California Dreamin’
It’s no secret that cannabis and sleep have a long, storied history. If you’re someone who regularly consumes cannabis, you’ll definitely have had the experience of getting a little toasty to watch a movie only to fall asleep before the plot even starts ramping up. Waking up to the late night Uber Eats sitting on your doorstep after passing out on the couch? We’ve been there too. On the flip side, though, there’s the intentional relationship. One which has benefitted countless people over the years. From old prescription elixirs to self medication, cannabis has been used to help people count sheep for a good while. Here, we’ll take a look at why cannabis is used for sleep, how it affects you, and the best way (in our opinion) to go about using it for a long, restful night’s sleep.
Old Medicine
Cannabis is old, obviously, it’s a plant. But its use as a medicine goes back millennia. What was one of the first uses? Sleep, of course. Well, not really standard sleep, but actually anesthesia. Dating back to the second century, Chinese physician Hua Tuo became the first to use anesthesia during surgery. In order to render patients unconscious, he developed a mixture called mafeisan, which translates to “cannabis boil powder”. This powder is believed to have been a mixture of cannabis and other medicinal herbs which was then mixed into wine to be drank by the patient. Turns out preparing for ancient Chinese surgery is now what we would call a chill Friday night. In ancient India, there are also surviving texts that purport the use of cannabis for sleep in Ayurvedic medicine.
Although cannabis was used by many other cultures throughout history for a series of issues (anxiety, glaucoma, digestive health, and many medical ceremonies) there isn’t too much more on the use of cannabis for sleep until much later on in the 19th century when W. B. O’Shaughnessy began his studies on cannabis as a potential medicine. If you’re a medical cannabis user, you have O’Shaughnessy to thank, as he was essentially the first western scientist to postulate that cannabis has medicinal properties and can be used for a variety of ailments. Over the course of a 5 year trip to Calcutta, India with the East India Trading Co., he noted the use of cannabis as a recreational substance and began investigating its properties.
O’Shaughnessy began administering cannabis extract to animals before moving on to human subjects. One of his subjects that he prescribed cannabis to was suffering from rheumatism. When dosed, the patient’s symptoms eased and mood lifted. Notably, the man displayed a clear case of what would now be called the munchies, devouring two meals rapaciously, and then “fell soundly asleep, and so continued till the following morning.” Throughout his time in India, O’Shaughnessy continued to experiment with different preparations, dosages, and uses for cannabis.
By the time he returned to Ireland, he had amassed a significant wealth of knowledge on the subject, and kickstarted the use of cannabis in western medicine. By 1850, cannabis had reached the US as a medicine and was entered in the US Pharmacopeia as a remedy for a whole host of issues. It was then widely available as an OTC medication until the 1930s when opiates had taken over in popularity and cannabis became regulated for the first time. We can go on and on about this, but let’s get back to sleep.
This is Your Brain on Cannabis
It’s clear that throughout the course of history, over multiple continents, cannabis had been used for, or at least noted for, it’s use as a sedative. Why does it work as such, though? For an in-depth explanation, we recommend checking out our article on why cannabis works. Here you’ll find a whole breakdown of the various ways the many molecules in the cannabis plant interact with your body and brain. Today, however, we’ll focus specifically on the mechanism that promotes sleep.
To give a quick recap, the primary way that cannabis interacts with your brain is by the cannabinoids binding to your CB1 receptors. These CB1 receptors are all over the brain and central nervous system, and control the flow of neurotransmitters that have an effect on everything from memory, to hunger, to anxiety, and of course sleep. When you consume a cannabis product, the Delta-9 THC binds itself to your receptors and increases neurotransmitter activity. One of the neurotransmitters that can be increased by THC is adenosine, which is known to promote sleep. When cannabis is consumed and adenosine is released at a higher rate than normal, your body reacts by feeling more tired than usual and prompting sleep.
So, let’s say you spend hours staring at the ceiling on a normal night, and have decided to give cannabis a go in order to get to sleep faster. What happens then?
Well, to start, research has shown that cannabis can reduce sleep onset latency. In other words, consuming cannabis can help you fall asleep faster than you would without, especially if you typically struggle with getting to sleep. Additionally, it is generally understood that cannabis consumption can lead to a longer, deeper sleep as well, with some caveats.
Sleep Quality with Cannabis
In order to understand the next portion of this, it’s important to understand the stages of sleep that you experience throughout a complete sleep cycle, which lasts from around 90-120 minutes:
N1: This is where you start to fall asleep and transition from awake to asleep. Your brain waves start to slow and your body enters a light, drowsy state.
N2: Nice, you’re finally asleep! This is where your brain activity slows (as does your breathing), your body temperature drops, and you fall into a progressively deeper sleep that will be harder to wake up from when exposed to external stimuli.
N3: This is the good stuff, deep sleep. This is where your body’s muscles and breathing relax even further, essentially shutting down non-essential function. This is where experts believe most of the restorative work is done, thus making deep sleep an extremely important part of the cycle.
REM: REM stand for Rapid Eye Movement, which is pretty descriptive of what happens here. Here, your brain activity begins to resemble that of being awake, however your body essentially paralyzes itself with the exclusion of your eyes (and breathing and such). This is the part of the sleep cycle where you dream, and is generally believed to be the part of the cycle that aids in forming and retaining memories as well as learning.
So with all of that out of the way, where does cannabis fit in, exactly? We know that N1 comes on quicker, meaning you get to N2 and, thus, N3 quicker. Which is great, you get to that restorative sleep quicker. The even better part is that it’s believed that cannabis use can increase your N3 sleep, thus giving you a more restful, restorative sleep.
Nothing is without tradeoffs, thought, as cannabis use is also understood to drastically reduce your REM sleep cycle. Given the list above, you can see why this could be an issue, especially if you want to cement new learning or memories. Without a full, complete set of REM cycles, you may not get as much a benefit from sleep as you normally would. This isn’t all bad, though, especially depending on your specific circumstances. Take, for example, a patient with PTSD, which has a tendency to present as stressful, panic inducing dreams/nightmares that can interrupt sleep. By using cannabis and suppressing this sleep cycle, one may be able to stay asleep longer, with the benefit outweighing the drawback of not getting any (or very little) REM sleep.
So, is it too good to be true?
For the next section, we want to make it clear that this is not medical advice, and we’re not doctors. We just like to read and share what we learn about cannabis with our community. That said, there’s understanding that using cannabis to fall asleep does not have a negative effect on sleep quality…until it does. Just like most things in life, too much of a good thing can be not a good thing.
To give as best a breakdown as possible, it really just comes down to dependency and tolerance. It’s generally agreed that intermittent use of cannabis to fall asleep can provide that quick onset, long, deep sleep that we mentioned above. This can be especially helpful if you’re in a suboptimal sleep setting, have a racing mind due to a stressful day, or spent too much time in front of a screen before hitting the hay. Even a few days back to back will provide these benefits. Long term use, however, is a different story.
Researchers who have done long term studies on a set of subjects have seen a decrease in overall sleep quality after consistently using cannabis to fall asleep. Once use has been consistent enough, the benefits don’t just disappear, but seem to reverse. All of a sudden, it becomes just as difficult to fall asleep as it was before cannabis, the sleep duration is shorter, and that N3 sleep isn’t lasting as long as it was. In short, consistent use of cannabis to fall asleep on a daily basis can reset the body’s equilibrium as the body gets used to it, and in turn give you sub-optimal sleep.
The final thing to mention here is what happens if you’re consistently using cannabis to sleep and then stop. Dependency on cannabis to fall asleep is similar to depending on other sleep aids. Once that sleep aid is no longer available, falling and staying asleep naturally becomes very difficult. There’s a chance that, if you’re reading this, you’ve taken a tolerance break from cannabis before. In this case, you know the situation all too well. Staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come (but it doesn’t). Fitful sleep throughout the night. VIVID dreams as your body begins to experience proper REM sleep for the first time in a long time. It’s not enjoyable, and sticking to your tolerance break means sticking out the insomnia for a few nights until your body shifts back to equilibrium.
What to do
Between the history, sleep science, and our own experiences, it’s clear that cannabis and sleep have a very intimate relationship. Taking an edible or puffing on some cannabis before bed can be a great way to unwind and lull yourself into a restorative, deep sleep. But using it as a crutch every night may not be the panacea it first presents itself to be. Instead of relying on cannabis, it’s important to take a holistic look at your sleep, and your sleep hygiene.
Here’s a few boxes to check before hitting the herb to pass out after a long day:
End screen time at least an hour before bed. Lower the lights and let your mind shut off.
Keep your sleeping environment proper for you. Cool temperature, comfortable bed, dark, and away from external stimuli. All this to the best of your ability, of course.
Try not to be in your bed except for sleep (or sex). Keep it a sacred place for sleeping, which helps with conditioning your body for sleep.
Write down anything stressing you out to put out of your mind until morning.
Remember terpenes? It’s more than just weed. Set up a diffuser with lavender essential oils in your room to start to relax your mind with those natural terpenes.
Drink a chamomile or herbal tea, much to the same effect as lavender
Take a small dose of melatonin to kickstart this portion of your circadian rhythm
If you can’t fall asleep and catch yourself tossing or turning, get out of bed and go to the couch or somewhere else comfortable. The bed should not be a stressful place to fitfully try and force sleep (it’s a losing battle)
With all the above done, and with sleep not coming, that’s the best time to puff on some cannabis or take an edible. You’ve tried everything but still you’re wide awake. It happens to the best of us, and we definitely need a little nudge every now and again. At the end of the day, we want to use cannabis to elevate and improve our lives. Mindful consumption of cannabis is the best way to consume it. Knowing when and why you’re using it to sleep is important to keep your body happy and healthy. But at the end of the day, sometimes counting sheep just doesn’t work. Good thing we know something that does.