Many people struggle with their sleep, and there\u2019s no shortage of treatments out there that can purportedly help us regain some dozing time.\u00a0Unfortunately for the many people who reach for cannabis to fight insomnia, a comprehensive review published this week found little solid evidence that it helps.<\/p>\n
In a new Cochrane Library review, scientists\u00a0conducted a sweeping analysis of randomized clinical trials looking at medical-grade cannabis for insomnia. There was insufficient evidence supporting the idea that cannabis could reliably relieve insomnia, they concluded. Though it\u2019s still possible the drug can be a useful sleep aid, better studies are needed to know for sure, the researchers say.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would not interpret these findings as proof that medical cannabis does not work. Rather, they show that the available research is too limited and uncertain to give patients and clinicians a clear answer,\u201d lead author Lucia Varela, a neurologist and fellow at the University of Manitoba in Canada, told Gizmodo.<\/p>\n
An uncertain treatment <\/p>\n
Cochrane is a well-respected organization that regularly publishes reviews from independent research teams analyzing the clinical trial literature on important health topics, insomnia included.\u00a0Scientists with The Cochrane Associate Center at the Universidad Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires in Argentina and the University of Manitoba in Canada led this particular review, which was published Monday.<\/p>\n
Varela and her team looked at nine studies that collectively involved 537 people between the ages of 18 and 76 being treated for insomnia. Most people in these studies were treated for primary insomnia, meaning insomnia not linked to another health condition. All but one study compared medical cannabis to a placebo, while the other used the antidepressant amitriptyline as a comparison. Across the board, there was no metric where cannabis appeared to be clearly superior to the control treatments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our review, we did not find reliable evidence of clinically meaningful improvements in the main sleep outcomes, such as sleep quality, total sleep time, or daytime functioning,\u201d Varela said. Adverse events were also more common among people who took medical cannabis, though these tended to be mild, like dry mouth and dizziness, and the overall evidence on its safety was limited as well, she noted.<\/p>\n
Better data needed <\/p>\n
A glaring pattern in the team\u2019s review is the low quality of the studies analyzed. Many had problems like small sample sizes and a high risk of bias, for instance. These studies also used different types of cannabis and often only followed people\u2019s outcomes for short lengths of time (the longest had a follow-up of 12 weeks).<\/p>\n
None is to say that cannabis can\u2019t be an effective treatment for insomnia, and Varela does think it\u2019s possible to conduct studies that can definitively resolve this question.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than simply more studies, we need larger and more consistent ones. Most trials so far have been small and short, which makes it hard to draw firm conclusions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would help if future trials used well-defined products and doses, measured sleep in comparable ways, and reported their methods clearly. That way, results can be compared, combined, and applied more easily in practice. Another valuable direction would be comparing medical cannabis with treatments already commonly used for insomnia to understand how it fits among existing options.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
She would also like to see studies specifically focusing on groups of people especially vulnerable to insomnia, such as older people and people living with chronic pain, and that these studies include much longer follow-up periods to track people\u2019s sleep habits.<\/p>\n