It is well known that cannabis can make some people feel sleepy. It is also been said that marijuana can have different effects on sleep. However, there have been reports that when consumers stop using cannabis, their dreams become more vivid and memorable. Let’s explore the effects that cannabis has on sleep and dreams.
Effects of Cannabis on Sleep
Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Kesner has stated, “We’ve known for quite some time that THC has sleep-promoting properties in humans. Some of the earliest reports of cannabis use described this. In fact, ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine describes cannabis as nidrajanan, a ‘sleep-inducing’ drug.” It is believed that THC can help aid sleep but the effects really depend on the content you consume, your history of use, age, sex, etc. However, when it comes to cannabis, its influence on sleep will change over time if there is continued use.
THC consumption in humans makes people fall asleep faster and stay asleep. It leads to increases in SWS and decreases in REM sleep. Consistent with experimental studies, surveys of medical cannabis patients show that the vast majority of those taking pharmaceutical sleep medications decrease their use of those drugs after starting medical cannabis.
The Effects of Cannabis Won’t Always Stay The Same
The effects of cannabis will most likely not stay the same with continued use and consumption. While there is not enough research on how chronic THC consumption affects sleep in humans, tolerance to THC’s effects, including on sleep, is evident. What we do know is that stopping THC consumption after chronic use often leads to sleep disturbances and vivid dreaming, an effect that eventually normalizes.
Dr. Kesner explained: “People often report sleeping poorly during cannabis withdrawal, and studies have validated these self-reports, showing that time spent in SWS and REM is altered, even on the first night of abstinence. During abstinence, SWS is decreased, probably causing people to report not feeling rested. Likewise, REM sleep undergoes a ‘rebound,’ where it increases for a period of time, probably to ‘catch up’ since it was previously decreased by cannabis use. This increase in REM likely causes the common report of vivid and unpleasant dreams during THC abstinence.”
The good news is that this effect does normalize if abstinence continues.
Why Do Cannabinoids Influence Sleep?
The body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays an important role in almost any major physiological system you can think of. Receptors of the ECS, including the CB1 receptor responsible for enabling THC’s effects, are found throughout the tissues of the body, including the brain. Cannabis is able to influence sleep because many of the key brain circuits regulating sleep are rich in CB1 receptors and other components of the ECS.
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