Julien came into the shop one Tuesday evening, just before closing. A night nurse at Yverdon hospital for six years, he had just moved to a tighter rotation, and his body couldn't keep up. "I sleep four hours, wake up with a start, and spend the rest of the day half there," he told me that evening, leaning on the counter.
It's not unusual to hear this in his line of work. The body is made to sleep at night and work during the day, and when you reverse that several times a week, your internal clock never really finds its way. Julien had already tried melatonin, without much effect. He had also tried switching everything off twenty minutes before bed, screens included, which helped a little without solving the underlying problem: a head still running at full speed when he closed his eyes.
We talked for a while. Not to sell him anything straight away, just to understand what was really going on. The stress of night work is rarely just about hours: it's also the worry of sleeping badly which, over time, becomes a source of stress in itself. A circle that closes in on itself.
I suggested a 10% oil, to take thirty minutes before bed, telling him clearly not to expect a miracle from the first night. He left sceptical, which is a rather healthy reaction.
He came back three weeks later. "The first week I didn't feel anything special," he told me. "And then around the tenth day I noticed I was waking up less often in the middle of my sleep. Not that I suddenly slept like a baby, but sort of... I felt less like I'd run a marathon when I got up."
What I take away from Julien's story is this: the change was nothing spectacular. He didn't get perfect sleep back overnight, and he still works nights, which remains a constraint CBD doesn't solve. What changed is the quality of the hours he does sleep, and how he feels getting out of bed after a shift.
He still comes in regularly for his bottle. The last time, he said something I find spot on: "I know it's not magic. But before, I was fighting my own body every night. Now, at least, we negotiate."
CBD is not a medicine.
