Drowsiness

As with many other effects of cannabis, it is sometimes tricky to find the line with drowsiness or sleepiness between “beneficial” and “side” effects. There are many important variables in play: Do people use it in the morning before work or in the evening before sleep? Are they an older patient with pain or other ailments, which are eased by good and long sleep, or is it just a teenager who is stoned and falling asleep instead of doing homework?

Why Cannabis Makes You Sleepy

Be it as it may, the fact that using cannabis can induce drowsiness is generally accepted by doctors, researchers and users alike, but not all of us know what the science behind it is. Studies have shown that THC significantly decreases the amount of time before one falls asleep, and this cannabinoid is also associated with some reduction in awakenings in the first half of the night.

There was also a research published in 2008 indicating that THC reduces REM sleep while facilitating falling asleep and increasing Stage 4 sleep, which basically explains why cannabis users often complain about (or are thankful for – e.g. in case of PTSD sufferers) experiencing – or remembering – less dreams.

Side effects

Many heave users (especially in the evening) refer to increased lethargy and sleepiness in the morning, which was confirmed by a study in 2004, but this was the case only in subjects using only THC – it was also found that combination of THC with CBD did not cause these side effects.