Although many insomniacs rely on cannabis as a way to help them sleep, many scientific studies have found that THC actually worsens sleep disorders.
A new study published last week in the journal Addiction may explain why.
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California found that cannabis improves sleep for young people with a history of depression or anxiety. Sleep disturbances were more common for those without pre-existing mental health conditions.
“While there is a general perception that cannabis improves sleep, the science on cannabis’ effects on sleep is mixed, in part because personal factors such as mental health can influence the effects of cannabis use on sleep. “It could be having an impact,” says Claire Walsh. a doctoral student in behavioral health at USC and lead author of the study.
Walsh and her team studied the USC Happiness and Health Study, which surveyed 3,300 public high school students in the Los Angeles area from 2013 to 2023 about substance use, social and mental health, and other health factors. data was used.
The study compared people who used cannabis 20 days or more each month to people who had never used it, and used a 16-point scoring system to determine how cannabis affected sleep problems. I did. According to Walsh, for participants who were anxious or depressed, her team saw an “average decrease in sleep problems of -1.18 points over six months,” and for participants without anxiety or depression, “an average decrease in sleep problems.” problems increased by an average of 1.66 points.” compared to people who did not use cannabis for “six months or more.”
Walsh isn’t sure why cannabis affects people with anxiety or depression differently. One possibility is that THC can help mask symptoms of anxiety and depression, which can negatively impact sleep.
“However, this does not necessarily mean that cannabis is treating the underlying mental health condition,” she stressed.
Studies have shown that people who use cannabis are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, but the evidence about whether cannabis is effective is mixed.
“Sleep is regulated by the endocannabinoid system, and we know that cannabis stimulates the endocannabinoid system and that the endocannabinoid system mediates sleep, although we don’t know the exact pathway,” says Harvard University. says Peter Grinspoon, a doctor at the School of Medicine. Instructor who wrote “Seeing Through the Smoke” about medical cannabis.
Grinspoon says people with anxiety or depression are more likely to suffer from insomnia in the first place, so they may find cannabis good for sleep.
“It’s easier to help someone who has a problem than someone who doesn’t,” he said. Another possible explanation for the different effects could be that people use cannabis differently if they want to sleep rather than get high.
The USC study looked at how often people use cannabis containing THC, but not how much they ingested or how they consumed it. Grinspoon said people who consume cannabis specifically to improve their sleep quality may use lower doses, as higher doses can be too stimulant to wake them up. It is said to have a high level of sexuality.
Grinspoon suspects that many of the scientific studies showing that cannabis impairs sleep quality use distorted methodology.
“Much of the cannabis research has been done under the auspices of the ‘war on drugs,’ with so much emphasis on finding harm and very little emphasis on finding benefit,” he said. said.
Additionally, restrictions on cannabis research prevent most researchers from studying cannabis in a laboratory setting. That means you have to rely on real-world data about what cannabis participants happen to be using.
“We’ve been studying illegal cannabis, and God knows what’s in it. It’s like studying moonshine to understand alcohol. And we… , we have been researching smoked cannabis, which is the least healthy way of ingesting it,” Grinspoon added.
A number of recent studies specifically targeting cannabis and sleep are showing promise.
For example, a study earlier this year looked at patients in the UK who were treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with vaporized cannabis from the Hindu Kush strain. The researchers chose Hindu Kush because it is an “established cannabis strain with a stable genetic background and well-characterized chemical and pharmacological profile.” This study found that participants experienced significant improvements in sleep over a six-month period.
Even if cannabis helps people sleep, there are still risks.
Like other sleeping pills, cannabis carries the risk of dependence, and those who decide to quit may experience withdrawal symptoms such as even more severe insomnia. Researchers have also expressed concern about the fact that cannabis may reduce the amount of time people spend in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, meaning they dream less.
“Hypothetically, that could be a problem,” Grinspoon said, adding that sleep is not yet understood well enough to know the effects of a lack of REM sleep.
But other common sleep aids like trazodone, Ambien, and Benadryl also reduce REM sleep, so “as always, it’s kind of a double standard for cannabis,” he says.
