Editor’s note: Subscribe to CNN Sleep, But Better Newsletter Series. Our seven-part guide has helpful tips for getting better sleep.
CNN
—
It’s a common assumption among marijuana users: Using weed will help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Scientists, however, I’m not so sure that’s true.
“This is an understudied but important area as many people increasingly turn to cannabis products for sleep aids,” said sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral scientist at the Rand Corp., who was not involved in the study. the study.
“But we really lack solid evidence to show whether cannabis helps or impairs sleep,” Troxel added.
Marijuana use can actually impair sleep, a December 2021 study found. The research, published in a BMJ magazinefound that adults who used marijuana on 20 or more days in the past month were 64% more likely to sleep less than six hours a night and 76% more likely to sleep more than nine hours a night.
Optimal sleep for adults is defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. like seven to eight hours a night.
Moderate use (using weed less than 20 days in the past month) did not cause short-term sleep problems, but people were 47% more likely to sleep nine or more hours a night, according to the study.
Why is short and long sleep a problem?
“Large population-based studies show that both short and long sleep are associated with increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as the long-term progression of things like atherosclerosis, diabetes, diabetes. coronary artery disease and any of the major cardiovascular problems. diseases,” said study lead author Calvin Diep, a resident in anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Toronto.
“It seems that with sleep there is a kind of ‘Goldilocks phenomenon’ where there is an amount (that is) ‘perfect’,” Diep said.
One in three Americans does not get enough sleep, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, between 50 and 70 million Americans battle sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, insomnia, and restless leg syndrome, which can ruin a good night’s sleep.
The CDC calls it a “public health concern” because sleep disruption is associated with an increased risk of conditions, including high blood pressure, weakened immune performance, weight gain, low libido, mood swings, paranoia, depression and an increased risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some types of cancer.
The December 2021 study looked at marijuana use for sleep among 21,729 adults ages 20 to 59. The data was collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and is considered representative of more than 146 million Americans.
In addition to problems with short and long sleep, people in the study who used marijuana in the last 30 days were also more likely to say they had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and were more likely to say they had discussed sleep problems. sleep problems with a health care provider, Diep said.
“The problem with our study is that we can’t really say it’s causal, which means we can’t know for sure if it was simply individuals having trouble sleeping and therefore using cannabis, or if it was caused by cannabis. he added.
Previous studies have also found a connection between the two components of marijuana, CBD and THC, and lack of sleep. CBD, or cannabidiol, is a key component of medical marijuana, while THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces the high sensation.
TO 2018 Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study – the gold standard – found no benefit of CBD on sleep in healthy volunteers. Other studies have also found high rates of insomnia when withdraw from overnight use of marijuana
“At this point there is still no clear evidence that cannabis helps sleep,” said Dr. Bhanu Prakash Kolla, a sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Medicine Center in Rochester, Minn., who did not participated in the study. any of the studies.
“We know that when people start using it there is some immediate short-term benefit, but there is a rapid tolerance to this effect,” Kolla said. “There is currently no good-quality evidence to suggest that cannabis helps improve sleep quality or duration.”
Even so, people continue to believe that the herb helps them sleep. Surveys of marijuana users show that they do in fact rely on the drug for better sleep.
“The problem is that there is a disconnect between these anecdotal reports of people reporting therapeutic benefits and the evidence behind it in terms of data,” Diep said.
One possible reason, Kolla said, is that when people stop using cannabis after a period of regular use, the withdrawal effects of the herb can cause sleep interruptions. That leads people to believe that “the cannabis was actually helping[to sleep]while what they’re actually experiencing are withdrawal symptoms.”
Another factor to consider is the higher potency of weed today compared to when many of the studies on cannabis and sleep were done, said Dr. Karim Ladha, a staff anesthesiologist and clinical scientist in anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Toronto.
“A lot of the older cannabis-related data is based on lower doses of THC than patients are using now, and there is very little research related to CBD,” Ladha said.
“Studies tell us about what happens at the population level, but at the individual level that discussion is much more personal,” he said. “The studies simply give us the possibilities that (marijuana) might hurt your sleep, but it can help, so we won’t know until you try it.”
That’s why additional studies are needed, he added.
“Patients are spending money, time and resources to get cannabis right now to help them sleep,” Ladha said. “I believe that as a medical community we need to do everything we can to make sure that we allow our patients to make the best possible decisions for their health.”
—————————————————-
Source link