This Diary Study Suggests It’s Probably Not A Good Idea To Use Cannabis To Help You Sleep

Posted on July 22, 2019

Marijuana is often viewed as a means for poor sleepers to finally get their rest, and its gradual liberalisation is good news for these people. But a recent study published in Health Psychology has made some discoveries indicating that the drug might not be as good for sleeping as one may think.

83 college students participated in this two-week study, which compares their sleep experience on days which they took the drug and on the days which they did not. The participants were asked to complete daily questionnaires regarding how often they consumed alcohol or marijuana, how well they slept and how tired they felt afterwards.

The findings showed that students who used cannabis as a sleeping aid were able to sleep for a longer period. However, it did not help them sleep faster or improve the quality of their sleep. In fact, it made them even more tired the next day.

On the other hand, participants who consumed alcohol the night before did not feel that their sleep experience changed. This might be because very few participants used alcohol to help them get to sleep, resulting in a small sample size.

Therefore, the use of cannabis as a sleep aid might not be ideal. While it might help individuals to sleep longer, it fails to improve their sleep quality. Furthermore, this could potentially cause individuals to take more of the drug to sleep more so they can rid themselves of the fatigue resulting from using marijuana as a sleep aid, which might result in an addiction.


Category(s):Addictions, Drug Addiction, Sleep Disorders

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