All posts tagged: sleep-wake cycle

Adolescent Cannabis Use Linked to Sleep Disturbances

September 9, 2019 Adolescents, Adverse Effects, Behavior change, Cannabis Dependence, Cannabis Science, Case Study, Cognition, Gender, Impairment, Legislation, Mental Health, Pediatrics, Sleep, Social Equity, Stigma, Stress

Sleep Disturbances, Psychosocial Difficulties and Health Risk Behavior

Summary info:

A Dutch study investigated sleep disturbances in adolescents. Sleep disruption was linked to cannabis use, psychosocial difficulties, health risk behavior, and increased suicidality. Additionally, gender disparity in results suggests that girls may be more susceptible to sleep disturbances than boys , a result consistent with past recognition of some gender discrepancies in cannabis activity. These results highlight the importance of discouraging haphazard cannabis use, during adolescence, and the need for further gender-focused research surrounding sleep habits and cannabis use.

Dr Caplan, CED Foundation, and the #MDTake:

There are a few important issues that converge in this review. Generally, the question of adolescents’ use, (as an alternative way of describing the question of effects on a developing brain.) Also, this paper raises valuable questions about how cannabis may be interacting with sleep hygiene, for better or for worse. Psychosocial impact and risky behaviors are very complex topics to engage, even with a fairly large population sample of (n=16,781.) There are lots of intercorrelated topics assessed, analyzed, and discussed in the review, and it is all-too-easy to want to find causal patterns that are not apparent, again for better or worse, unless one chooses to construe the results or interpretation with causation in mind. Realistically, it is very likely to find overlap in a population of adolescents who have psychosocial difficulties, engage in risky behaviors, have increased risk of suicidality, and consume cannabis. To point to one of the components, arbitrarily, as the primary cause of the others is to unnecessarily and unjustly oversimplify a complex set of circumstances. The essential tenet, different genders seem to react differently with cannabis, is an excellent take-away, and also that we have much more still to learn.

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Sleep Disturbances, Psychosocial Difficulties and Health Risk BehaviorDownload

This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/314TsEC inside the CED Foundation Archive

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Medical Marijuana Offers Benefits Comparable to Prescription Medication, Without the Side Effects

August 2, 2019 Adult, Adverse Effects, Anti-inflammatory properties, Anxiety, Arthritis, Blood-Levels, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis Science, Case Study, CBD, CED Clinic, CED Foundation, Citizen Science, Depression, Diabetes, DIY, Future Medicine, Impairment, Mental Health, Mood, Muscle Pain, Neuropathy, Pain, Sleep, Social Equity, Stigma, THC

Title: Preferences for Medical Marijuana over Prescription Medications Among Persons Living with Chronic Conditions: Alternative, Complementary, and Tapering Uses

In a survey of 30 patients using medical cannabis for a range of diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, hepatitis C, PTSD, among others, patients reported an array of benefits they have reaped from cannabis use. Patients successfully used cannabis in several ways: as an alternative to prescription medication, complementarily with prescription medicine, and to gradually replace use of prescription medication.

Benefits described by participants included the effects of cannabis lasting longer than that of opioids, lower risk of addiction, fewer side-effects. Patients also saw their sleep, anxiety, appetite, and adverse reactions improve with the use of medical cannabis. Larger, more controlled studies may suggest cannabis more affirmatively as an alternative or complementary therapy with prescription medications.

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Preferences for Medical Marijuana over Prescription Medications Among Persons Living with Chronic Conditions: Alternative, Complementary, and Tapering Uses Download

This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/2wqDDdQ inside the CED Foundation Archive

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Video: Do-It-Yourself Cannabis Tinctures

July 17, 2019 Alcohol, Anti-inflammatory properties, Antibiotic, Antioxidant, Anxiety, Arthritis, Autism, Autoimmunity, Behavior change, Bipolar Disorder, Business of Cannabis, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis News, Case Study, CBD, CBN, CED Clinic, CED In The News, Cognition, Colon Cancer, Cooking, Cultivation, Cultivation / Growing / Horticulture, Depression, Dermatology / Skin, Diabetes, DIY, Dosing, Dr Caplan, Edibles, Epilepsy, Extraction, Farming, Fibromyalgia, Flavonoids, Future Medicine, Gastrointestinal Effects, Hemp, History, IBS, Insomnia, Male Fertility, Memory, Mental Health, Mood, Muscle Pain, Nausea, Neuropathy, Obesity, OCD, Opiates, Oral Health, Pain, Pediatrics, Processing, Products, Prostate Cancer, Psychosis, PTSD, Schizophrenia, Seizure / Epilepsy, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Stigma, Stress, Taste, THC, Topical, Video

One of the terrific realities of modern Cannabis is that it is possible, and often quite simple, to make effective products at home. With suitable education and access to testing facilities, the soil, nutrients, and plant growth can be supported at home, lab-tested for make-up and potency, as well as safety-checked for potential microscopic contaminants, and ultimately, individualized medicine can be created right at home!

Here is a sample instructional for just one way that cannabis tincture can be made at home. There are countless others and hopefully, many that are yet to be discovered!

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80%: Cannabis extremely helpful for pain; 82%: helped reduce or stop over-the-counter medications; 88% able to stop taking opioid painkillers

July 2, 2019 Anti-inflammatory properties, Arthritis, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Science, Case Study, CBD, Fibromyalgia, Future Medicine, Insomnia, Muscle Pain, Neuropathy, Opiates, Pain, Science, Sleep, THC

“The study, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, which looked at 1,000 people taking legalized marijuana in an American state found that among the 65% of people taking cannabis for pain, 80% found it was very or extremely helpful.”

“82% of these people being able to reduce, or stop taking over the counter pain medications, and 88% being able to stop taking opioid painkillers.”

“74% of the 1,000 interviewees bought it to help them sleep – 84% of whom said the marijuana had helped them, and over 83% said that they had since reduced or stopped taking over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids.”

“The study adds weight to the theory that widening access to medical cannabis could lower the use of prescription painkillers, allowing more people to manage and treat their pain without relying on opioid prescription drugs that have dangerous side effects.”

“This is backed up with other research that shows that states with medical cannabis laws have a 6.38% lower rate of opioid prescribing and that Colorado’s adult-use cannabis law is associated with a relative reduction in opioid overdose death rate from 1999 to 2010.”

“”Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen cause GI bleeding or kidney damage with chronic use. Paracetemol (Acetaminophen) toxicity is the second most common cause of liver transplantation worldwide, and is responsible for 56,000 ER visits, 2600 hospitalizations, and 500 deaths per year in the U.S.”

Link to news brief: https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/tfg-cmb062819.php

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This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/2JmB7Lv inside the CED Foundation Archive

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Video: Cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis

June 24, 2019 Adverse Effects, Aging, Anti-inflammatory properties, Anxiety, Behavior change, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis Science, CB1, CB2, CBD, CED Clinic, Dr Caplan, Future Medicine, Insomnia, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscle Pain, Neuropathy, Pain, Science, Sleep, Stigma, THC, Video

A 2019 literature review summarizes the findings on cannabis use for patients with multiple sclerosis. Cannabis has been shown to aid a number of symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis, including chronic pain, spasticity, and problems with sleep. To learn more, check out our video adaptation below:

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Cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis Download

This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/2IJAqNz inside the CED Foundation Archive

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Video: Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature

June 18, 2019 Anxiety, Behavior change, Blood-Levels, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis Education, Cannabis News, Cannabis Science, CB1, CB2, CBD, CBN, Dr Caplan, Future Medicine, Insomnia, Mental Health, Mood, Occasional Use, Placebo-Controlled, REM Sleep, Science, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Stress, Video

Researchers published a literature review that investigates the relationship between cannabis and sleep. They examined six major sleeping disorders: insomnia, sleep apnea, REM behavior disorder, nightmares, sleep with chronic pain, and daytime sleepiness.

They found that THC might worsen daytime sleepiness and delayed onset of sleep; however, THC might help patients who suffer from sleep apnea and nightmares. Meanwhile, CBD might reduce daytime sleepiness and insomnia while increasing the total amount of sleep.

View this review (yellow link) or download:

Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature Download

This paper is also stored here: http://bit.ly/2KSSSoi inside the CED Foundation Archive

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Treating insomnia with cannabis

June 14, 2019 Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Cannabis News, Cannabis Science, CBD, Future Medicine, Insomnia, REM Sleep, Science, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, THC

Many people use cannabis to treat insomnia, as THC has proven effects. What about CBD? There are no clear, incontrovertible studies, and effects differ by the user, but there are promising results. More noticeably, certain terpenes have been shown to be quite effective, for example, Myrcene. http://bit.ly/2F9PXUp

Study finds that a single dose of CBD doesn’t help sleep

June 3, 2019 CBD, Crossover Study, Placebo-Controlled, Sleep

Over the years, CBD has shown that it may play a therapeutic role in sleep regulation, adjusting sleep cycles, inducing sedative effects, increasing total sleep time and less frequent awakenings, reducing dream recall, and it has even been shown to REM sleep. Some of these studies have been levied against comparison with placebo medications, and some studies have been done looking very closely at individuals’ physiology as they sleep. Some studies even document a return of sleep disturbances once the CBD is removed from treatment. Doses have been explored ranging from 40, 80, or 160 mg per day, up to 600mg. CBD has been tried both alone and in combination with other cannabinoids.

Here, a study of 26 participants, were tried with CBD once, and then placebo once, after 2 weeks, and they found no significant impact of the CBD on sleep. The authors note that the small window (of personnel studied and of episodes of dosing CBD) is a concerning limitation. Another interpretation of these results is that CBD is not acting as an acute sedative. Its function may be situational (for certain states of mind, CBD may work in a quieting way) or it may be impacting the body at a much more basic level (for example, if it is reducing levels of stress or depression hormones, the effect of improving sleep may have a more gradual impact.

A related point – it is important for us to take note of studies that don’t necessarily have fireworks associated. Not every study will show amazing effects or overwhelming results. This helps us consider what is good or what is missing from the papers we read – and helps create a more realistic research culture. Every study helps teach, even if it’s not showing breathtaking results.

Read this paper here:

No Acute Effects of Cannabidiol on the Sleep-Wake Cycle of Healthy Subjects- A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study Download

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