Recent cannabis use and nightly sleep duration in adults: A population analysis of the NHANES from 2005 to 2018

Abstract

Background While popularly consumed for its perceived benefits as a sleeping aid, the impact of cannabis on sleep-wake regulation in clinical studies is inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between cannabis use and nightly sleep duration in a nationally representative dataset. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of adults was undertaken using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2005 to 2018. Respondents were dichotomized as recent users or non-users if they had used or not used cannabis in the past 30 days, respectively. The primary outcome was nightly sleep duration, categorized as short (<6 hours), optimal (6-9 hours), and long (>9 hours). Multinomial logistic regression was used to adjust for sociodemographic and health-related covariates, and survey sample weights were used in modeling. Results From a sample representing approximately 146 million adults in the USA, 14.5% reported recent cannabis use. In an adjusted analysis, recent users were more likely than non-users to report both short sleep (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.59, p<0.001) and long sleep (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.96, p<0.001). Heavy users (≥20 of the past 30 days) were even more likely to be at the extremes of nightly sleep duration. Discussion Recent cannabis use was associated with the extremes of nightly sleep duration in a nationally representative sample of adults, with suggestions of a dose-response relationship. Our findings highlight the need to further characterize the sleep health of regular cannabis users in the population.