Today, due to lifestyles associated with the fast-paced 21st century system, good sleep seems to be an elusive luxury. After a stressful day it can take forever to get to sleep.Sleep is essential for maintaining our mental and physical health, yet it eludes many adults.
With so many people experiencing sleeping disorders, there’s been a rise in the use of cannabis. Many believe cannabis is an effective treatment, with little or no side effects, for a range of sleeping disorders…. but new research shows that might just be very wrong.
According to CNN.COM, Research since the 1970s has shown mixed results on weed’s sleep-aiding benefits.
“A 2018 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study — the gold standard — found no benefit from CBD on sleep in healthy volunteers. Other studies have also found high rates of insomnia when withdrawing from nightly use.
“We know from studies of recreational users of cannabis that sleep disturbances are common when they are attempting to quit cannabis use,” said sleep psychiatrist and neurologist Dr. Bhanuprakash Kolla, who works in the Center for Sleep Medicine and the Division of Addiction Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
“Up to two-thirds of them report sleep disturbances when they stop cannabis use, and it is a frequent reason for relapse to cannabis use.
“Therefore, cannabis can set up a pattern where it is minimally helpful for sleep in the short term and then disrupt sleep, making it difficult to stop use in the medium to long term.”
Research has also suggested that frequency of use may be a key factor as to why cannabis begins to fail as a sleep aid. For example, a small 2014 survey of marijuana users and non-users found only 10% of occasional users suffered from insomnia, while 39% of daily users said they experienced significant bouts of insomnia.
The truth is that medical marijuana may not ease sleep problems in the long run.