When does kava peak and wear off?

[rolypolyman]

1) Roughly how many minutes/hours after drinking kava does it typically peak?

2) How long until it wears off?

I'm still trying to get a feel for it, but it seemed the peak was about 1 hour and wears off in 2-3 hours. I did a search for the term "hours" thinking I'd find this, but I didn't see any relevant posts.

 

[verticity]

1) Between 15 minutes and 1 hour
2) Anywhere from 2 to 6 hours, or longer for tudei. It depends on the relative amounts of the different kavalactones. An extremely heady kava like Moi wears off in an hour or two. Borogoru or Koniak much longer.
It's hard to find any actual data on metabolic half-life in the scientific literature. The only one I've seen is an elimination half-life of kavain of 9 hours, which clearly doesn't correspond to the subjective effects.

 

[TheKavaSociety]

In his book Lebot quotes some research on the quantitative uptake of four kavalactones into mouse brains. "The research established that kavain and dihydrokavain attain their maximal brain concentration within five minutes, whereas the other two compounds enter the brain more slowly and achieve lower peak concentrations. When an extract containing several kavalactones was used, the peak concentrations of kavain and yangonin were markedly higher than when isolated kavalactones were injected - supporting evidence for the greater strenghth of natural kava extracts"

 

[kavadude]

I agree with what was posted above, but it's also a complex synergistic effect. If you're looking for say, pain relief via muscle relaxation, maybe you can take it and be good for 4 hours. The initial head rush is definitely about an hour.

 

[verticity]

In his book Lebot quotes some research on the quantitative uptake of four kavalactones into mouse brains. "The research established that kavain and dihydrokavain attain their maximal brain concentration within five minutes, whereas the other two compounds enter the brain more slowly and achieve lower peak concentrations. When an extract containing several kavalactones was used, the peak concentrations of kavain and yangonin were markedly higher than when isolated kavalactones were injected - supporting evidence for the greater strenghth of natural kava extracts"

Yeah, there are definitely synergistic effects of the whole root vs extracts or isolated kavalactones. But it seems like the only pharmacokinetic studies on KLs other than kavain have been in non-human animals. We're pretty much left with our own collective experience, and the wisdom of traditional Pacific Islanders, to guide us.

 

[skippykava]

Kava for me wears off after by around 30 to 40 minutes. What is going on? I use about quarter cup kava root to 4-5 times water. I've also tried drinking half cup kava root with more water.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Yeah the euphoria does not stick around for long .. but the effects stay you just yet used to it techemically

 

[Superior Sandman]

Anxiolytic effects and muscle relaxation last many hours while heady effects are somewhat short lived in my experience.

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

I'm still krunked on the first squanch I drank about 7 months ago. I'm not not in Kansas any more and I never heard surf music again. Or vloorbedecking.

I find effects linger anywhere from 2 minutes to several days. Depends on mood, surroundings, grind, prep, quantity. For the most part, kava effects have been continuous for me since early march. An individual shell or two will last me anywhere from 20 - 60 minutes, though, unless I drink more, which, as I say, I have done continuously since early march. My smile is stuck.

 

[Stonth]

I'm still krunked on the first squanch I drank about 7 months ago. I'm not not in Kansas any more and I never heard surf music again. Or vloorbedecking.

I find effects linger anywhere from 2 minutes to several days. Depends on mood, surroundings, grind, prep, quantity. For the most part, kava effects have been continuous for me since early march. An individual shell or two will last me anywhere from 20 - 60 minutes, though, unless I drink more, which, as I say, I have done continuously since early march. My smile is stuck.

Do you think feeling the effects since early March is due to drinking kava all day everyday (if that's what you do) or if it's just that oh have such a kavalactone build up in your brain or something else?

Thanks,


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Krunkie McKrunkface]

Do you think feeling the effects since early March is due to drinking kava all day everyday (if that's what you do) or if it's just that oh have such a kavalactone build up in your brain or something else?

Thanks,


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Both, really. I think it's the built up level of kavalactones, which are regularly being reinforced, so they never dip below a certain level.

I suspect if I stopped it would take about 2 or 3 weeks to get back to the way I was before the build up of kavalactones, but I do not honestly know.

 

[Zaphod]

1) Roughly how many minutes/hours after drinking kava does it typically peak?

2) How long until it wears off?

I'm still trying to get a feel for it, but it seemed the peak was about 1 hour and wears off in 2-3 hours. I did a search for the term "hours" thinking I'd find this, but I didn't see any relevant posts.

Really depends - I once took 3TBS of micronized moi and my head was still spinning 5-6 hours later. I also had some serious nausea for the first hour so I wouldn't recommend it. These days I like my kava on a more subtle level slowly taking more and building up over a several hour period with multiple shells so it is hard to tell how long the "first" shell lasted. A good first dose will hit you within 10 minutes or less on an empty stomach and probably hit peak headiness in no more than 20-30 minutes before tapering off into the more relaxed mode. I feel like the heavier more sedating KLs reach their peak about 2-3 hours in - but it might just be the headiness wearing off. Who knows?!? Best way is to just start experimenting!

 

[muddywaters]

It starts 10-15 minutes in for me after I get my numbness in my mouth and with an initial rush or slight euphoria but I think I'm more sensitive to the initial effects and feel it so much more body wise because I have stress problems completely sober minus the coffee I sadly need every day and night. Then it just hangs around very subtly for a day and drops of quickly which is mostly mental calmness/positivity and the only thing I don't like about it which is it's digestive discomfort that I can't seem to totally avoid outside of consuming as little as the grit as possible (ordered extract paste though and I'll see what that does for me but I just like the experience of drinking it too besides why I do it otherwise).