CBD for Menopause: What Customers and Research Say

CBD can help with the two things women experience the most during menopause, sleep and everyday stress. In a survey of 1,485 women 35 and older, 65% had trouble sleeping in the past month, and among the women using cannabis or CBD, sleep (65%) and anxiety (45%) were the top reasons by a wide margin. Hot flashes came in under 5%.

Our own customers say the same thing. I went through all of our reviews one by one, and sleep and everyday stress are the top two reasons people use our CBD. Below is what women actually go through during menopause, what they use CBD for, what the research shows, and exactly how you can start.

1. Does CBD Help With Menopause Symptoms?

Many women report CBD helps them sleep and feel steadier during menopause, but there is no clinical trial in menopausal women yet and no evidence it helps hot flashes. Menopause is a normal life stage and about 85% of women report symptoms along the way, according to a 2015 evidence review for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Those symptoms are what people are really asking about: sleep that isn't as consistent, stress that feels bigger than it used to, mood swings, and hot flashes.

For sleep and stress, there is a small and mixed body of research on CBD in adults, plus a lot of real-world reports, including ours. For hot flashes, there is no completed human trial at all. A 2021 systematic review in Climacteric searched 564 records and found only three small studies on cannabis and menopause symptoms, and the authors described the evidence as a paucity of literature. So the fair answer is that many women report CBD helps them sleep and feel steadier during this stage, and the science has not caught up yet, which is exactly why I think you should try it for yourself and see how it works for you rather than take anybody's word for it, including mine.

2. Which Menopause Symptoms Do Women Use CBD For?

Women mostly use CBD and cannabis for sleep and stress, not hot flashes, even though hot flashes are nearly as common. In the early years after menopause, the AHRQ review puts hot flashes at 30% to 80% of women, sleep disturbance at more than 40%, and low mood at about a third. Hot flashes usually start about two years before the last period, peak in the year after it, and fade over the following decade, and in one long-term study, moderate to severe hot flashes lasted a median of 10.2 years.

The 2023 Babyn survey in BMJ Open did something really useful. It asked 1,485 women 35 and older in Alberta which symptoms they had in the past 30 days, and then asked the 499 who currently used cannabis what they used it for. Most of those products contained some THC, so this is not a CBD only picture, but putting the two columns side by side tells a story.

*Source: Babyn et al., BMJ Open, 2023. Symptoms and reasons overlap, so columns don't sum to 100%. Only 8.8% of the women reported no symptoms at all.

Look at sleep and anxiety. Nearly as many cannabis users use it for those as have them. Now look at hot flashes and night sweats. Around 4 in 10 women had them, but only about 1 in 20 cannabis users used it for them. Women are not reaching for cannabis or CBD to cool down, they are reaching for it to sleep and to feel steadier, and 73.5% of the users said it helped.

A US survey points the same way. In the Dahlgren survey in the journal Menopause, which included 258 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, the top reasons for use were sleep (67.4%) and mood or anxiety (46.1%), while hot flashes (13.0%) and night sweats (12.6%) were far down the list. Both surveys recruited people who chose to answer, and Dahlgren recruited people already interested in cannabis, so the usage numbers run high, but the pattern is the part I would pay attention to.

3. What Our Customer Reviews Show About CBD, Sleep and Stress

Everyday stress (36% of reviews) and sleep (29% of reviews) are the top two reasons our customers use Kyoto Botanicals CBD, the same two things midlife women report using it for most.

*Themes overlap, so a single review can count in several rows. These are reviews, not unique customers, since a few people reviewed us on more than one platform.

Reviews don't tell us anyone's age or whether they are in menopause, so while it isn't a menopause study, it does show that the two things midlife women report using CBD for most, sleep and stress, are also the two biggest reasons our customers write in. Three reviewers mention perimenopause by name, and I cover what they describe in the perimenopause section below.

4. CBD for Menopause Sleep and 3 AM Wake-Ups

CBD helps support healthy sleep cycles and sleep is where most of the conversation is. Almost two thirds of women in the Babyn survey (65.3%) had trouble sleeping in the past month, and the AHRQ review puts sleep disturbance at more than 40% in the early years after menopause. It helps to split it into two different problems. Some people can't fall asleep because their mind won't shut off. Others fall asleep fine and then wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and lie there. Those two problems often call for different timing, which I get into in the product section.

In our reviews, six people specifically describe staying asleep or waking up less through the night, and five say they did not wake up groggy. A few, in their own words:

I’ve also recently begun taking the gummies and those help with sleep as well…a lot fewer 3am wake ups where I can’t fall back asleep!
Karen K., Trustpilot

I'm finally sleeping well after what feels like an endless period of waking for a few hours around 3 am, and going through the day exhausted.
Alex, Judge.me, Organic Mint CBD Tincture

It calms the mind chatter and next thing I know I am waking up and not groggery or wanting to go back to sleep.
Tracy B., Judge.me, Organic Mint CBD Tincture

The best controlled trial I have been able to find is a 2024 randomized pilot in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. In it, they gave 30 adults 150 mg of CBD or placebo nightly for two weeks. CBD did not beat placebo on the main sleep severity score, but the CBD group did show better sleep efficiency on a wrist tracker and higher well-being scores. The participants were 18 to 45, so nobody in it was in menopause. A 2018 crossover study in healthy adults also found a single 300 mg dose did not change normal sleep, which is reassuring if you are worried about CBD knocking you out.

I have taken a tincture after dinner almost every night for about ten years to support a healthy sleep cycle. When I fall out of the habit, the part I notice is not falling asleep, it is waking up around 4 a.m. with my brain already running. For the full breakdown of our sleep reviews and the research, see Does CBD Help With Sleep?

5. CBD for Menopause Stress and Mood Swings

Many women report CBD helps them feel calmer and less reactive, and small trials show some effect on stress, though none have been done in midlife women. In the Babyn survey, 48.8% of women reported anxiety in the past month, 46.2% irritability, and 35.8% mood swings, so this is a big part of the picture for a lot of women. Everyday stress is also the single biggest reason our customers use CBD, with over a third of all reviews, and mood was the second most common reason for use in both menopause surveys. Our reviewers mostly describe feeling calmer, more level, and less reactive during stressful stretches:

I have been using the tinctures and gummies for about 5 years and can always count on them to help me stay calm, balanced and feeling my best during life’s stressful moments.
Erin C., Trustpilot

This tastes great & helps to feel calmer, get into arguments less, and have less tension.
Nicole G., Judge.me, Organic Mint CBD Tincture

This brings immediate, gentle calm when stressed with no weirdness at all.
Mary A., Judge.me, Organic Mint CBD Tincture

On the research side, most of the CBD and stress studies use a public speaking test, which is about as stressful as a lab can make things. In a 2017 study of 59 healthy adults, only the middle dose of 300 mg lowered anxiety after speaking, while 100 mg and 900 mg did not, so more was not better. A 2024 meta-analysis in Psychiatry Research pooled 8 studies (316 people) and found a real but uncertain effect, and no trial so far has been done in midlife women. If stress is your main reason for looking at CBD, our full guide is Does CBD Help With Stress?

6. CBD for Perimenopause: Is It Any Different?

CBD has not been studied in perimenopause specifically, but perimenopause may be the stage where women use it most for mood, since symptoms tend to hit hardest then. Perimenopause is the transition years before your periods stop for good, and it can last a long time. In the Dahlgren survey, perimenopausal women reported worse hot flashes and mood symptoms than postmenopausal women, and they were more likely to use cannabis for mood (54.2% versus 37.5%). In the Babyn survey, the share of cannabis users who used it for sleep climbed with each stage, from 47.9% before menopause to 63.8% in perimenopause and 75.0% after menopause.

Three of our reviewers mention perimenopause by name. One bought our tincture as her very first CBD product during the hormonal changes of perimenopause, and she found it relaxed her enough that taking it in the morning cut into her daytime energy, so she moved it to the afternoon and now looks forward to it every day. Another has used our tincture for a few years on nights she wakes up, and she wrote that it has been part of her routine through stressful times, travel, and perimenopause. A third, a customer of more than five years, keeps both a tincture and gummies on hand, using them daily and in the moment, from the postpartum years into perimenopause.

One reviewer’s experience shows why timing matters, and the right time of day is personal. If CBD makes you feel a little too relaxed in the morning, try moving it later rather than giving up on it, which is something I cover in Does CBD Oil Make You Tired?

7. Does CBD Help With Hot Flashes and Night Sweats?

There is no published human trial showing CBD helps with hot flashes or night sweats. Hot flashes are common, 38.2% of women in the Babyn survey had them in the past month and 41.1% had night sweats, but they were near the bottom of the list of reasons for using cannabis, 4.8% in the Babyn survey and 13% in Dahlgren.

The research is finally starting. Washington State University has a placebo-controlled trial of a hemp cannabinoid supplement in women 40 to 60 that tracks hot flashes, sleep, and mood, and when results come out I will update this guide. There is some animal research showing the endocannabinoid system plays a role in body temperature, but that is a long way from showing CBD changes hot flashes in people.

People also ask whether CBD can make hot flashes worse. I could not find a study showing that either. My approach is the same as always: if you try CBD and notice any change, good or bad, write it down and adjust. And if hot flashes are disrupting your days or your sleep, that is worth a conversation with your doctor about all of your options.

8. What Strength CBD for Menopause, and How Much Should You Take?

There is no research-backed CBD strength or amount for menopause, so most people start at 15 to 30mg a day and adjust slowly. Strength is the total CBD in the bottle, like 900mg. Serving size is how much CBD you take at one time, like 25mg. A 900mg bottle with 30 servings works out to 30mg per serving, which you can check by dividing the total by the number of servings on the label. Our CBD price per mg calculator does the math for you and shows what you are really paying per milligram.

What I tell everyone, at markets and over email, is the same process:

• Start with 15 to 30mg a day and stay there for a week.
• If you don't notice a difference, add 10mg and hold for another week.
• Keep going until you find the amount that works for you, then stay consistent.

I take around 50mg most nights, but I am tall, very thin, and have a fast metabolism, so your number may be very different. CBD also has a half-life of roughly a day, which means taking it daily keeps your levels steady, and it is a fat loving molecule, so taking it after a meal helps your body absorb more of it. The full process is in How Much CBD Should I Take?

9. CBD Oil or Gummies or Softgels for Menopause?

For sleep, a tincture is usually the better pick because it absorbs faster under the tongue and has no sugar, while gummies are handy for daytime stress and travel. Our new extra strength CBD softgels are also a great choice for evenings, as they are sugar free and easy to add to your current vitamin and supplement routine. In the Babyn survey, edibles (51.7%) and oils (47.3%) were the two most common ways women took cannabis. Among our 35 sleep reviews, 21 mention a tincture and 12 mention gummies, with a few using both. Each format has a job, and matching the format to your symptom is half the battle.

For sleep, I lean toward the tincture, for two reasons. Holding it under your tongue gets it in faster, and gummies carry some sugar, even ours at 2g per gummy, which I personally avoid in the evening. That is why I take gummies in the morning and my tincture after dinner. If you prefer gummies, try letting one dissolve slowly instead of chewing it, which I explain in this short video. For a deeper comparison, see CBD Gummies vs. Tincture for Sleep, and if achy joints are part of your picture, Does CBD Help With Sore Muscles?

Our Organic Mint CBD Tincture was also included in the She's Got Issues Menopause Survival Guide, a roundup of products for sleep and midlife wellness, which was a nice surprise.

10. Why THC-Free CBD Matters in Midlife

THC-free CBD lets you skip the high and the foggy, anxious feeling some people get from THC, which matters to a lot of midlife women. THC is the part of cannabis that gets you high, and plenty of people simply don't want it. I am one of those people, which is a big reason Kyoto Botanicals has been THC-free since 2020. Several of our reviewers say the same thing:

I also like that I don't have any unwanted side effects like grogginess in the morning or dry eyes like I get with THC gummies.
Rebecca P., Judge.me, CBD Gummies

He quickly responded to my questions and shared the information that helped me understand why I was having such a bad reaction to the CBD brands that contain, even a tiny amount of THC.
Diane, Judge.me

The catch is that labels are not always accurate. A 2017 JAMA study of 84 CBD products sold online found only 31% were labeled accurately for CBD, and 21% contained THC. That is why the only label I trust is a third-party Certificate of Analysis (COA) for your exact batch. You can see ours on our lab results page, and learn how to read one in Understanding a Certificate of Analysis. Even so, if you are drug tested, read CBD and Drug Testing first, because I tell people not to take any CBD, ours included, if a test is possible.

11. How to Choose the Best CBD for Menopause

The best CBD for menopause is the one you can trust and will actually take consistently. Here is what I would look for:

• A current, batch-specific COA from a third-party lab that shows CBD content and THC as non-detect.
• Clear mg per serving, so you can start low and adjust.
• A format that fits your symptom and schedule, using the table above.
• A carrier oil and flavor you will actually enjoy, since consistency is what matters most.
• A real person you can ask questions, because you will have them.

Our CBD buyer's guide walks through all of this, and you can compare brands side by side in our CBD oil comparison and CBD gummies comparison.

12. CBD for Menopause FAQ

What are the most common menopause symptoms?

About 85% of women report menopause symptoms. In a 2023 survey of 1,485 women 35 and older, the most common in the past 30 days were trouble sleeping (65.3%), brain fog (49.2%), anxiety (48.8%), irritability (46.2%), muscle and joint achiness (43.0%), night sweats (41.1%), and hot flashes (38.2%).

Does CBD help with menopause symptoms?

No clinical trial has tested CBD in menopausal women yet. In surveys, midlife women most often report using cannabis or CBD for sleep (about 65%) and mood (about 45%), and most say it helps. In our own reviews, sleep (29%) and everyday stress (36%) are the top reasons customers use CBD. Individual results vary.

Is CBD good for perimenopause?

There are no perimenopause-specific CBD trials. In one survey, perimenopausal women reported stronger symptoms than postmenopausal women and were more likely to use cannabis for mood (54.2% versus 37.5%). Three of our reviewers mention perimenopause and describe using CBD for sleep and stressful stretches.

Can CBD help with hot flashes and night sweats?

There is no published human trial showing CBD helps with hot flashes or night sweats. Only about 5% to 13% of cannabis users in menopause surveys used it for hot flashes. Washington State University is running a placebo-controlled trial that includes hot flashes, and we will update this guide when results are published.

Can CBD make hot flashes worse?

We did not find a study showing CBD causes or worsens hot flashes, or one showing it helps. If you notice any change after starting CBD, write it down, adjust your amount or timing, and talk with your doctor.

What strength CBD is best for menopause?

Strength is the total CBD in the bottle, and what matters more is the mg per serving. Most people start at 15 to 30mg a day. A 900mg tincture with 30 servings gives you 30mg per serving, which leaves room to adjust up or down.

How much CBD should I take for menopause?

There is no research-backed amount for menopause. We suggest starting at 15 to 30mg a day for a week, then adding 10mg a week until you find what works, and staying consistent. Talk with your healthcare provider about what is right for you.

How long does CBD take to work for menopause symptoms?

Some of our reviewers describe feeling calmer within a few minutes, and one wrote that she is asleep within about 20 minutes of taking her tincture. For sleep and stress, give it at least a week or two of consistent use at the same time each day before you judge how it is working for you.

Are CBD gummies good for menopause?

Gummies are pre-measured and easy to take during the day or while traveling. For sleep, many people prefer a tincture because it absorbs faster under the tongue and has no sugar. Our gummies have 2g of sugar each.

Should I take CBD in the morning or at night during menopause?

It depends on what you are using it for and how it makes you feel. Many people take a tincture after dinner for sleep and gummies during the day for stress. If CBD makes you feel too relaxed in the morning, try moving it to the afternoon or evening.

Can I take CBD with HRT?

No study has tested CBD together with menopausal hormone therapy. CBD is processed by liver enzymes that also handle some hormones and many medications, so talk to your doctor or pharmacist before combining them, and never change a prescription on your own.

Is CBD safe during menopause?

CBD is generally well tolerated at typical consumer amounts. Reported side effects include tiredness, upset stomach, and appetite changes, and very high doses have raised liver enzymes in trials. Check with your doctor if you take any medications or have liver concerns.

Can CBD help with achy joints during menopause?

In one survey, 33% of midlife women who used cannabis used it for muscle and joint aches. Many of our customers use our CBD cream on achy joints and sore muscles, and our sore muscles guide covers what they report.

Will CBD show up on a drug test?

Even THC-free products carry some risk because labels and testing vary. If you are drug tested, we recommend not taking any CBD, including ours. Our CBD and drug testing guide explains why.