Opposite to well-liked perception, hashish might be harmful to a superior night’s snooze, according to a cross-sectional examination applying Countrywide Overall health and Nutrition Assessment Study details.
Current hashish end users have been 34% additional possible to report a brief rest period — a lot less than 6 hrs a evening — as opposed with non-people (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.12-1.59, P<0.001), said Karim S. Ladha, MD, MSc, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues.
On the other end of the spectrum, people who used cannabis within the past 30 days were also more likely to sleep abnormally long — over 9 hours a night — versus non-users (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.25-1.96, P<0.001), the group wrote in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.
On top of that, recent users were also more likely to say they had difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too much during the past 2 weeks. They were also more likely to tell their physician that they have trouble sleeping.
This was even more pronounced for heavy cannabis users (use during 20 or more days within the past 30 days): compared with non-users, heavy users were 64% more likely to have short sleep duration and 76% more likely to have long sleep duration.
Of note, cannabis use within the past 30 days wasn’t tied to frequent daytime sleepiness.
Overall, 78% of recent users reported getting an optimal night’s sleep — ranging 6 to 9 hours — versus 85% of non-users.
“There has been a surge of interest in cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) in recent years as potential sleep aids for primary sleep-wake disorders such as insomnia, restless leg syndrome, central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as properly as for snooze disturbances secondary to other ailments this kind of as chronic pain or post-traumatic strain condition (PTSD),” Ladha’s team described. “In contrast to CBD, present-day proof implies that delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the other significant cannabinoid present in most strains of cannabis, has stimulant and hallucinogenic properties contributing to sleep disruption.”
They pointed out that while insomnia is just one of the best causes folks cite for using hashish or cannabinoids, the supporting evidence for this is pretty weak. “Now, the only indications with some strong evidence for therapeutic hashish use to make improvements to sleep length or quality are OSA, PTSD, and long-term discomfort syndromes,” they famous.
This assessment used knowledge on 21,729 U.S. adults ages 20 to 59 from the National Wellness and Nourishment Evaluation Survey in 2005 to 2018. About 15% said they used cannabis in the past 30 times.
When compared with non-users, the latest end users of hashish were being far more probable to be younger, male, and report hefty liquor use.
Some constraints to the research included the self-claimed survey questionnaire, which may well lead to bias. There was also a deficiency of certain data concerning hashish exposure, these types of as formulations, dosing, and supposed purpose of use, as perfectly as a deficiency of a lot more thorough info on slumber metrics, like timing and high quality.
Disclosures
Ladha and a co-writer claimed participation as co-principal investigators for an observational analyze of health care cannabis use funded by Shoppers Drug Mart. No other disclosures were being described.