Research Library
Sleep & insomnia
How cannabinoids affect sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and next-day grogginess.
Overview
Sleep is the outcome people report improving most often, but it is also one of the hardest things to measure without a sleep lab.
Much of the literature measures sleep as a secondary outcome inside pain or anxiety trials.
What the evidence supports
- Lower CBD doses can feel alerting for some people; higher doses tend to be sedating.
- CBN and CBD:THC blends are widely marketed for sleep, but controlled human data on CBN is minimal.
- Improved sleep is frequently downstream of reduced pain or anxiety rather than a direct sedative effect.
Where the evidence is thin
- Few polysomnography-based trials of hemp-derived products.
- Almost no head-to-head comparisons against standard sleep medications.
Selected studies
Systematic review · 2019
Cannabinoid therapies in the management of sleep disorders
Kuhathasan N, et al. · Sleep Medicine Reviews
Signals of benefit exist, but study quality and product consistency are low.
Find this study on PubMed (opens in a new tab)Randomized trial · 2018
Effects of cannabidiol on sleep architecture in healthy volunteers
Linares IMP, et al. · Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
A 300 mg dose did not disrupt normal sleep architecture in healthy adults.
Find this study on PubMed (opens in a new tab)