CBD Dosage Guide: How Much CBD Should I Take?

Wow, CBD comes as a jar of candies? That looks delicious!

But don’t eat the whole jar. Even if it weren’t infused with CBD, you’d want to take heed of the recommended daily calorie count. A full bag of candy wouldn’t sit well with those recommendations. Like all good things, CBD should be taken in moderation. If you’re looking at CBD candies for the first time, you might be asking yourself, “How much CBD should I take?”

The following CBD dosage guide should help you better understand how much CBD you should take to meet your needs and reach your goals.

How Personal Factors Impact the Amount of CBD You Should Consume

There’s no need to feel self-conscious about your CBD consumption, but how much CBD you should take depends largely on a handful of personal factors. From your end goals to the weight you see on the scale, no personal details can be overlooked when thinking about how much CBD you should take. 

First, your physical body plays an important role in several key ways:

• Your weight, height, BMI and even your gender can impact how much CBD your body needs
• The physical layout of your endocannabinoid system will determine how much CBD is needed to fill any deficits
• Your ability to express endocannabinoids will determine your CBD dosage needs
• Metabolism, diet and level of physical activity will impact how long CBD will stay in your system and how much is needed to reach your endocannabinoid receptors

However, it can be difficult to nail down exactly how much CBD you should take based on these factors alone. Another important consideration is your history of cannabinoid consumption, if any.

Of course, if you have an extensive history of consuming CBD, you may already have a good idea of how much CBD you should consume. But life changes us, and our CBD needs can change as we get older. With any kind of history of CBD consumption, you may have a vague idea of how to proceed. 

If your history with cannabis comes in the form of whole-flower consumption of recreational or medical cannabis, you’ll find a unique experience with CBD. There will be no psychoactive effect and your perception of time, space and reality will remain intact. You may, however, feel a boost of energy or feel more relaxed. You may also be flushed with a sense of well-being, but you won’t lose your attachment to the present moment.

With no background of cannabinoid consumption at all, have no fear. CBD is known to be safe for human consumption. Adverse experiences are rare. But, to better avoid an adverse reaction, you’ll need to narrow down your product choices. 

CBD products come in all shapes and sizes, from sweet treats to discreet oils. Some of the most common CBD products include:

• CBD gummies and candies
• CBD oils and tinctures
• CBD capsules and tablets
• CBD cream and topicals

So, how do you narrow down your CBD options?

Here are a few products we generally do not recommend, and why:

• CBD vapes
• Though vaping CBD pens have not been associated with the same kinds of risks as vaping THC and e-cig products, it’s not the healthiest way to consume plant compounds. Inhaling of superheated plant material is, on its face, unhealthy for the lungs. 
• CBD cigarettes
• While it is possible to consume CBD in the form of a “cigarette,” it’s likely even worse for you than inhaling CBD vapors.
• CBD dabs
• The same rationale that goes for vaping and cigarettes applies to CBD dabs. There are healthier ways to consume CBD without sending it through the lungs.

Hopefully, one of your goals is to consume CBD in the healthiest, most pleasant way possible. That shouldn’t be your only goal, however, and your goals are going to impact how much CBD you should consume.

So, what are your goals? Are you taking CBD to

• wake up in the morning with more energy?
• rejuvenate yourself after a long day’s work?
• maintain a sense of wellness while you tackle life’s daily chores?
• supplement your overall health and alleviate some minor or typical conditions?
• supplement your diet with something that advocates for your wellness at all times, day or night?

Depending on your personal goals, you’re going to find that your daily need for CBD will vary. For someone who requires 24/7 alleviation with CBD, consumption will be higher than someone who only needs the occasional dose during the evening to find balance in their day.

If you have a general feeling for how much CBD you will need, you’ll have to select a product that’s right for you. 

How to Choose the Correct CBD Product for Your Personal Goals

CBD products are not all created the same. From the hemp’s origin to the CBD extraction method to the appearance of the final product, there is a dizzying array of products to choose from. Here are a few more ways to determine which products are right for you.

Diet

You might not think of CBD as something that is going to impact your diet, but it is indeed a supplement to what you currently consume. 

CBD edibles can include everything from sugars to fats to colors and many other additives. If you’re on a diet, make sure you’re reading the label of every CBD product you consume. Tablets, oils and sprays can all contain things you might not be planning on adding to your diet.

Personal Flavor Preference 

Many CBD consumers are not concerned with their diet. In fact, they may go in the opposite direction. In this case, consumers may be looking for the tastiest CBD products on the market. 

CBD can be flavored in a variety of ways. The primary way in which CBD is flavored is by the other plant compounds that are extracted along with it. For example, many CBD oils contain the terpenes, flavonoids and sometimes even chlorophyll of the mother plants. Without removing the less palatable flavors, CBD extractions can taste bitter and earthy. 

If the chlorophyll and other plant wastes are properly removed, this can leave behind the taste of the terpenes that came with the CBD. Terpenes are known to contribute to flavors and scents such as citrus, pine, oak and lilac.

Lastly, flavors can be added to CBD products, just as they are to food, or CBD can be added to a carrier oil, like MCT, which has a flavor of its own. 

Flavored, unflavored or tasting a bit like earth or grass, CBD products run the gamut of taste. For consumers, this is a good thing. But, aside from taste, you’ll have to decide on your method of consumption when determining how much CBD you should take. 

Method of Consumption

Your CBD intake is controlled by your method of consumption. As a result, how much you need will be dependent on how you ingest CBD.

Are you consuming CBD through the skin, via a topical, or are you ingesting it? Edible CBD will last longer in your system than CBD absorbed through the skin. Of course, the targeted skin cream with CBD may reduce the need for a dropper full of pure CBD oil at lunchtime. If your only method of consumption is highly potent CBD oils, you may need just a few drops of it each day.

Obviously, product types impact the method of consumption, and the method of consumption impacts how much CBD you need to consume. 

Price

We don’t want to worry you, but consuming CBD can become quite expensive. Moreover, it may be a supplement for good health but its costs aren’t covered under any type of insurance plan. 

Therefore, how much CBD you’ll need to schedule into your diet may depend on how much CBD you can afford. Of course, there are budget brands that peddle the lowest-grade CBD possible, but we recommend taking a look at high-quality, yet fairly priced, premium CBD products.

Suitability to Your Needs

Your diet, preferences for product taste, delivery methods and price points are all going to determine how much CBD you need to take throughout the day. But even with those figures and ideas in place, there is still a question about exactly how much CBD someone should consume. 

While there is no one number that everyone can look at and count on (like the 2,000 calorie mark we all know so well), we can piece together everything we’ve learned here to teach ourselves exactly how much CBD our bodies need and when precisely to consume it.

How to Determine Exactly How Much CBD to Take

If you know yourself and you know what types of products you’ll be consuming, you’ll need to determine your baseline threshold for CBD. That means that you’ll be looking for the minimum amount of CBD you need to take in order to produce the intended effects. 

As always, the motto of cannabinoid consumers is for any newcomer to start low and go slow. If you’re ingesting CBD, a five-milligram dose is a good first step to see how it impacts you. Remember, cannabinoids, when eaten, can take up to two hours to fully make themselves available to your system. If it’s your first time consuming CBD, there’s no harm in waiting this amount of time to see if you need more. If you do, simply increase the dose by five milligrams and wait another hour. 

With this type of process, you should be able to see on day two what 10 or 15 milligrams of CBD do for you. Keep increasing until you find the bare minimum of CBD that you need to experience the desired outcome. That number, your baseline threshold, should never change (if your lifestyle and metabolism remain the same). Since humans don’t develop a tolerance to CBD, your needs shouldn’t increase with time and you won’t find yourself needing more and more CBD to hit your targets.

Now that you have your baseline threshold, it’s time to set the right dosage schedule.

Setting the Right Dosage Schedule to Meet Your Needs

Before beginning any new diet or health regimen, we here at Penguin CBD always recommend discussing your options and intentions with your doctor or healthcare provider. They’ll have key insights into what is and isn’t safe for your personal needs, and they will know you best. 

If you have their approval to add CBD to your diet, then it’s time to start considering what’s next. You’ve generated your list of goals and reasons for consuming CBD, acknowledged the personal factors that will impact your consumption levels, selected a product that’s right for you and discovered your baseline threshold. The last step is fine-tuning your approach to ensure you reap maximum rewards from your CBD consumption. 

The ultimate goal may be to stay level with your baseline threshold throughout the day for a smooth feeling of wellness. Or you may notice that you need a large dose in the morning followed by a tapering off until the evening. Some may need a boost of CBD just for bed and not again for another 24 hours. 

Hopefully, this guide to setting the correct CBD dosage schedule has helped you better navigate the world of CBD and let you determine how much you should be taking. If it has, please share it with your friends!