Study Says: Short-term cannabis use helps chronic insomniacs get a sound sleep

A new study published in the Sleep Journal adds to a growing pool of research suggesting that short-term cannabis use may help combat insomnia.

A team of Australian researchers recruited 23 subjects suffering from chronic insomnia to test whether a tailored blend of cannabinoids could help them get a good night’s sleep. In this randomized, double-blind study, half of the subjects received a nightly sublingual dose of cannabinoid extract, while the other half received a placebo. Over the course of 2 weeks, the researchers collected physiological and subjective data on the quality of rest for each subject.

The subjects in the experimental group received ZTL-101, a proprietary cannabis extract developed by Australian medical marijuana company Zerila Therapeutics. This extract contained a tailored blend of plant-based THC, CBD, CBN and a selection of terpenes. Each subject received between 0.5 ml and 1 ml of this experimental drug one hour before bedtime.

The researchers found that the subjects who took the cannabinoid mixture actually slept better than the placebo group without suffering any serious side effects. Subjects taking ZTL-101 reported statistically significant improvements in the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a standard metric used to assess symptoms of insomnia.

The study’s authors stated that the cannabis mixture produced improvements in measurements of “Onset of Sleep Latency (SOL), Wake Up After Falling Asleep (WASO), Total Sleep Time (TST), Sleep Efficiency (SE); and self-reported assessments of sleep quality (sSQ) and the feeling of being rested when you wake up. “

“This study showed that ZTL-101, a novel cannabinoid therapy, is well tolerated and improves insomnia symptoms and sleep quality in people with chronic insomnia symptoms,” the study concluded, according to NORML. “These improvements, observed over a two-week dosing period, are encouraging and support further investigation of ZTL-101 for the treatment of insomnia in larger-sample studies.”

The study could help shed some light on the gritty field of cannabis and sleep research. One research study from 2017 found that more frequent cannabis use can actually have a negative impact on long-term sleep quality, and another study found that people who smoked weed as teenagers may experience insomnia as adults. However, other studies concluded that medical marijuana can help patients with chronic pain sleep better, and also found that sales of traditional sleep aids are declining in states with access to legal weed.

And while the present study certainly adds to the evidence that certain cannabinoids could be used as effective sleep aids, the extremely small number of subjects makes it difficult to draw broader conclusions. The barely two-week study also cannot say whether medical marijuana can help insomniacs in the long term. More research will clearly be needed to determine the effectiveness of cannabis as a natural sleep aid.