Cannabis can Improve your Sleep and that Alone could Save your Life!
Sleep Deprivation can Kill You or at least Wreak Havoc with your Health
We all know we’re supposed to get more sleep, just like we know we should reduce our stress. It’s one thing to know we need to be getting more or better sleep and another thing to understand the risks of not improving one’s sleep (and decreasing one’s stress). This piece is just going to focus on cannabis and sleep, but of course if you’re consuming cannabis regularly for sleep, it can also reduce your anxiety as well as relieve pain and other conditions.
Sleep deprivation is serious! Sleep deprivation has been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. [1]
Those are just the cardiovascular concerns that lack of good sleep can result in. There’s also diabetes, obesity, dementia, depression and anxiety and a weakened immune system. [2]
Insufficient sleep can disrupt the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels, leading to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Sleep deprivation can affect the hormones that regulate appetite, leading to increased hunger and overeating, which can contribute to weight gain and obesity. [3]
These studies also show how chronic sleep deprivation has been associated with an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and dementia. [4]
And lack of sleep can negatively impact mental health, increasing the risk of developing mood disorders like depression and anxiety. [5]
We know sleep plays a crucial role in the proper functioning of the immune system. Lack of sleep can impair the body's ability to fight off infections and illnesses. [6]
Some studies have suggested that chronic sleep deprivation may increase the risk of certain types of cancer, such as breast, colon, and prostate cancer, although the exact mechanisms are not fully understood. [7,8,9]
Replacing Dangerous Pharmaceutical Drugs with Safe Cannabis
So many of us, myself included, have taken Ambien or any of the numerous pharmacologic drugs like benzodiazepines and hypnotics (e.g., zopiclone, zolpidem, etc.). Other medications are used off-label for sleep, including antidepressants (e.g., trazodone, mirtazapine) and second-generation antipsychotics (e.g., quetiapine). Some rely on hormone replacement drugs to help with sleep. However, many of these medications have unwanted adverse effects, including weight gain, dizziness, cognitive impairment, daytime sedation, and the potential for addiction and dependency.
Once you get on these drugs, it’s not so easy to get off. But you can. I was inspired to write this blog piece by the story of one from our community. Beth has allowed me to share her experiences with you.
Beth had taken Clonazepam for two decades. She was also taking a natural form of estrogen. Both helped with her sleep as well. When we met in the fall of 2022, she was seeking to get off these medications. We started with The Daily Dose to support her Endocannabinoid System and she bravely began the long process of weaning of the Clonazepam. She took a ml/day of the Daily Dose in the morning and worked up to a ml of Crone Grown’s 1:1 tincture at night. The daily ingestion of cannabis should be taken for a good month before one starts the process of weaning.
She wrote to me last month and reported:
I weaned off Clonazepam really slowly because of the physical and emotional addiction of using it for 20 yrs. It took almost a year of gradually cutting a small part off the pill with a razor and reducing it monthly. There were ups and downs and I might have been able to do it more quickly. Now I am reducing my estrogen slowly.
I am sleeping so well with the tincture and trying to have a consistent bedtime/routine.
I owe all my success to Crone Grown.
I wrote back, thanking her for the feedback and support and asking if I could share what she wrote with the community. She responded:
I want to let you know that the tincture I'm using has been life changing for me!
I no longer need Clonazepam to sleep and I was also using estrogen (natural form) but have been able to lower that and will stop.
Thank you for your beautiful products. I recommend Crone Grown to everyone.
Pretty awesome! And Beth’s experience is borne out by the scientific literature regarding cannabis and sleep.
In 2023 a large-scale study [10] of cannabis use for sleep was published finding that participants preferred cannabis to prescription or over the counter sleep aids. In a survey of more than 1,200 people trying cannabis for sleep, over 80% reported that cannabis helps them sleep by relaxing their mind and body, and more than half said it helps them sleep more deeply.
Another 42% reported it allowed them to sleep longer, and 36% reported it allowed them to sleep without waking. Two thirds of the participants reported that just using cannabis, they were getting 6-8 hours of sleep/night. In addition, participants reported feeling more focused and relaxed the next morning compared to taking other pharmecutical sleep aids.
Another study in 2022 [11] showed 39% of the participants were able to reduce or completely discontinue a prescription medication indicated for sleep, after they started taking cannabis. 71% reported a subjective improvement in their sleep or related condition after taking cannabis. Only 21% reported any adverse effects from taking cannabis, and these were manageable and did not require discontinuation of cannabis. 13% reported no change in their sleep.
Following up with participants, it appeared some were taking too low a dose to provide benefit to their sleep, although it was reported that the cannabis may have helped other conditions like chronic pain. Adverse effects were often manageable by either changing the dosing or the amount of THC to CBD. [ NOTE: This is why it’s so important that you guys communicate with me and tell me when something doesn’t work for you. Finding your dose takes experimentation. We can make this work for you!]
Cannabis Dosing for Sleep
In terms of dosage, 5 mg of THC is considered a good dose for improving sleep (although those new to cannabis should probably start lower and work to 5 mg). Up to 10 mg is also considered a good therapeutic dose. THC is critical to sleep. THC's sedative effects can promote sleep onset and increase time spent in deep sleep, which is considered the most restorative stage.
But too much THC (more than 10% THC) could interfere with sleep. Also taking your medicine too late (like the 1 AM gummy reach) can cause some people to feel a little hung over the next day, which can be cured by not taking so close to when you’ll be waking up. CBD is also important to our sleep, but with CBD it’s the reverse of THC. Too little CBD can cause some people to be stimulated. At higher doses, CBD can have a more sedating effect. Finding the right amount of THC and CBD can not only increase your total sleep time, but also improve your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.
I don’t believe it’s necessary for everyone to take cannabis before bed to improve your sleep, but if that’s what works for you - keep doing that. It’s been working for so many of you. I do that sometimes too. But based on my personal experience, I believe that taking a daily dose of cannabis, just the way you’d take a daily vitamin, is key to improving your endocannabinoid tone. And by feeding your endocannabinoid system, you’re enabling that vital system to do the job it’s designed to do of maintaining homeostasis [12], balancing all your bodily systems so you can heal and sleep and heal some more.
Crone Grown makes a tincture called the Daily Dose [13] which is not psychoactive, so it enables your ability to take a milliliter (full dropperful) of cannabinoids every day to help restore your endocannabinoid tone [14]. Beth started off taking the Daily Dose in the day and the 1:1 tincture at night. Now she only takes the 1:1 tincture in the evening, but she’s taking a full ml so she’s getting her cannabinoids dose everyday (except for her, it’s a nightly dose).
Among those in our community who have gotten back to me, some just take the Daily Dose every day. Others take the Daily Dose and like to take something at night. Some just take cannabis at night. Some like the gummies for nighttime use and the favorites for sleep are the 1:3s (2.5 mg CBD: 7.5 mg THC) and the calming gummies (10 mg THC). Among those who love the gummies for sleep, many break their gummies in half so that they’re getting 5 mg THC or in the case of the 1:3s, a bit less THC but some CBD.
And others love their tincture for sleep. Here is what Beth does now:
I take a dropper full, 1 ML, at 8:30 pm. None during the day.
I'm asleep before 11 and sleep soundly until I have to get up.
This tincture has helped me soooo much!
I'm now lowering the estrogen I've taken for yrs (also for insomnia) and it's still working.
Feeding your endocannabinoid system daily is what helps best, not only for sleep, but for every disease of aging (which are inflammatory in nature) as well as the other diseases that are too rampant in our western societies [15]. Check out my blog piece on Cannabis and Menopause [16], regardless of whether that’s your issue, because there’s so much in there regarding cannabis and its beneficial effects not only for sleep, but to reduce cardiovascular diseases, lowering insulin levels- which prevents the development of type 2 diabetes, reversing aging in the brain and restoring cognitive function in older brains, and so much more as described in my blog piece, The Extraordinary Healing Benefits of the Cannabis Plant and the Endocannabinoid System.
Please always remember that while I talk about the amounts of THC and CBD in the remedies I make, there are around one hundred other cannabinoids working their magic that we just don’t know much about. But they know what they’re doing! One always wants to be consuming whole plant medicine. Whole plant remedies respect the intelligence of the plant, who’s cannabinoids all work together synergistically to produce an effect that is far greater than the sum of its individual parts (i.e., any individual isolated cannabinoid part), what scientists refer to as the “entourage effect”. It is the whole plant that heals you - not some processed cannabis product to which synthetically created or isolated cannabinoids have been added. [17,18]
So, if you’ve tried cannabis for sleep and aren’t getting the results you want, experiment with a different dose, or email me and we’ll try a different cultivar. While all cannabis can help with sleep, some strains work better than others for different people. Not everyone is stimulated by a low dose of CBD, but if you’re one of them, best to try just the THC. And dosage is so particular and dependent on the individual. I’m here to help.
[1] Health Risks of Poor Sleep, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/health-risks-of-poor-sleep
[2] The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Your Body, https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body#causes
[3] Sleep Deprivation: Symptoms, Treatment, & Effects, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation (“About 30% of U.S. adults sleep fewer than six hours each night, even though experts recommend adults sleep for at least seven hours per night. In the long- term, this lack of sleep can come with steep consequences, including an increased risk of car crashes, workplace error, heart problems, reduced immune function, obesity, a lower quality of life, and an earlier death.”)
[4] Lack of sleep: Can it make you sick?, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/health-risks-of-poor-sleep
[5] Depression and Sleep: Understanding the Connection, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/depression-and-sleep-understanding-the-connection#:~:text=Poor%20Quality%20Sleep%20Reduces%20Resilience,%2C%20restorative%20slow%2Dwave%20sleep.
[6] Role of sleep deprivation in immune-related disease risk and outcomes, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8602722/ (“Regular sleep is crucial for maintaining immune function integrity and favoring a homeostatic immune defense to microbial or inflammatory insults (46,47). Sleep deprivation may result in deregulated immune responses with increased pro-inflammatory signaling, thus contributing to increase the risk for the onset and/or worsening of infection, as well as inflammation-related chronic diseases.)”
[7] Lack of Sleep Linked to Higher Risk of Recurrence of Estrogen-Receptor-Positive Disease in Postmenopausal Women, https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20120830b
[8] Lack of Sleep and Cancer: Is There a Connection?, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/lack-of-sleep-and-cancer-is-there-a-connection#:~:text=Disruptions%20in%20the%20body's%20%E2%80%9Cbiological,melatonin%2C%20encouraging%20cancer%20to%20grow
[9] Association of habitual sleep duration and its trajectory with the risk of cancer according to sex and body mass index in a population-based cohort, https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.34951
[10] A large-scale survey of cannabis use for sleep: preferred products and perceived effects in comparison to over-the-counter and prescription sleep aids, https://www.explorationpub.com/Journals/em/Article/1001171
[11] Cannabis use in patients with insomnia and sleep disorders: Retrospective chart review, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9067069/
[12] The Extraordinary Healing Benefits of the Cannabis Plant and the Endocannabinoid System, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/ecs (The main function of the ECS is to maintain bodily homeostasis, essential for sustaining life. This is our body’s natural balancing system, and it regulates a large array of physiological functions, including pain, memory, inflammation, mood, appetite, stress, sleep, metabolism, and immune function. Our endocannabinoid system controls diabetes, cancer, your body’s ability to survive a stroke or heart attack, glaucoma, epilepsy, dementia, and on and on.)
[13] Why You Should Take a Daily Dose of Cannabis, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/dailydose
[14] Healing Without Getting High: THCA/CBDA, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/healing
[15] The Extraordinary Healing Benefits of the Cannabis Plant and the Endocannabinoid System, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/ecs
[16] Cannabis can Restore our Bodies to their Pre-menopausal Condition and Alleviate the Life-threatening Diseases of Menopause, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/menopause
[17] The Extraordinary Healing Benefits of the Cannabis Plant and the Endocannabinoid System, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/ecs
[18] How to Choose the Best Cannabis Medicine That Preserves the Integrity of the Whole Plant, https://www.terrafarmany.com/blog/choose (Whole plant medicine has been found to be 4-330 times more effective than partial plant isolates.)
