#37 - Marijuana and Sleep: The Drugs Don't Work, They Just Make You Worse

The explosion of both medicinal and recreational marijuana use (as well as its derivatives) has led to the obvious question: Does marijuana help an individual sleep better? If you pay attention to those who sell it, the answer seems to be a resounding yes...but is that true. In this episode we will:learn about marijuana and the chemical cannabinoids that are often proclaimed to be sleep-promotingunderstand that in many ways, using marijuana for insomnia is no different than other pills and its success leans heavily on how we measure sleep success...or how it "works"touch upon older research about marijuanalearn the differences between transient sleep effects and the sleep effects of long-term useexplore cultural conversations and myths about marijuana use, in particular that it's helpful in pregnancydiscover the misperceptions surrounding marijuana use in collegeuncover how the bottom line of some studies can be affected by pharmaceutical companies trying to develop novel sleep therapieslook ahead to potential therapies for conditions like REM behavior disorder and Restless Legs SyndromeProduced by: Maeve WinterMusic by: Dr. Abhinav Singh (@sleep_vigilante), all rights reservedMoreTwitter: @drchriswinterIG: @drchriwinterThreads: @drchriswinterBluesky: @drchriswinterThe Sleep Solution and The Rested ChildThanks for listening and sleep well!