A brand new survey of hashish shoppers with sleep points discovered that the majority most well-liked to make use of marijuana as a substitute of different sleep aids to assist get to mattress, reporting higher outcomes the subsequent morning and fewer unwanted effects. Smoking joints or vaping merchandise that contained THC, CBD and the terpene myrcene had been particularly fashionable.
In comparison with utilizing typical sleep aids or no sleep aids in any respect, respondents reported that hashish made them really feel extra refreshed, centered and higher in a position to perform the morning after, with fewer complications and fewer nausea. However in addition they reported some unwanted effects from marijuana use, together with waking up feeling sleepy, anxious and irritable.
The research, carried out by a pair of psychology researchers at Washington State College (WSU), was revealed late final month within the journal Exploration of Drugs. Authors say they consider it’s the primary analysis evaluating hashish to prescription sleep aids (PSAs) and over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids.
“On the whole, using hashish for sleep-related points was perceived as extra advantageous than over-the-counter drugs or prescription sleeps aids,” Carrie Cuttler, a WSU professor and one of many research co-authors, mentioned in a press launch on Monday. “In contrast to long-acting sedatives and alcohol, hashish was not related to a ‘hangover’ impact, though people reported some lingering results reminiscent of sleepiness and modifications in temper.”
Greater than 80% of the 1,255 hashish customers surveyed for the #WSU-led evaluation reported not utilizing over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids reminiscent of melatonin and benzodiazepines. https://t.co/PpMuA8CL4V
— WSUOfficeofResearch (@WSU_Research) November 13, 2023
The WSU researchers surveyed 1,216 individuals for the research utilizing the medical marijuana app Strainprint. Almost two thirds (64.9 %) of members reported that they’d been affected by sleep points for no less than 5 years, whereas almost 70 % mentioned they’d been utilizing hashish to assist with sleep for no less than a yr. A plurality of respondents (38 %) mentioned they’d been utilizing marijuana for sleep for between one and three years.
Almost 82 % of the hashish shoppers mentioned they don’t presently use prescription or over-the-counter sleep drugs, although greater than half reported doing so up to now, indicating that they’ve some to see marijuana as a greater possibility.
Greater than half the pattern reported that they use hashish each night time to assist go to sleep. Most respondents mentioned they both smoke joints (46.1 %), vape flower (42.6 %) or use some type of hashish oil (42.5 %) earlier than mattress, though almost a 3rd mentioned they use edibles and/or vape pens. One other 14.6 % mentioned they use hashish in capsule kind.
Whereas inhaled types of hashish are usually extra fashionable amongst most shoppers on the whole, authors mentioned that these with sleep points could desire smoking and vaping “due to the quick latency of onset with inhalation and the excessive proportion of respondents who indicated problem falling asleep.” They mentioned they had been stunned that edibles or capsules weren’t extra fashionable “as these are longer lasting and as such could also be extra useful for sustaining sleep.”
By way of product make-up, most respondents used high-THC merchandise (60.0 %), though 21.7 % opted for a balanced THC–CBD mix. Requested about cannabinoids used for sleep, 78.8 % mentioned select THC, 47.1 % mentioned CBD and 18.1 % pointed to CBN.
As for terpenes, myrcene was the most well-liked (49.0 %) adopted by linalool (26.9 %), limonene (24.7 %) and beta caryophyllene (19.1 %).
“One of many findings that stunned me was the truth that individuals are looking for the terpene myrcene in hashish to help with sleep,” Cuttler mentioned within the WSU press release. “There’s some proof within the scientific literature to assist that myrcene could assist to advertise sleep, so hashish customers appeared to have figured that out on their very own.”
Requested to report how hashish helps with their sleep, respondents mentioned it relaxed their physique (81.0 %) and thoughts (83.0 %), helped stop interruptions in sleep (36.3 %) and promoted a deeper (56.2 %), longer (41.6 %) sleep.
Of the 526 individuals who reported utilizing prescription and OTC sleep aids along with marijuana, “considerably extra reported that they really feel extra refreshed, extra centered, and higher in a position to perform within the morning after utilizing hashish relative to OTC sleep aids, PSAs, or no sleep aids. Members additionally reported fewer complications and fewer nausea the morning after.”
“Members reported feeling extra refreshed, centered, higher in a position to perform, fewer complications, and fewer nausea the morning after utilizing hashish for sleep than after utilizing extra typical sleep aids or no sleep aids.”
Amongst those that used all three kinds of sleep aids, the report continues, “considerably extra members reported that they expertise nausea, nervousness, and racing coronary heart when utilizing OTC sleep drugs or PSAs in comparison with hashish.”
Some unwanted effects reported by members are not any shock. Hashish was extra probably than different sleep aids, for instance, to trigger a dry mouth and pink eyes. Different unintended penalties, nevertheless, had been extra noteworthy. For instance, “considerably extra members endorsed feeling extra sleepy, extra anxious, and extra irritable the morning after utilizing hashish relative to different sleep aids or no sleep aids,” the research says.
These findings align with takeaways from previous analysis that marijuana use can result in longer sleep durations and fewer middle-of-the-night awakenings, but additionally extra next-day fatigue.
Notably, researchers discovered that greater than 60 % of research members reported getting six to eight hours of sleep once they used hashish alone. Lower than 20 %, nevertheless, reported getting six to eight hours of sleep when utilizing a prescription or OTC sleep help, no matter whether or not it was utilized in mixture with marijuana.
“Total the literature means that hashish may be useful for some points of sleep,” authors wrote, “nevertheless, further goal analysis is required to find out which points of sleep are positively affected and that are negatively affected by hashish.”
Regardless of marijuana’s potential unwanted effects, researchers mentioned they may be extra tolerable for members than unwanted effects of different, extra conventional sleep aids.
“These unwanted effects could also be much less extreme or impairing than the unwanted effects they expertise with different sleep aids,” the research says, “and due to this fact, contribute to the notion that hashish is superior to extra typical sleep aids.”
Authors famous that their survey had a powerful choice bias towards individuals who had been already utilizing hashish as a result of they understand it to be useful. “Not everybody goes to seek out that hashish helps with their sleep,” Cuttler mentioned in a press release, “and future analysis must make use of extra goal sleep measures to supply a extra complete understanding of the consequences of hashish for sleep.”
High quality of sleep typically arises in different research into the potential advantages of marijuana, and usually, shoppers say it enhances their relaxation. Two latest research, for instance—one involving individuals with power well being situations and one other individuals recognized with neurological issues—discovered that sleep high quality improved with hashish use.
A 2019 research, in the meantime, discovered that individuals tended to buy fewer OTC sleep drugs once they have authorized entry to marijuana. Specifically, authors of that research famous, “hashish seems to compete favorably with OTC sleep aids, particularly these containing diphenhydramine and doxylamine, which represent 87.4% of the marketplace for OTC sleep aids.”