big difference between unlikely and impossible.
If you prefer to take a cautious approach, exclusively use broad-spectrum CBD that tests at non-detectable THC or CBD isolate products that have a level of detectability of THC at the highest of 0.005%. There’s still no guarantee that they won’t show up on a drug test, but this significantly reduces the odds. CBD isolate doesn’t offer as many wellness benefits as full or broad-spectrum, but it shouldn’t contain any THC.
How to Make CBD Oil Last Longer
If you want to maximize the effects of CBD, your probably wondering how you can prolong the benefits. This is best achieved by potentially reducing your serving size and instead using CBD every two to six hours as needed.
Taking CBD more frequently may not necessarily heighten its effects, but it will allow you to experience them continuously. People with high-stress jobs who use CBD to keep themselves relaxed can use CBD as often as they’d use herbal tea or any other natural relaxation booster without worry that they’re using too much.
People who want to experience a steady stream of benefits will often use CBD three times a day - once before each meal. Your meal is your reminder to take your CBD, and taking it on an empty stomach allows it to move through your body seamlessly.
How Much CBD Should I Take?
The FDA is still in the process of presenting how CBD will be regulated and as such only anecdotal recommendations may be given by companies. While we know that CBD is safe and beneficial, we don’t have concrete recommendations for how much someone should be taking on a daily basis. Estimates can range from 1 to 6 mg of CBD per ten pounds of body weight. This means that a 160-pound person should take anywhere from 16 mg to 96 mg daily. The typical recommendation is to start with a lower serving amount and work your way up.
That same person might feel like 96 mg isn’t enough once their body has adapted to the dose, and they understand the way that CBD impacts them and may want to go higher as a result. Alternatively, we’ve seen a group of people who cycle 3-5 weeks on and then one week off to reset the body and minimize adaptation.
If you’re a beginner, use the 1 to 6 mg strategy to determine your starting dose. See what happens. If you feel like you aren’t getting enough CBD to experience the benefits, slowly raise your dose until you find a “sweet spot” where you feel your body and mind reaching homeostasis.
The Takeaway
There isn’t a simple answer to the question of how long CBD will last. There are a wide variety of factors at play that can make CBD last shorter or longer, and these same factors can impact how long the CBD will stay in your system.
If you’re nervous about an upcoming drug test, there isn’t much you can do to make CBD or THC leave your system sooner. If you use full-spectrum CBD, there’s always a chance that a very sensitive drug test may be able to detect the THC in your system (even CBD and other cannabinoids if it’s a general cannabinoid test). We recommend you’re up front with the your employer, doctor, and person administering the drug test. Tell them you use full-spectrum CBD products and that you have concerns that it may trigger a false positive.
Leafwell Botanicals offers full-spectrum CBD products, as well as broad-spectrum CBD products with non detectable THC. If THC is a big concern for you, you don’t have to miss out on the benefits of CBD. Just change spectrums or if you wanted to be ultra conservative you could switch to CBD Isolate.
Sources:
https://blog.nasm.org/nutrition/5-things-to-know-about-metabolism
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