Marijuana for Insomnia Eases Stress for Restful Nights

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of suffering from insomnia, then you’re aware it’s a particularly stressful condition. As the hours go by while you toss and turn and daylight slowly approaches, anxiety levels start to skyrocket. Alternatively, you may have no trouble getting to sleep but staying asleep is another problem. No matter how the insomnia manifests, it is problematic and effects every area from life, work and relationships to general health and wellbeing. Prescription medication for the condition can sometimes be more dangerous and unhealthy than the condition itself. While these prescriptions may be useful for emergencies, they can be addictive and leave you feeling like a zombie the next day. Marijuana for insomnia, on the other hand, is extremely effective. It actually ensures a deeper, more healing quality of sleep and has no side effects except for the possibility of feeling the slightest bit sleepy or foggy upon awakening. It is an extremely mild side effect compared to getting no sleep or taking prescription medication.

Find Your Sleep-Inducing Strain

The first thing to take into consideration is strain. Indica strains tend to be more beneficial than sativa strains for treating insomnia. Indica strains are higher in CBD compounds, which are anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic. They tend to give you more of a body high, relaxing muscles and your mind while promoting rest. Sativa on the other hand is slightly more psychedelic as it is higher in THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that gives you a mental high and inspires creativity and euphoria. In this way, an Indica choice may be the preferred option when making your selection of cannabis strain.

Running Through the Sleep Cycle

When you use marijuana for insomnia, it will take you through the sleep cycle quickly, allowing you to access deeper sleep for longer. It cycles you rapidly through the first stage which involves getting the body to go into a deeper stage of sleep. The next stage involves light sleep where a person can be easily woken. Marijuana cycles you through this stage with ease and into slow wave sleep (SWS). This incorporates stages 3 and 4 in which a person goes into deep sleep. It is during this stage when the body heals, restores, regenerates and rejuvenates itself. Marijuana elongates this stage, putting a person in this restful healing space a lot longer than usual. Its ability to put a person in this stage deeper and longer has been linked to preventing conditions like Dementia and Alzheimers’s disease. The last stage is REM during which people dream. Marijuana users claim that they have trouble remembering dreams and it’s possible that this is linked to a dulling of the brain’s response to dopamine, the hormone responsible for feelings of motivation. When a person doesn’t use marijuana before sleep, dreams tend to return with great vividness.

Using Marijuana for Insomnia Can Also Treat Sleep Apnea

According to a study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, “…Δ9-TetraHydroCannabinol (Δ9THC) stabilizes autonomic output during sleep, reduces spontaneous sleep-disordered breathing and blocks serotonin-induced exacerbation of sleep apnea.” For this reason sleep apnea is another sleep disorder that marijuana is excellent for treating. It deepens the breathing, allowing a person to breathe in a stable way so as not to be suddenly and repeatedly woken throughout the night. All in all, marijuana for insomnia and other sleep disorders is not only extremely effective but is also the healthiest treatment option with minimal side effects. If you do find yourself feeling groggy the next day, try to use a strain that is free of chemicals and pesticides. Sleep tight!