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The increasing legalization of recreational and medical cannabis has sparked growing concerns about its long-term effects on health, particularly regarding sleep and memory. Recent research led by Dr. Francesca Filbey from the Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Reward Dynamics at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth® and a team from the University of Amsterdam sheds new light on this issue. Their study, published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, explores how cannabis use impacts sleep and memory together.
The study, titled “The Role of Sleep in the Link Between Cannabis Use and Memory Function: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study,” involved 141 adults diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD)—defined as using cannabis more than five days per week over the past year—and 87 non-current cannabis users.
Participants reported their frequency of sleep problems over the past week and underwent cognitive assessments to evaluate verbal memory, visuospatial learning, and memory performance. The results revealed that individuals with CUD experienced significantly more sleep disturbances compared to non-users. Furthermore, these sleep problems were associated with impaired visuospatial memory, though verbal memory performance did not differ between the groups.
Tracy Brown, a PhD student in psychology at UT Dallas and lead author of the study, emphasized the implications of these findings: “Although sleep is one of the primary reasons people use cannabis, our findings suggest that long-term cannabis use actually results in poorer sleep, which is associated with poorer memory. These findings are useful to inform consumers, clinicians, and policymakers about the therapeutic considerations for cannabis, particularly regarding its use as a sleep aid.”
The research highlights the importance of considering sleep quality when assessing the impact of cannabis on brain health. The study was supported by grant 1R01 DA042490 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institute of Health.
For further reading, refer to the journal article: Brown, T., et al. (2024). The Role of Sleep in the Link Between Cannabis Use and Memory Function: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. doi.org/10.1080/00952990.2024.2362832.
Source: Center for BrainHealth
