The most frequently reported reasons for medicinal cannabis use are for pain relief and improvements in sleep. Although cannabis is believed to have an interconnected role with both pain and sleep, its effects on chronic pain and sleep architecture have been studied largely in isolation. New research from UT Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth aims to fill this gap.
“Interactions Between Cannabis Use and Chronic Pain on Sleep Architecture: Findings from In-Home EEG Recordings” was recently published in Neurotherapeutics.
A total of 339 nights of in-home sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were collected from 60 adults. One-third (32%) of the participants self-reported chronic pain and 47% self-reported cannabis use.
EEG recordings were collected over seven consecutive nights per participant, measuring total sleep time, sleep onset latency, slow-wave sleep (SWS), rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, and number of sleep disruptions.
Results revealed that cannabis use by those experiencing chronic pain may promote SWS, which is deep, physically restorative sleep critical for physical restoration and immune function that can indirectly provide pain relief.
However, the research suggests a tradeoff between SWS and REM sleep, where the increased SWS comes at the cost of less REM sleep – the kind of sleep that is critical for emotional regulation and memory integration. Additionally, while cannabis may initially enhance SWS, benefits diminish with chronic use.
