Richmond, VA: Nearly ten percent of adults say that they “currently use cannabis to help them sleep,” according to survey data published in the journal Sleep Health.
Researchers affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth University and the National Sleep Foundation surveyed a nationally representative sample of US adults.
One in five respondents acknowledged having consumed cannabis products to aid their sleep, with nine percent of respondents saying they currently used marijuana to promote sleep.
Among respondents with no current or past cannabis use, 11 percent expressed interest in using it in the future to help aid their sleep.
“Cannabis use for sleep is rising in popularity in the United States,” the study’s authors concluded. “The present study observed that about 20 percent of US adults currently use or have used cannabis as a sleep aid, with younger and middle-aged adults being more likely than older adults to use cannabis as a sleep aid. … Future studies which examine cannabis as a sleep aid in an experimental and clinical context are needed to inform public health and clinical recommendations.”
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. Men and young adults are most likely to use cannabis as a sleep aid. 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.
According to a recently published review of 18 studies assessing cannabinoids and sleep, cannabis products containing elevated quantities of either CBD or CBN (cannabinol) are associated with increases in total sleep time and decreases in sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness.
Full text of the study, “Use and interest in cannabis as a sleep aid Results from a National Sleep Foundation population survey,” appears in Sleep Health. Additional information on cannabis and sleep quality is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids.