This Is How Marijuana Can Affect Sleep, According To 9 People On Reddit

By: Madeleine Balestrier:

Marijuana and sleep; what’s the deal?

Sleep is the holy grail of adulthood.

We spend our days looking forward to the moment we can turn off other peoples’ demands, shield ourselves from the glow of screens and burrow into a world devoid of taxes, debt and Fox News.

Sounds like a welcomed respite, right?

Wrong – 35.2 percent of United States citizens experience a lack of sleep or short sleep duration (less than 7 hours), according to the health survey for the Centers for Disease Control and prevention.

Additionally, the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute found links between sleep deprivation and risks for heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, stroke, anxiety and depression.

For all the millennials in the room, sleep is essentially like recharging your phone; without a charger your phone shuts down and without proper sleep your body shuts down, which impacts your overall health and wellness. And unfortunately, you can’t just go on Amazon and buy better sleep – well actually maybe you can (the 21st century is crazy y’all!).

From sleeping pills to melatonin, the troubled sleeper has options, but what about cannabis or more specifically, how do cannabis products affect insomnia and other sleep deficiencies?

We took to Reddit to see if people were using cannabis for sleep and if so, how it was working out for them. Here’s what they had to say:

1. Replace the medicine cabinet for some natural herb

“In my experience it has been such a positive discovery. I have trouble falling asleep when stressed, which used to be a lot. I used OTC like Simply Sleep (Tylenol pm without the acetaminophen), melatonin and lunesta a few times. Depending on how much I used, mostly they made me feel terrible the next day, often worse than if I hadn’t slept at all. Pot makes me feel nice and relaxed so I drift off to sleep easily and I feel great the next day. Even if I wake up a few hours before I am supposed to wake up in the morning and can’t go back to sleep, I will use a little bit and not feel any ill effects upon waking.”

2. Dreams or nightmares?

“Mostly dependent on the individual and the way their body interacts with THC/CBD, but overall weed reduces your brains ability to achieve/stay in REM sleep. That’s why a lot of users will note how they don’t have dreams anymore. This will lead to a drop in your quality of sleep every night you sleep high. I personally found THC to cause sleep problems for me and made my anxiety + depression way worse whereas CBD helped me relax, but it didn’t help me sleep.”

More on this at the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

3. Not a dose, but a microdose!

“My girlfriend is microdosing it every evening via a vaporizer and it helps her a lot falling and staying asleep. Although she started taking it for other medical reasons, this is a very welcome effect.”

4. Strains matter

I also have had really bad insomnia my whole adult life and I also have fibro. I started taking Canna Caps that I make myself. I find anything high in THC will stop the pain and ease me into sleep. With using canna caps the high last much longer so I’m able to sleep longer. Here are the strains I have tried and they all worked for me: OG Kush, Blue Knight, Sweet God, and OG. I also tried CBD oil and it did nothing for my pain or sleep.

5. A sleep technologist says so

“Yes it is a REM inhibitor, meaning it will affect your sleep architecture, and push back REM. You’ll still get into REM sleep, but much later in the night. I am a registered sleep technologist so I feel confident saying this. If you abstain from the herb, you’ll dream like a mofo. That’s because you’re spending more time in REM sleep, REM rebound. For the habitual smokers, me included, you’ll barely dream. That’s because dreaming occurs in REM.”

6. Smoke. Wait 2 Hours. Sleep. Repeat.

“For awhile I would smoke about two hours from my predicted bed time. Enough to relax, but not be going to sleep super high. That helped regulate my REM sleep.”

7. Goal: “Get to sleep, stay asleep.”

“Another truth: Edibles (still indica), in proper dosing, are a better sleep aid. Their effects are more full body, and last consistently longer than smoking. Take an hour or two before bed. The less mg’s it takes, the less groggy you’ll feel in the morning. When using cannabis for sleep, it’s not necessarily about getting so stoned you pass out. Higher CBD or CBN ratios may be what’s lacking for some to get the right results.”

8. Indica, the Granddaddy of them all

“I’d say start with the indica. CBD alone for insomnia isn’t nearly as common and it’s hard to go wrong with indicas because they’re all genetically sedating. As for strains, like I said it’s hard to go wrong. Passing out after an indica is not only common but expected, but if you’re looking for some good ones, some are Granddaddy Purple, pretty much any Kush, Platinum strains knock me out, Bubba strains, and Afgoo is a good one.”

9. Yeah, I’m different

“In general, I always have to say experiment if you can because this stuff is so variable person to person.”

Alright, I guess I’ll sum what the Reddit community experienced when using marijuana for sleep:

Indica is better for sleep rather than sativa.
Our reddit friends don’t have a consensus on which is better: CBD or THC.
Cannabis and REM sleep seem to be like Regina George and Cady Heron – incompatible.
Experiment to find the dose and method that works for you.
Everyone is different!

Moral of the story: we need to do more studies, like this one, to better treat insomnia, sleep apnea and other sleeping disorders naturally.

Madeleine Balestrier is a writer who covers cannabis culture and new trends in the cannabis community.