Marijuana News: Weed Can Negatively Affect Your Sleep, Says Study

Smoking marijuana before bed may help you fall asleep faster, but may not be giving you the rest your body actually needs.

A new study found that people who smoke marijuana on a regular basis before bed are going to experience sleep problems compared to those who occasionally smoke or don’t smoke at all.

For the study, researchers surveyed 98 people who smoked marijuana on a daily basis, people who smoked once in the past month and up to five days a week, and those who never smoked marijuana.

“Daily use of marijuana [was linked to] the most sleep disturbances,” Deirdre Conroy, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, told the Huffington Post.

The study showed that almost 40 percent of the people who smoked marijuana on a daily basis reported having insomnia symptoms - compared to the 10 percent of people who smoked marijuana occasionally and 20 percent of non-users.

Studies in the past have shown that anyone with history of using marijuana has been linked to reporting having trouble falling asleep, staying asleep and also felt daytime sleepiness. Most of those studies have been conducted by people who were heavy marijuana users or people seeking treatment for drug abuse, Conroy said.

Individuals in the study reported having anxiety or depression, and there were slight differences between the effect of sleep on daily pot users, occasional pot users and non-users.

“Marijuana may have different effects on your sleep depending on if you have symptoms of anxiety or depression,” Conroy said.

People who have anxiety or depression have a higher risk of sleep trouble, especially smoking marijuana before bed, the study said.

More frequent use of marijuana can cause mood disorders, which can then cause sleep problems, according to the study. The evidence that marijuana causes mood disorders is just a theory at this point, Conroy said. However, it does suggest that future studies could show how marijuana affects sleep should carefully account for mood disorders, as well.

Previous studies have found that marijuana does affect the different stages of sleep - and increases the deepest stages of sleep. Though, other research, has suggest regular marijuana use surpasses deep sleep. “Unfortunately, there still are only a few studies,” she said.