Dr. Matt Walker

The third reason is that when you stop using, you also go through a very vicious insomnia withdrawal syndrome.

Often many people will do.

Now that depends on how much you've been using, for how long you've been using.

If you look at the data, and by the way, part of the clinical diagnostic, the psychiatric diagnostic description of cannabis withdrawal is insomnia.

That's how reliable this insomnia problem is when you come off cannabis.

And if you look at the data, one of the main reasons that people relapse and start using cannabis again, even though they don't want to, is because they can't deal with the insomnia that withdrawal has given them.

So you don't want to get into that vicious cycle.

should you wish, again, it's your choice.

So THC, I think is not to be advised right now.

CBD is interesting.

I don't think there's enough data yet for us to have a very strong opinion, but I can at least offer mine.

The data so far is a little bit mixed in what we call the effect size.

In other words, how reliable and how powerful is the benefit of CBD on sleep?

But it does seem to have some benefit

What's interesting is that it doesn't seem to have the detriments that I just described for THC.

You've got to be looking at the data a little bit careful with CBD.

It has what's called a U-shaped function to it, which is that if you're taking too little, and again, I really am so mindful of not trying to be, okay, here are the numbers.

But if you look at them, I would say, you know, kind of cross your eyes, squint your eyes, maybe less than 10%.

25 milligrams, you run into the danger of CBD being wake promoting rather than sleep promoting.

But once you get past, if you look ish, 50 milligrams and above, then you start to go in the opposite direction where it seems to be sleep promoting.