New research: Marijuana consumption can reduce the quality of sleep, without the person realizing it

A new study by researchers shows that marijuana use is associated with more sleep fragmentation and longer wakefulness during the night. The post New research: Marijuana consumption can reduce the quality of sleep, without the person realizing it appeared first on Safir Arjan.

A new study by researchers shows that marijuana use is associated with more sleep fragmentation and longer wakefulness during the night.

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A new study shows that the use of marijuana (cannabis) is associated with more sleep disturbances; However, consumers do not necessarily notice a decrease in their sleep quality. These findings contradict the popular belief that marijuana helps sleep better, and suggest that people's perceptions of their sleep quality may differ from objectively measured indicators.

According to ScienceAlert, about 22 million Americans are currently using cannabis to help them sleep, and nearly a quarter of Americans say they are likely to use this substance to sleep. Despite the widespread belief that cannabis helps to sleep better, researches have shown the connection between its use and sleep disorders.

By analyzing 35-year data from the Coronary Artery Disease Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, researchers found that cannabis use was associated with several objective indicators of lower sleep quality; However, in self-reported evaluations, there was no sign of a decrease in perceived sleep quality. Our findings suggest that cannabis use can be associated with poorer sleep quality, even if people don't notice these changes, the researchers say.

The CARDIA study began in 1985 in four centers in the United States and eventually included more than 5,000 people. The participants did follow-up assessments in several stages of the research. The ninth evaluation stage was carried out in 2022, which is the thirty-fifth year of the study.

After taking into account factors such as age, race, gender, education level, smoking and alcohol consumption and other variables, the researchers found that a longer history of cannabis use is related to a decrease in the share of sleep time from the total sleep period, more sleep fragmentation, and longer wakefulness during the night.

For each additional year of cannabis use, the probability of unfavorable sleep indicators increased. According to the findings, each year of higher consumption was associated with a 10% increase in the probability of low sleep time, a 4% increase in the probability of high sleep fragmentation, and a 21% increase in the probability of prolonged wakefulness.

The researchers also examined separately the people who had consumed cannabis in the last 30 days. Compared to those who had never used cannabis, these subjects slept an average of 20 minutes more each night; However, the share of sleep time was less in them, their sleep was more fragmented and the duration of waking up during sleep was also longer.

Therefore, longer sleep duration did not necessarily mean better sleep quality. Objective measurements showed that despite sleeping longer among recent users, their sleep was worse in several ways.

Researchers still do not know the exact reason for the difference between objective measurements and people's personal perception. However, they believe this discrepancy could have implications for public health; Especially considering the number of people who use cannabis as a sleep aid.

The findings of this study have been published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

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