The Effects and Potential Benefits of Using Cannabis for Sleep

Since the beginning of time, people have used the cannabis plant to induce sleep. Cannabis is believed to help with sleep disorders since it can make you feel calm and sleepy. Modern cannabis research has confirmed that the plant can promote sleep and improve sleep cycles.

Some medical cannabis products are used as sleep medicine by those who like smoking marijuana for recreational and therapeutic purposes. However, research into how well cannabis works as a sleep aid is still in its early stages. Current studies are not sure if long-term use of cannabis is good or bad for sleep quality.

Roughly 70% of community-based young adults say they use cannabis occasionally to get a good night’s rest. About half of people who have consumed cannabis for at least ten years say it improved their sleep quality. Up to 85% of people who use cannabis for medical reasons, like pain relief, say it helps them sleep better.

Does Cannabis Help You Sleep?

Some evidence suggests that cannabis can help people who often deal with sleep disorders or disturbances. Cannabis may help people with chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and multiple sclerosis achieve a deep sleep state and wake up less often during the night.

Many people self-medicate with cannabis for poor sleep, pain, and other health conditions. However, even though a study of people with chronic insomnia found that medical cannabis helped many of them feel better, these users are less sure that it helps with their sleep problems.

Many studies have shown that the effects of cannabis are different for people who use it regularly compared to those who use it less often or not at all. Regular cannabis users are more likely to say they have sleep problems than people who use cannabis only once in a while.

How Does Using Cannabis for Sleep Work?

Cannabinoids make you sleepy because they interact with cannabinoid receptors in the brain. When cannabinoids attach to the receptors, they slow down your brain’s ability to wake up and make more of the chemical adenosine, which helps people fall asleep.

Cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two of the chemicals that make cannabis work for sleep problems. They have the potential to help cannabis users with mental and physical health conditions that keep them from sleeping. CBD can make you more alert in low doses, but it can make you feel sleepy in higher doses.

On the other hand, THC is known for making people feel calm, but it can have the opposite effect on some people. This is especially true for those not used to how cannabis makes them feel or those who take more significant doses. In these situations, if you use cannabis right before bed, it might take you longer to fall asleep.

Synthetic forms of THC have shown possible health benefits such as:

• Alleviating symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea
• Preventing nightmares
• Helping people with pain sleep better

Conversely, CBD can reduce the symptoms of REM sleep disorder and excessive daytime sleepiness. In the next section, let’s talk about the substances and chemicals that make cannabis helpful for sleep.

Cannabis Cannabinoids and Sleep

It’s possible that the effects of cannabis can help you sleep. Cannabis has lots of different naturally occurring chemical components, each of which has the potential to influence sleep and the sleep cycle. These components mainly consist of cannabinoids and terpenes.

Cannabinoids

Researchers have been able to separate more than 100 different cannabinoids from the cannabis plant. Many of them are being studied and used in clinical trials to see if they can help those with difficulty sleeping and other sleep disorders. Examples of conditions that cannabis for sleep aims to address are:

• Mental illnesses like generalized anxiety and depression
• Different types of cancer
• Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
• Seizure disorders
• Long-term pain

These three most well-known cannabinoids are known to have sleep-inducing properties:

CBD

CBD is a non-psychoactive compound known for making people feel calm. It does not make you feel “high.” Instead, scientists believe CBD helps counteract or balance the high brought by THC. CBD has become the center of cannabis enthusiasts’ attention because it can reduce pain and anxiety, helping you focus and think more clearly. The ability of CBD to decrease anxiety helps improve your natural sleep-wake cycles.

There are a lot of CBD products being made. You can check out the difference between hemp gummies and CBD gummies here.

CBN

Cannabinol (CBN) is a cannabinoid that is not as widely recognized as CBD. Despite that, it has a lot of calming effects, which may get more potent when combined with THC. CBN also has anti-inflammatory properties. Moreover, studies suggest that it enhances hunger. CBD, on the other hand, seems to make people feel less hungry. CBN is found in aged cannabis since THC naturally changes into CBN over time.

THC

THC is what makes you feel high during marijuana use. When used correctly, the substance can help relieve pain. Research shows that THC can also make you feel sleepy. There is new evidence that THC may make breathing easier while sleeping. Because of this, THC could be used to treat obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which a person repeatedly stops breathing while sleeping.

It looks like THC can also change how long you spend time in each stage of sleep. In particular, it has been found that this substance makes you spend less time in REM sleep while simultaneously making you spend more time in slow-wave sleep.

The amount of time spent in REM can affect your dreams. So, this can benefit you if you have PTSD disorder, which is marked by bad dreams and nightmares. This is also why regular cannabis users have fewer dreams.

Terpenes

Cannabinoids have been getting much of cannabis enthusiasts’ and researchers’ attention lately. This is mainly because of their potential to be able to help with pain, mood, and sleep. But it looks like terpenes also play a significant role in how cannabis affects you.

Terpenes are tiny molecules with distinct smells that also affect how they taste. They can be found in many plants, fruits, and flowers, like cannabis. At this time, we do not fully understand how terpenes affect the body and mind. Experts think that they may work by amplifying the effects of other cannabinoids and directly affecting the body in several ways.

So far, more than 150 different terpenes have been named. According to scientific research, terpenes affect your level of alertness, energy, and mood. Some of the most common terpenes that have been found to help people sleep are as follows:

• Myrcene: This terpene is most often found in cannabis, but it can also be found in fruits and herbs like mangoes, basil, thyme, and lemongrass. It is also found in hops and ylang-ylang, both known to help people sleep well. Myrcene also helps relieve pain and reduces inflammation.
• Caryophyllene: This terpene can help relieve stress, anxiety, and pain because of its calming, anxiolytic, and pain-killing properties. Thus, it may also help you get better nocturnal sleep. This terpene smells like pepper and spices, which is why you can also find it in cloves and black pepper.
• Limonene: This terpene can be found in the peels of citrus fruits, cannabis, and other plants. Some studies have shown that this citrus-flavoured terpene can help ease feelings of anxiety and tension. Limonene works in a way that is similar to an antidepressant. Researchers think that limonene’s ability to raise serotonin levels in the brain is the reason why it makes people feel calm and happy. Because of this, limonene might help people fall asleep or stay asleep. Several studies have shown that this terpene can help people with trouble sleeping and OCD behaviours.
• Terpineol: This terpene has benefits like calming, relieving pain, and putting you to sleep. Terpineol can be found in many plants, such as lilac, pine, and eucalyptus. It can also be found in different strains of cannabis.
• Linalool: This terpene, which smells like lavender, is found in many different plants, including cannabis. Several studies show that linalool can help reduce anxiety and depression symptoms. It can also protect the immune system from the harmful effects of stress. This terpene is known to help produce adenosine, a hormone that enables you to relax and sleep.

Few Things to Know Before Using Medical Cannabis as a Sleep Aid

For people who are thinking about trying cannabis for the first time, it can be scary and hard to figure out which strain is the best. There are many different strains of cannabis to choose from. Depending on the strain of cannabis, cannabinoids and terpenes come in many different shapes and amounts. So, how do you choose the best option for you?

Indica vs. Sativa Strains: Which One Is Better for Sleep?

The two most common types of cannabis plants are Indica and Sativa strains. Some strains are a mix of the two types of cannabis. Most people think of Indica as a strain that makes people feel sleepy and calm, while Sativa is more energizing and stimulating. High THC strains will not only make you feel happier and change your mood, but they can also make you feel more tired the next day.

Because it makes people feel more relaxed, the Indica strain may be the best for sleep. On the other hand, Sativa could also be suitable for those who use cannabis to calm their nerves and prevent bad dreams. Because of how cannabinoids and other cannabis components work together, hybrid strains can have a wide range of effects.

Nevertheless, some cannabis researchers think that generalizations about Indica and Sativa aren’t very helpful or accurate. It is more important to look at the ratio of cannabinoids to terpenes. This usually means choosing a strain with a good mix of CBD, THC, and terpenes.

A great product to start with if you want to use cannabis for sleep is Golden Monkey Gummies 240MG THC + 100MG CBD since it gives you the potential benefits of both THC and CBD.

Always ask your doctors and wellness professionals before starting a new supplement or changing the order in which you take your current prescription medications. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions so you can make a well-informed and comfortable decision.

How Is Medical Cannabis Different From Other Sleep Medicines?

Compared to non-cannabis sleep aid, there isn’t a lot of research on the safety and effectiveness of cannabis products. This is because cannabis is a controlled substance that can only be sold to certain people. The FDA has only given its approval to a small number of synthetic drugs that are used to treat nausea and other problems.

Some patients will probably use medical cannabis like they might use other natural sleep aids. They do this mainly to avoid more potent drugs, like opioids. Even though prescription and over-the-counter sleep aids can be beneficial in the short term, there is a risk for addictive diseases such as substance abuse, tolerance, or dependence.

What Are the Potential Effects of Using Cannabis for Sleep?

When used in small amounts for a short time, cannabis can help you fall asleep faster. Although cannabis might help you have better early morning behaviour, it is also vital that you know about its possible side effects, such as:

• Grogginess the next day (Especially if you used it a lot or if it was a high-THC strain)
• Dry lips
• Euphoria
• Hunger

However, medical professionals usually don’t recommend using sleep aids, like cannabis, for a long time. After long-term use, withdrawal symptoms, including mood changes, can occur.

Long-term and excessive cannabis use can also affect how you sleep, such as causing difficulty sleeping and bad dreams. Research has shown that people who use cannabis regularly tend to tolerate the drug’s calming effects. This means they may need a higher dose to get the same effects.

You are also more likely to get chronic bronchitis when you smoke cannabis. Moreover, health experts say cannabis use should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Which Is the Best Method for Using Cannabis?

You can use cannabis in many ways, such as smoking, vaporizing, eating, or taking a tincture sublingually. If you are worried about how smoking affects your lungs, it is better not to smoke. Instead, try using edibles, like gummies. Here is a guide on the benefits of using CBD gummies.

The amount of the psychoactive compound THC that is expected to enter a person’s bloodstream depends on the type of cannabis that is being used. Since the THC goes straight into your system when you inhale cannabis, this method is often very effective. On the other hand, a lot of the THC in edibles is metabolized away when the body breaks down the food.

It is also essential to consider the time it takes for the effects to start. Most of the time, you can feel the effects of cannabis almost as soon as you smoke it. However, you may not feel the effects of edibles for a long time because they have to go through your digestive system first.

Ultimately, the best method for taking cannabis to get better sleep cycles and achieve a deep sleep depends on your preferences and current health conditions. If you are not sure, you can try CBD tinctures instead. Check out Mota CBD Sleep Tincture and Mota THC Sleep Tincture.

Conclusion

It would be best to decide whether or not to use cannabis to help you sleep. Experts believe that cannabis use for sleep requires more research until the correct dose and potential effects are better known.

Many people who have trouble falling asleep find that using medical cannabis helps them get quality rest. But before using cannabis products, you should check if you can use cannabis around your area. Moreover, you should consult your primary care doctor to find out if there are other ways to improve the quality of your sleep.

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