Catching those ZZZs is important, right? A good night’s rest is something none of us can live without, but let’s be honest—sometimes it’s just hard to get all the sleep you need. So if you’re having trouble winding down and sleeping through the night, you might be wondering if weed edibles might help you.

There’s plenty to understand about weed and sleep, but you don’t have to figure it out on your own. At Aunt Mary’s, our experts know how to help you find a strain of cannabis that relaxes you so you can get good rest. We’re ready to answer your questions, ease your concerns, and guide you through your options for cannabis edibles that can help you snooze all night long. Here’s a look at some of the most common questions we get about treating insomnia with cannabis edibles.

Cannabis and Sleep: The Basic 4-1-1

Whether you work overnight shifts, stay up late with friends on the regular, or simply have a brain that doesn’t want to stop thinking, modern life doesn’t exactly make it easy to have good sleep patterns. Add to that the temptations of too much caffeine and energy drinks, plus having to eat quick meals on the go, and you can easily end up among the 15% of all adults who struggle with insomnia or restless sleep (according to the CDC).

In other words, you’re not alone if you have a hard time winding down and sleeping a solid 7-8 hours. And for some people, cannabis edibles are a great hack to getting the rest you need.

How Cannabis Impacts Your Ability to Sleep

If you’re wondering how weed helps with sleeping, the answer is found in marijuana’s two main features—pain relief and anxiety relief. (Relief for the win!) 

First of all, marijuana acts as an analgesic, meaning it eases pain. That makes it a practical option for those with chronic health-related symptoms that may be keeping them up at night or waking them up in the middle of the night. When your edibles help reduce the bite of chronic back pain, nausea from cancer treatments, conditions like multiple sclerosis, and other similar issues, it can be a lot easier for your body to relax so you can drift off.

Secondly, weed is well-known for its hypnotic ability to help you calm down when you’re feeling stressed or anxious. It soothes the nervous system. Since a mind full of worried thoughts and a body hopped up on adrenaline and cortisone can’t relax without some kind of help, cannabis may be just what it takes to soothe your body and brain so you can fall asleep soundly. It can also help you get more deep sleep each night, which is restorative and helps you feel more rested.

What Type of Cannabis Targets Sleep Problems

With so many strains of weed to consider, it can feel a bit overwhelming when you’re looking for the right product to soothe you and send you off to a night’s rest. That’s where it helps to talk to people (like us!) who understand the makeup of different strains and what they’re best for. 

As you browse the shelves and look at the descriptions of each strain, keep in mind there are multiple active ingredients (called cannabinoids) in weed that can have different effects on your body. Only one of them—something called CBN—is going to give you the best chance for sleep improvement, so your strain needs plenty of it.

• THC (aka tetrahydrocannabinol) is the part of the marijuana plant that causes a high. It’s what intoxicates the brain.
• CBD (cannabidiol) can provide a variety of wellness benefits, but it doesn’t cause a high.
• CBN (cannabinol) is not as well-known as THC and CBD, but honestly, it should be—because it’s the element in pot that acts like a sedative, especially in combination with THC.

In a nutshell, this means that if you’re looking for cannabis that’s going to send you off to dreamland, you’ll want to look for edibles that have a high concentration of CBN—because this is the cannabinoid that we’re seeing helps best for sleeping and relaxing. We touch on that more a little further down in this article—but simply put, Indica strains are better for chilling, while Sativa strains are energizing. So you’ll want to avoid Sativa if your goal is better sleep.

Edibles vs. Inhaling: Which Is Better for Combatting Insomnia?

Now that we’ve covered how weed can help you sleep let’s take a look at what a night of sleep might look like. In general, THC can make it easier for you to fall asleep faster and help you remain in a deep sleep so you’re not waking up often. 

Still, if your goal is to remain asleep all night, then it matters not only what strain you pick but also how you ingest it. For most people, we recommend choosing an edible—and here’s why. Inhaling your weed can create a faster high, but it also wears off faster. That’s not ideal for insomnia because your goal is to experience effects for several hours. 

Cannabis edibles are a lot better at giving you long-lasting effects than other weed products, so they do better at keeping you asleep all night. And since edibles also take a little time before they kick in, they also give you a chance to casually wind down and get ready for bed.

What Cannabis Edibles Should I Choose to Help Me Sleep?

Our experienced team at Aunt Mary’s gets this question a lot. Customers tend to want to know, “What do you have that will help me calm down, sleep through the night, and get some good rest?” And that’s a great question! 

We’ve seen that Indica strains of cannabis tend to have higher levels of CBN, which is what you’re looking for. Our favorite option is the “Gron – Pearls – CBN”, as we see that strain working well for our customers. Other popular Indica strains that people with insomnia seem to enjoy include lemon sour diesel, OG shark, Skywalker OG, pink kush, jack herer, white widow, and Afghani.

More FAQs about Cannabis Edibles and Insomnia

Is using weed as a sleep aid recommended?

As with everything related to your well-being, the answer is—it depends on your unique needs. If you’re dealing with insomnia and other options aren’t working the way you’d like, it can certainly be worth giving cannabis a try. Many people report that they fall asleep and stay asleep more easily when using weed. Likewise, if you have restless leg syndrome, many cannabis users like you find their symptoms ease while they are partaking of edibles. Weed can also work for those who experience PTSD since it has been shown to lessen REM sleep, which can mean fewer bad dreams.

When should you avoid using cannabis to fall asleep?

While those who simply have a hard time sleeping may benefit from cannabis use, there are some serious sleep conditions that you should consult a medical professional about before trying weed. One of them is obstructive sleep apnea—a serious condition that affects your breathing. So far, studies haven’t shown that cannabis is a good match for treating sleep apnea, so you’d definitely need to consult your doctor and find out what would be safe and effective.

Also, cannabis is not recommended for those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, as it could negatively affect the health of the fetus or infant.

What are the best strains for insomnia?

In case you missed our discussion above—the best cannabis for sleep is an edible from an Indica strain, one that has a high amount of CBN (cannabinol), the substance that helps best with sleep and relaxation. We like “Gron – Pearls – CBN” for this reason, and we’d love to help you find it in our shop anytime you stop in.

What are the risks and side effects of using weed for sleep improvement?

As with any form of drug, medication, or similar substances, people react differently to what they take, and there are benefits and risks to weigh. Some people enjoy the ability to relax and drift off to sleep with pot, while others may experience more sleep disruptions, lingering effects like sleepiness and lack of alertness the next day, or a worsening of mental health issues. 

This can vary from person to person, and studies indicate that these risks are more likely for heavy, long-term users of cannabis. Even in the short term, it’s possible you could have to deal with strange dreams and less time in deep sleep.

Depending on your personal health condition and how you respond to different strains of cannabis, you may find weed is right for you to help you sleep—or not. It’s a smart idea to consult with a physician or health practitioner as well as those who are trained in understanding different cannabis strains (like our team at Aunt Mary’s) to help you arrive at a good decision about sleeping while using weed.

How do I use cannabis when I’m trying to fall asleep?

When you’re taking weed edibles to help you drift off to dreamland, a good approach is to take them when you’re at home, pretty close to your bedtime. Start off with a small dose to see how you do with it, ideally on a night when you don’t have to be at work the next day. If you wake up in the middle of the night, it’s best not to redose if you have to be up within four hours, because the effects of the cannabis may linger and affect your ability to react to your surroundings appropriately.

The bottom line is this: Since everyone’s response to cannabis is unique and there’s no standard dose that works for everyone the same, you should talk with a professional to see how much you should take. 

Get Good Advice on How to Enjoy Some Serious ZZZs from Our Experts at Aunt Mary’s

If you’re in need of better sleep, cannabis edibles are worth checking out. And you don’t have to go it alone. At Aunt Mary’s, our friendly, experienced, discreet customer representatives will point you to fitting cannabis edibles to help you enter dreamland faster and stay there longer—getting the rest you need. Visit our online shop to browse our edibles.