Dr. Matt Walker

We currently don't recommend it.

And here is why.

Certainly THC helps you fall asleep faster.

Very clear in the data.

The problem is that first you start to develop a tolerance and to get that same sleep onset benefit, you need to use, I should say, a higher dose.

So you start to develop dependency and your dose regimen starts to increase.

The second issue with THC is that it's very good at blocking your dream sleep, your REM sleep.

In fact, many people, when they come and they tell me, look, I was a heavy cannabis user, even a light cannabis user for some time.

And then I stopped using.

And one of the strangest things happened to me.

I just started to have the most wild, vivid, crazy dreams.

And I didn't know what was going on.

And it's a very simple explanation.

As you've been using, your brain has been compromised in the amount of REM sleep it's been getting.

And you've been building up chronically a REM sleep debt.

And your brain is smart in the sense that it does try to clock to some degree a counter of how much REM sleep you've lost.

And many people will say, yeah, I don't really remember my dreams when I'm using.

But when they stop, the brain finally, because it's been cleansed of the thing that's the roadblock to REM sleep, not only do they go back to having the normal amount of REM sleep that people would have, they have that, plus they have what we call a REM sleep rebound, which is even more and more intense REM sleep, which leads to more intense dreaming.

So it's a very, I suspect there's a lot of people who've had that experience listening if they have been users and they've stopped.

So that's the second reason we don't advocate it.