Cannabis and Sleep: How It Can Help

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Research in regards to Cannabis aiding sleep confirms what humans have known for thousands of years - the plant has a natural ability to relax and sedate.

A recent study showed that individuals smoking cannabis fell asleep, on average, 30 minutes faster than they normally would and those that didn’t have sleep difficulties also fell into a silent somber 15 minutes faster. It’s not just the well-known THC that causes this, it’s multiple other cannabinoids combined with it. There’s plenty of patient input regarding what type of cannabis is used before sleep as depending on the strain an individual could find themselves up and awake instead of drifting away into a dream. Sativa strains are known to cause the user to be more alert while Indica strains tend to give more of the body relaxation feeling. Many will agree that it’s all in the Terpene profile of the plant or extract their using and not the different types of cannabis, and of course, others will debate that. But for most, it’s an Indica that will be used for sleeping purposes but all people that try or use cannabis for this will find they have a different outcome, we’re simply not built as universal creatures that respond the same. Insomnia itself isn’t a disease or health issue that’s addressed well as most of the time there’s a root cause that has nothing to do with our physical well-being and everything to do with our psychological state. Stress and anxiety keep many of us up with racing minds that simply won’t rest until we either figure out a solution to a problem.

When considering cannabis to aid in sleep one must also choose whether it’s going to be inhaled or ingested. It’s important to keep in mind that edibles take up to 30 minutes and sometimes a tad more to activate in the body. For this reason, ingestion of cannabis should be done 1 hour before planned sleep. It’s been found in multitudes of studies that CBD is very helpful in aiding sleep in more than one way. It’s relaxing by itself for many but when added to THC it allows the individual to gain the comforts that come from THC without some of the side effects people will feel like anxiousness or paranoia. Ultimately an equal dose or a 1:1 of THC and CBD together works the best for many – but personally, I use a much heavier THC dose at night with a limited amount, if any CBD. It’s been reported by multitudes of cannabis patients to be the perfect combination when they’ve used a 1:1 but others will find that the CBD will mitigate too much of the sedation that THC offers. One of the most important things to keep in mind when utilizing cannabinoid medicine to aid your sleep is remembering that although the sleep will be great you will need to wake up and have a productive day. This is where CBD comes into play and works very well in the mornings to mitigate any effects of the psychoactive cannabinoids that are in the system, helping to start the day off nice and alert. The key is to know what pharmaceuticals you can take with CBD and which ones it will adversely affect by blocking or causing metabolism to change. Much like grapefruit, that cannabinoid causes an interaction with many medications – we’re still in the infancy of research so much more knowledge is yet to come.

If one has a job that tests for THC then the options will be limited to CBD alone which is also helpful to many in gaining sleep. When using CBD only to induce sleep I’ve found that it’s best if smaller doses are taken twice. One right after dinner and the other approx. 45 minutes before bed. Splitting the dose in half in that manner generally will allow the user to gain the most from that single cannabinoid from my own experience and that shared by hundreds of former compassion patients. The cardinal rule when medicating or using cannabis and its extracts is a simple one – you can always add to a dose but you can never take it away. This is very important regardless of what cannabinoids are being used when THC edibles or oils are the product of choice or whether it’s CBD – keep in mind that too much of a good thing can cause problems for many. Either way, you look at it – cannabinoids will aid in giving a person restful sleep if used responsibly. It’s one thing to sleep and yet another to have restful sleep. I’ve found that smoking cannabis right before bed or using an edible or oil right as I get ready to lay my head on my pillow to fall into a sound sleep doesn’t always work out – normally I end up watching Netflix or getting up and doing something for a while. When inhalation methods of cannabis are used to help with sleep try to do so an hour or so before bed and night right as you lay down. Of course many will fall right to sleep due to a lack of tolerance, but for those of us that have a bit of it we often get creative after inhalation and the mind goes wild with new ideas and more.

Happy Medicating!