DOES CANNABIS AFFECT YOUR DREAMS?

A lot of people use cannabis as a sleep aid, but lose out on crucial REM sleep, is this healthy?

Weed has been known to help rock many people to sleep-- there are so many cannabis products marketed towards the sleep deprived you would think we’ve cured insomnia!

But while cannabis can soothe some people into slumber, it’s having an effect on your dreams.

Sleep consists of four stages-- the final stage is Rapid Eye Movement sleep, or REM sleep-- which accounts for up to two hours of our rest.

The REM stage is where dreaming occurs. It’s a critical stage of sleep that contributes to our overall well-being, performance, and cognitive functioning.

A number of sleep studies have shown that THC can decrease or even suppress REM sleep --

For most folks, REM suppression is likely not very good… but neither is insomnia!

Those who can’t sleep due to PTSD nightmares make excellent candidates for THC before bed to thwart journeys to dreamland. But if this isn’t you, how do you strike a balance?

It’s all about the dosage. Higher doses of cannabis are more problematic, versus small doses of cannabis, or CBD, which can actually help sleep -- and has been shown to be a promising treatment for REM sleep behavior disorder. Perfect!

But then there’s the REM rebound. If you smoke enough weed you know that you don’t have as many dreams… BUT all it takes is a tolerance break to bring back your dreams in a trippier state than ever before. It’s kind of wild.

Whoever you are, whatever you smoke, and however you sleep- I hope you get a restful, revitalizing, and restorative 8 hours tonight, friends.