Atlanta, GA: An estimated four percent of Americans age 18 or older acknowledge using cannabis products “most days or every day” to aid their sleep, according to data compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC researchers assessed responses from a cohort of more than 31,500 adults. Specifically, 3.7 percent of respondents said they had consumed either “marijuana” or a “CBD product” most days to “help fall or stay asleep.” Among those respondents ages 18 to 35, 5.5 percent acknowledged using cannabis products to aid their sleep.
In total, 13 percent of respondents reported using either prescription sleep aids, over-the-counter medications, or cannabis products “most days or every day in the past 30 days.” That percentage is more than double what the CDC reported in 2013. Women and older adults were most likely to report using sleep aids.
Cannabis use prior to bedtime is associated with improvements in sleep quality, particularly in people suffering from anxiety or insomnia. Observational data finds that the enactment of adult-use cannabis legalization is associated with a decline in the sales of over-the-counter sleep aid medications. Survey data published in 2023 reported that as many as 80 percent of consumers report using cannabis products as a substitute for conventional sleep aids, including melatonin and benzodiazepines. A separate survey published last month estimates that some ten percent of US adults acknowledge having tried cannabis to improve their sleep.
Full text of the National Center for Health Statistics’ report, “Use of sleep aids among adults age 18 and older: United States, 2024,” is available from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additional information on cannabis and sleep quality is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids.