Recent cannabis use associated with extreme nighttime sleep patterns and duration

By Nicolas Jose Rodriguez

Recent cannabis use has been linked to extreme nocturnal sleep times – less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours – according to a study of a large representative sample of US adults published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. This pattern was even more pronounced among heavy users, neurosciencenews.com reported

Although cannabis is popularly consumed as a sleep aid for its perceived benefits, the impact of cannabis on sleep-wake regulation is inconclusive in clinical studies. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between cannabis use and nocturnal sleep duration in a nationally representative data set.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon via Unsplash

Cross-sectional adult analysis was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2018.

The respondents were classified as recently consumed or not consumed if they had consumed or not consumed cannabis in the last 30 days. Sleep duration was defined as short (less than 6 hours), optimal (6-9 hours) and long (more than 9 hours).

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Out of a sample of approximately 146 million US adults, 14.5% reported cannabis use. And recent cannabis use was not associated with frequent daytime sleepiness.

According to the study, younger users were more likely than non-users to report both short and long sleep. Defined as cannabis use for 20 or more of the previous 30 days, heavy users were 64% more susceptible to short naps and 76% more likely to long sleep compared to non-users.

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Among heavy users who are believed to be the ultimate nighttime sleeper, 34% reported short sleep and 56% were more likely to report long sleep than those who had not used cannabis in the previous 30 days. In addition, they reported having difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or sleeping too much more often in the past 2 weeks.

Moderate users, defined as using marijuana for less than 20 of the last 30 days, were 47% more likely to sleep 9 or more hours per night compared to non-users.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.